Theme: "Kinetic Exercises" - Anagrams of various sports are hidden inside each theme entry.
22. Series of musical tones that evoke sadness: MINOR SCALES. Lacrosse.
24. Weaponized food in a Hitchcock episode: LEG OF LAMB. Golf.
31. Desire to cause harm: MALICIOUS INTENT. Tennis.
37. Mathematical operation that may have a remainder: LONG DIVISION. Diving.
55. Scam: CONFIDENCE TRICK. Cricket.
64. Like some voting systems: WINNER TAKE ALL. Karate.
78. Lip product in a Katy Perry song: CHERRY CHAPSTICK. Archery.
92. Lean patty choice: TURKEY BURGER. Rugby.
99. July Fourth: INDEPENDENCE DAY. Dance.
115. Athletic record: SCORECARD. Soccer.
Reveal:
117. Party poopers, or what this puzzle's circled letters do: SPOILSPORTS.
Congrats, Ella, on your first LAT Sunday!
This is just brilliant construction. Some of the sports names are long, not easy to anagram. And we have 11 theme entries with one reveal. Normally we have 7 or 8. Ella is an actor.
 |
| Ella Dershowitz |
Across:
1. Romantic painter Francisco: GOYA.
5. "Is it ever!": AND HOW.
11. Lettuce variety: BIBB. Also called butter lettuce. Sweet and buttery.
15. Levy of "Schitt's Creek": DAN.
18. Copied: APED.
19. Copy illegally: PIRATE.
20. Taiwanese laptop brand: ACER.
21. Unlikely cat name: FIDO.
26. Main course: ENTREE.
27. Damage: MAR.
28. "Elsbeth" network: CBS. Wikipedia says "Elsbeth" is "a spin-off of "The Good Wife" (2009–2016) and "The Good Fight" (2017–2022)".
29. Name-caller: MEANIE.
30. Artifact: RELIC.
34. __ as a pin: NEAT.
36. Add to, as an already big pile: HEAP ON.
43. Fixes, at the vet: NEUTERS.
49. Favor: PREFER.
50. Like mood lighting: DIM.
51. Inflation no.: PSI.
53. Gymnast Comaneci: NADIA. First gymnast to receive a 10.
54. Blood test liquids: SERA.
59. Bach production: SONATA.
62. Fairy tale first: ONCE.
63. Detest: LOATHE.
69. Cinder collector: ASH PAN.
73. Director Kazan: ELIA.
74. Colorful New Zealand fish: RED COD. Due to its color.
83. Villainous Count of kid-lit: OLAF.
85. Handed (out): DOLED.
86. Feel ill: AIL.
87. German outburst: ACH.
88. Spanish grandmother: ABUELA. Po Po in Chinese.
90. Techie's major, for short: COMP SCI. Computer science.
95. State where almost all of U.S. hazelnuts are grown: OREGON. I didn't know this.
98. Check in spots?: ATMS. Meaning you can deposit a check at an ATM?
107. Counter: REBUT.
111. Spot for self-reflection?: MIRROR. Ha.
112. Half an inning?: ENS. Three n's in inning.
113. Title for two Beatles: SIR.
114. Private sign?: SALUTE.
119. Unagi roll fish: EELS.
120. First name in whodunits: ERLE. Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of Perry Mason.
121. Like chinchillas: ANDEAN.
122. Olympian with a fighting spirit: ARES.
123. 31-Down countdown show: TRL. Total Request Live. 31. "Unplugged" network: MTV.
124. Bucks and does: DEER.
125. Invitees: GUESTS.
126. Nick Jr. explorer: DORA.
Down:
1. Minecraft streamer, e.g.: GAMER.
2. Give a take: OPINE.
3. Streisand musical: YENTL.
4. Groupie: ADORING FAN. Partnered with 75. Class list: COURSE LOAD. Not a lot of long fill due to the heavy themeage.
5. Church nook: APSE.
6. Actor Cage, to fans: NIC.
7. Emmy category: DRAMA.
8. Haram counterpart: HALAL. We've yet to see HARAM in our LAT grid.
9. "Dog Man" voice actress Cheri: OTERI.
10. Director Craven: WES.
11. Fictional boxer for whom Philadelphia's Rocky Steps are named: BALBOA. AI Overview: The Rocky Steps are a set of 72 stone steps leading to the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, made famous by the movie "Rocky".
