I SAID MINI SPLIT~!
I thought you said SKIRT
We last saw a puzzle from Mr. Ullman here at the LA Times in May 2024. Today, Aaron gives us four phrases that have MINI, "split" across the fill, three of which are unique. Yes, we do have circles, but a mere 9 3LWs, thirty 4LWs, some lengthy Down crossings, and just a handful of names. The themers and the reveal;
17. Traditional social group: FAMILY UNIT
23. Historic hockey game at Lake Placid: MIRACLE ON ICE - the only non-unique themer
36. Dress blues, e.g.: MILITARY UNIFORM
48. Setting for amateur hour: OPEN MIC NIGHT
58. Zoned climate control options, and what this puzzle's circled letters form: MINI-SPLITS - pictured; I have just two window units in my home, and that was all I needed this summer, really - I plan on ultimately installing central air-conditioning, simply because there's a huge attic, enough to install the handler/ evaporator of a "macro" split A/C system and its dispersal lines
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Tropical flora: PALMS - I do the Downs first; filled in "GASP" for 1D., so this was "Galms" - Bzzzt~!
6. Site with handcrafted inventory: ETSY
10. Lhasa __: APSO - dog breed, seen on Sunday, too
14. Word after solar or lens: FLARE - Solar Flare, Lens Flare
14. Word after solar or lens: FLARE - Solar Flare, Lens Flare
15. Copy, informally: DUPE - short for DUPlicate
16. Vague reply to an ETA request: SOON - "Are we there yet~?"
19. "__ it ironic?": ISN'T - NOT ironic parts of this Alanis Morrisette song make it "ironic"
20. About 5 mL: TSP - TeaSPoon; there are three TSPs in a TaBleSPoon
21. Prima __: at first sight: FACIE - I learned this legalese term from the TV show Law & Order
22. 1:1, for one: RATIO - 1-2-1-4-1 - clever clue, get it~?
25. "Love is __, love is kind ... ": PATIENT - my first thought was song lyrics; turns out to be a Bible quote, I Corinthians 13:4-8, tho I did find this
28. CEO's aide: ASSistanT
29. Couple: ITEM - Typically used in "rags" and tabloids - also known as the "Hot Sheets"
30. What Diaper Genie filters trap: ODORS - I, sadly, have not had the pleasure/pain of rearing a child from birth, so while I knew the answer, I have not acutally gotten a whiff of what a Diaper Genie "does"
33. Long of "The Best Man Holiday": NIA - name #1 - her IMDb
40. Took a lunch break: ATE - very specific today
41. Genesis: ONSET
42. Overlying: ATOP - I agreed with some comments this past Saturday that "ATOP" is hardly synonymous with "ONTO", and was not thrilled with the clue/answer at all....
"
43. Deer dad: HART - I also agreed with Rusty last Friday about "STAGS" vis-à-vis "BAMBI"
45. Decreases: LESSENS
52. Drop out unexpectedly: FLAKE - Yeah, but Meh.
53. Starr on the skins: RINGO - Ringo Starr, drummer for the Beatles; his son Zak plays, too. Name #2
54. Distracted driving awareness TV spot, e.g.: PSA - Public Service Announcement
57. Plunge: FALL
60. Towel finisher: ETTE - as in 'moist' towelette
61. Dark skies, perhaps: OMEN
62. Alternative to a fidget spinner: POP-IT - A "reusable" bubble-wrap-mimicking toy
63. Encouraging cries: "RAHS~!!!"
64. Maritime hazard: BERG - The speculation about the world's most famous iceberg
65. Calendario starter: ENERO - Espaniol lesson #1; calendar / January
DOWN:
1. Incredulous sound: "PFFT~!" - "yeah, OK, as if~!"
2. "Pity, really": ALAS . . . .