12. Freezes over: ICES UP.
13. Ask and then some: BEG.
14. Hot tub chemical: BROMINE. To disinfect the water. Chlorine too.
15. Actress Keaton: DIANE.
16. One with extra online privileges: ADMIN.
17. "Check," in a casino: NO BET.
21. Like hair after removing a beanie: FLAT.
23. Move back: RECEDE.
25. Bog: FEN.
28. Diez squared: CIEN. 100.
32. Comic Margaret: CHO.
33. Genesis hedgehog: SONIC.
35. Element whipped into eggs to make meringue: AIR.
37. Collection at a listening bar, briefly: LPS.
38. Major finds for miners: ORES.
39. "Too Many Cooks" sleuth Wolfe: NERO.
40. Uniting words: I DO. Wedding.
41. Transgression: SIN.
42. U.N. financial arm: IMF.
44. Indescribable: UNTOLD.
45. Olympic gold medalist Lipinski: TARA.
46. Cut and paste, say: EDIT.
47. Loaded: RICH.
48. Sushi bar drink: SAKE. Can't have sake or any alcohol due to the methotrexate.
51. Demure kiss: PECK.
52. Giants legend Chris: SNEE. Didn't know him. Fresh clue angle.
55. Tuna holder: CAN.
56. Little letters?: IOTAS.
57. CSI stuff: DNA.
58. French fashion magazine: ELLE.
60. Nobels, e.g.: AWARDS.
61. __ houses: minimalist trend: TINY. This one looks nice.
65. Peach soda brand: NEHI.
66. Mideast airline: EL AL.
67. Tear (into): RIP.
68. Genesis boat: ARK.
69. Australian rock band: AC DC.
70. "Don't bug me!": SHOO.
71. Vessel control post: HELM.
72. Mise en place: PREP. Wikipedia gives this example: mise en place for a peanut brittle recipe.
.jpg)
76. Cassini of fashion: OLEG.
77. Small valley: DALE.
79. Pile of stones to mark a trail: CAIRN.
80. Pitch: TAR.
81. "So gross": ICK.
82. Revolutionary Guevara: CHE.
84. Miles away: FAR.
88. NYC dance co.: ABT. American Ballet Theatre.
89. Undeserved infamy, informally: BUM RAP.
91. Compelled: COERCED.
92. Oodles: TONS.
93. Coll. in the Research Triangle: UNC. Didn't know the Research Triangle, formed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University and North
Carolina State University.
94. "Excellent news!": YAY.
96. English Channel swimmer Gertrude: EDERLE.
97. __ reveal party: GENDER.
99. "All good here": I'M SET.
100. Like party clothes compared to everyday clothes: NICER.
101. Oddly funny: DROLL.
102. Books a table for seven at 6 instead of six at 7, say: ERRS.
103. Macabre poet: POE.
104. Channel for college games: ESPNU.
105. The "D" of LED: DIODE.
106. Sign of spring: ARIES.
108. Small donkey: BURRO.
109. Say aloud: UTTER.
110. Thompson of "Westworld": TESSA.
114. Form W-2 digits: SSNS.
116. Is for many?: ARE.
117. Mattress malady: SAG.
118. Muscle useful in rock climbing: LAT.
C.C.
I saw most of the
ReplyDelete“sports,” and C.C. showed me the rest. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
FLN: Thanks to all you friends for all your good birthday wishes for me yesterday!
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThis was a well-executed theme. I was impressed that all the theme sports were hidden in consecutive letters of the long answers. Neat. Went from M to C to P for the ASH_AN. Tried REDfin before COD showed up. TRL was (and still is) a mystery. In the end it came down to that YAY/ATM pairing, and YAY, d-o guessed correctly. Congrats on your Sunday debut, Ella. Thanx for finding all the hidden sports, C.C.
IMF UNC ABT TRL ERLE x EDERLE is what you get when you cram 11(!) longish theme answers in a 21x21 grid. The rest holds up surprisingly well overall.
ReplyDeleteWay too many proper names, it was annoying. TITT.
ReplyDeleteDid not know dance was considered a sport.
ReplyDeleteTook me a minute, but then I remembered a guy I taught with who was a high-level ballroom dancer. They hold contests, assign scores, and declare winners and losers.
DeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the solve even though I’m not of fan of anagrams. In fact, the only themer I bothered to parse was Rugby. The themers were all strong, in the language phrases and required some thought to discern, despite the circled letters. There were several unknowns, such as, Cherry Chapstick, Red Cod, TRL, Nehi, Snee, etc., but the perps were fair throughout the grid. I thought the reveal was quite clever.
Thanks and congrats on your Sunday debut, Ella, and thanks, CC, for the overview and insider’s view, as always.
Have a great day.
Took 15:01, but erred at ashcan instead of ashpan, not knowing what "mise en place" was.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a clever theme-rich puzzle, though I ignored the circles while solving. Speaking of...
Oh joy, circles!
FIR, but cpi->PSI, halan->HALAL, dell->DALE, and bad rap->BUM RAP. Guessed at ASH PAN v. ASH cAN x cREP v. PREP.
ReplyDeleteHere's Henry Mancini playing NADIA's Theme.
I think of a groupie as being more than an ADORING FAN. For instance, Grand Funk Railroad sang about one of theirs:
"Sweet, sweet Connie, doin' her act
She had the whole show and that's a natural fact"
Connie was a real person, who performed real acts for anyone/everyone in the band
"Check" may mean NO BET at a poker table, but in a larger sense, in a casino "check" is a synonym for "gaming chip." Red checks are $5, green checks are $25, black checks are $100.
What the heck is a listening bar, and how do I avoid it?
Are GENDER reveal parties here to stay? I hope they are just a flash in the ASH PAN.
FLN - Darren, with your aversion to Needles, I suggest that you not drive I-40 from Barstow to Flagstaff.
Thanks to Ella for another fun Sunday workout. I don't enjoy unscrambling letters, but that was just a side show for the Corner's Jumble aficionados. (I did get the gimmick at GOLF kind of accidentally.) And thanks to CC for another fun review.
Big easy from phone.
DeleteI blew it at ASH CAN and CREP. No idea what Mise en place is FIW. 10X10=100 but CIEN was a complete unknown.
FIR. Well another day with circles and a plethora of proper names. I appreciate the Jumble, in fact do it every day in my head, but that is where circles belong. Not in a crossword. Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteAfter ignoring the circles which weren't needed for the solve, I went back to anagram the various sports. The only one I missed was lacrosse. I was a.little confused by dance; I don't think of it as a sport per se.
So overall, the puzzle is done, so there's that.
FIR. Not fun, sorry to say. Tried a vowel run at _BUELA crossing with the hopeless _BT and the ridiculously clued ATMS, only to find my problem was at the equally ridiculous crossing of PREP with ASHPAN. (Is this the first crossword use ever of ASHPAN instead of ASHCAN?) FIDO, IOTAS, the aforementioned ATMS, all “imaginatively” clued, and not in a good way. Agree with DANCE being a questionable sport, but I gave up on trying to figure out the scrambled circled letters anyway. They really weren’t needed and there were other places to crash and burn. (Is AIR an element?)
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I guess I don't think archaically enough. "Air - any of the four substances air, water, fire, and earth formerly believed to compose the physical universe."
DeleteI questioned that too, then I remembered that in a more general sense, "element" = "component." Elements of Style manual, for instance.
DeleteThe title of this puzzle is kinetic exercises, not sports, so DANCE fits though it is not á sport.
DeleteMonkey - so how do you explain 117A?
DeleteMy first reaction was that there weren't a lot of names in this puzzle. But, going back after solving, I realized there really were quite a few. The difference this time, I think, was that I knew most of them, which for me is unusual. Was stumped by the ''Half an Inning'' clue, but perps saved the day. Quite a fun puzzle
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-11 themers and a reveal impressed me. leGOFLamb. Hmmm… What could it be?
-This spring and summer have been perfect for crops! AND HOW…
-PSI not CPI, oh, that inflation!
-SNEE is a Giant’s legend?
-Yves, Oleg and Wang are crossword designer regulars
-DROLL makes Steven Wright leap to mind.
-A couple next door was having a GENDER REVEAL party on the 4th. They had a blue and pink smoke bomb but couldn’t get the either one to light for 15 minutes. It got a cheer when the blue finally ignited. Many think these parties are just another blatant excuse to get gifts.
-Dance competition that is scored
"SNEE is a Giant’s legend?" -- Husker, did that make you "snicker?"