3. Prop in "Aladdin": LAMP - uh, well, yeah, I suppose it would be called a "prop"
4. 3D diagnostic tool: MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
5. Pic taken at arm's length: SELFIE
6. Those responsible for class actions?: EDUCATORS - first of two nine-letter Down fills
7. Viking garment: TUNIC - I wore a tunic for my "Medieval" wedding
Me and my brother, defending the castle from the dreaded serpent
8. Sales pitch: SPIEL - I thought this was Yiddish/Hebrew, but according to the Web, it's from Old German "spielen"
9. To this point: YET
10. "Crazy Rich __": Jon M. Chu rom-com: ASIANS - name(ish) - the IMDb
11. Tacky method of communication?: POST-IT NOTE - Loved this; first of two 10-letter Down fills
12. Video game character who attacks by rolling into a ball: SONIC - ah, yes, now I remember
13. How many ballerinas perform: ON TOE - I am a bit meh about this, only because one of the themers is "ON" as well
18. Michaels purchase, perhaps: YARN - the art store; paint, canvas, paper - I did not think of knitting
22. "Scandal" actress Portia de __: ROSSI - I knew her, but still a name #3 - her Wiki
23. "Bosch" actress Rogers: MIMI - it's too bad this fill showed up in the puzzle, as well, leading from a theme "M" no less; it detracts from the purity of the construction, IMO - and name #4 - Bosch is one of my favorite book series; the Amazon adaptation, not so much, but still good
24. Take home, as pay: EARN
25. Soft, strong cotton: PIMA - filled via perps; not familiar with this
26. Still going: AT IT - watch how you parse this one . . . .
27. Option for long-distance medical consultations: TELE-HEALTH - 10-letter Down fill No.2
31. Easter purchase for 46-Down: DYE - AND - 46. Easter basket items: EGGS
32. Summarizing: OUTLINING - nine-letter downfill No.2
34. Element that makes blood red: IRON
35. Fires (up): AMPS
37. "The Christmas Song" composer Mel: TORME - name #5, but a familiar one
38. Body prefix: ANTI - Ah. I was looking for "endo-", not an actual prefix for 'body'
39. Like Formula One cars: FAST
44. Places for spats: ANKLES
47. "Ye Olde" boutique: SHOPPE - I did happen to like last Saturday's "sign language" clue for this
48. Many a promotional email: OFFER
49. Silver, in Spanish: PLATA - Espaniol #2; somehow, I had ARGIO....NOT - argyro is Greek for silver
50. Focus of forensics shows: CRIME
51. Brock Purdy, for one: NINER - QB for the NFL's San Fransisco Forty-Niners; just signed a 5yr, $265mil contract - name #6
54. Half-__: skate park element: PIPE - I would not dare to work with this type of PIPE
55. Use a spoon to homogenize: STIR - that's eight syllables for a four-letter fill....
56. Concerning: AS TO
58. Group of meerkats: MOB - animal groups; we had "parliament" for owls last Thursday
59. Chaney of old films: LON - name #7, but a crossword staple
Splynter
Happy
Birthday to Lemonade, our faithful Friday Sherpa for many years. Hope all's well in your world, Jason!
20 comments:
I don’t know about
the rest of you, but I didn’t find this puzzle particularly easy. It took a while to come up with “flake” for “drop out unexpectedly” for instance. And there were several tricky “?” clues. But anyway, in the end, I got it. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
This one started easy, but difficulty increased near the bottom of the grid. Wanted STAG for HART, and that really slowed things down. But as Will said, all's well that ends well. Thanx, Aaron and Spynter.
MINI-SPLITS -- Nobody has one around here. Window units are rare, too. Central air is that standard, with the ducting pulling double duty for cooling and heating. We had to replace our 20+ year old unit last year. Expensive.
flake? i don't think so
I didn’t really notice the circles till I filled the second themer down, MIRACLE ON ICE, but they did help a bit with the bottom two. Like Splynter, I was sure the reveal would be MINI skirt, unfamiliar with the term MINI SPLITS but it easily perped. The west slowed me down a little as I DNK the biblical verse and PIMA didn’t come to mind right away, but I’ve seen it before in CWs. FIR in 16:23. MOB was also perps as was SPAT, first time I’ve seen it clued other than a “minor argument”. I liked the clue for POST IT NOTE. Maybe even a non sports fan Californian has heard of Brock Purdy and knew him as the NINER QB, who, as a standout rookie a couple years ago was only paid what amounts to minimum wage in the NFL, I think he’s compensated better now. Thanks Aaron for the puzzle and to Splynter for the recap, your intro pick was true to your style!