DeleteHola! Finished in good time. I missed some of the short verticals since they are swallowed up by the long horizontal answers. I have to admit I am an ADORING FAN of Barbra Streisand and also of DIANE Keaton.
ReplyDeleteMy sister lives near the College Research Triangle in Charlotte, NC.
I had one change, ASHCAN to ASHPAN.
INDEPENDENCE DAY is one of my favorite movies.
A COURSE LOAD of 40 is not unusual in elementary school.
This was fairly easy for a Sunday puzzle. Thank you, Ella and C.C.
Have a terrific day, everyone!
FIR. Not a fan of anagrams, so I just ignored them, but the puzzle itself was entertaining. (Except for the paraphrase non-clues.)
ReplyDeleteVery impressive puzzle. I got most of the exercises, missed some because those little circled squares made it hard for me to read (I do the CW on paper).
ReplyDeleteÁ few unknowns slowed me down like TRL, EDERLE, SNEE, and TARA.
I started with Bad ReP, changed it to Bad RAP, then finally came to my senses and got the BUM RAP.
We had ARES and ARIES and ERLE crossing EDERLE. I’m familiar with HALAL but not haram.
Wow! Á bright RED COD. New to me.
Thank you CC for that nice recap.
A pretty clever construction from Ella today, eleven sports with consecutive letters is very impressive! DNK EDERLE, or that GOYA’s first name was Francisco, and most “legends” I’ve heard of, but not SNEE, and I’m fairly knowledgeable about ⚾️. FIR in 27:06, circles helped unscramble the anagrams, starred clues instead for the themers would have made it more challenging (and appeased the “oh joy, circles” crowd 🤣). All in all a fun puzzle and nice review, thanks C.C. and Ella, and congrats on your LAT Sunday debut.
ReplyDeleteMy, my, Gary, that sounds a bit cynical. Events like baby showers and wedding showers are obvious invitations for gifts so why not a gender reveal party. Most family and friends of the hosts are usually pleased to help them with a "heads up" for their start in a new adventure. I, for one, love to shop for those occasions.
ReplyDeleteWell done Ella. I have no complaints with this one. Definitely difficult to anagram all those sports. Thanks for the insight CC. I had never heard of "Mise En Place" even thought I found out we have one locally. I also entered "ashcan" cuz I didn't know anything about "Mise En Place". At any rate it wasn't overly difficult and I enjoyed solving.
ReplyDeleteA surprisingly easy Sunday exercise. The Sunday puzzle usually takes me 20-24 minutes, but I got this one done in just under 16. The long answers came easily after filling just a handful of letters, and the few unknowns were easily perped.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t bother to try parsing the jumbles. Clever though they may have been, I prefer doing just one puzzle at a time.
I don't mind circles, but like some others here, I don't like anagrams. My wife, RightBrain, reads the Jumble like they aren't scrambled. My mind doesn't work that way (went it works at all!). I FIR, noticed a few of them were sports, and called it a day.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Ella for squeezing in ten of them, though. That's quite a feat. Even C.C. was impressed!
Yes, squeezing in that many is quite the coup. Congrats, Ella, on that and on your first LAT Sunday!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Sunday puzzle--many thanks, Ella, and congratulations on your debut. And, C.C., your Sunday commentaries are always a huge help and a pleasure--many thanks for this one too.
ReplyDeleteWell, there was a lot of DRAMA in this puzzle, and I'm not an ADORING fan, so I was hoping it would soon stop for my SAKE. I have no MALICIOUS INTENT, but I guess I just prefer LONG DIVISION on a SCORE CARD, or a WINNER TAKE ALL game over all that DRAMA. Now that it's over it feels like it's finally INDEPENDENCE DAY, and I can look forward to an ENTREE like a TURKEY BURGER along with some PALE tea. And I hope I'm not being a SPOIL SPORT if I say that what I would really like today would be a ride on a BURRO.
Have a lovely Sunday, everybody.
A close but no cigar attempt today. TBS, not CBS and TIEN, not CIEN. I didn't try to un-Jumble the circles but that's not my forte. Most of the other unknowns had reasonable perps. TESSA, SNEE (I remember ELI Manning), HALAL (a guess),
ReplyDeleteVALE vs. DALE is always a tossup for me.
NEHI- the only flavors I remember were grape, strawberry,, and root beer. The the local Coca-Cola bottler dropped the line and replace it with Fanta.