FIR, but erased stag for HART.
I immediately thought of Maxine Nightingale's big hit song Right Back Where We Started From, with its "love is good, love can be strong" lyrics. With the multitude of weddings I've attended (mostly my own,) I should have remembered PATIENT and kind.
If you've spent much time in the Caribbean, you are familiar with the phrase "don't worry, mon. SOON come."
Of course the ITEM de jour is Travis and Taylor.
I thought that a POPIT would hold DW's interest for a while, but it hasn't. Yesterday she got a spoon and held the scoop side to her ear with the handle end by her mouth, and was carrying on a telephone conversation like someone at customer service. Like real conversations with customer service, I could only understand occasional words.
PFFT? Uh, Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel.
I've always EARNed more than I take home. Savings and investment plan, health savings account, and, of course, taxes take a bite out of what I EARNed. Good fill, awful clue.
Thanks to Aaron for the fun, challenging puzzle, and to Splynter for presenting it.
I'm purdy sure I've never heard of Brock.
For a Wed. puzzle, it was harder than I expected. MINI-SPLITS for HVAC is new to me. Speaking of AC, yesterday, the fan on my 5 ton central unit quit. When the repairman came out about 3 p.m. and saw it was bad, he couldn't get the part yesterday because it was too late. But sine the compressor worked just fine, he put my 30" shop fan on top of the unit blowing upward to draw air and it worked just fine. He's coming out this morning, I hope.
MIRCALE ON ICE was a gimme.
Had to change FACIA to FACIE. I've heard it said but didn't know the correct spelling.
My first thought on STARR was not RINGO. It took a while for the 'drum-skins' to take hold in my brain. I know skins was not Skins but my first thought was Bart Starr of the Packers. Brock Purdy, the NINER, was unknown.
POP-IT-never heard of it, ROSSI, or MIMI.'
Good Morning:
The circled Mi Nis were obvious, of course, but the reveal of Mini Splits, while perfect, meant nothing to me, having never heard the term. A post-solve lookup explained and illustrated the product. Hart took a while to appear, as did Flake and Plata, otherwise smooth sailing.
Thanks, Aaron, and thanks, Splynter, for a great review and commentary.
Happy Birthday to our dear Lemonade, hope it’s very special! 🎂🎁🎊🎈🎉
Have a great day.
FIR. I tried to ignore the (yuk) circles but the mi-ni splits was so obvious it was unavoidable.
I agree with D-O, this started out extremely easy at the top, and got harder as I went down towards the bottom. In the SE, the cross of pipe and popit was all a WAG.
Overall not an impressive puzzle.
pretty easy for 95% of it but I hit a brick wall in the bottom right corner with OFFER, ANKLE, TORME, FALL, and FLAKE all eluding me. Really don't feel like I buy the clue on fall but alas, that's the game.
Took 5:29 today to make it to MIdNIght.
Mini splits meant, and still means, nothing to me.
Actresses of the Day were aplenty and unknown (Nia, Mimi, & Rossi).
Foreign language words weren't very kind (Enero, plata, & prima). "Pima" was almost familiar.
Oh joy, circles!
In the Northeast mini splits are very common.
Musings
-The gimmick was obvious and the reveal, not so much
-There was a strong PRIMA FACIE case against OJ but talented lawyers and sloppy police work set him free
-The tabloid’s hot item de jour couple made big engagement news yesterday
-I enjoyed your review, Splynter, but your ice berg link delayed me quite a bit as I read a lot about that night. Didn’t Captain Smith have PRIMA FACIE evidence from various sources (e.g. marconigrams) that disaster was lying in wait?
Managed to FIR, but the bottom half was a real bear. Mini splits was a complete unknown, but perps and WAGs bailed me out. Loved the recap today, Splynter!
Our house in So Cal was built in 1964. No AC -- just ocean breezes for cooling -- and heat provided by electric coils in the ceiling. When we renovated a couple of years ago, we installed mini splits in each room, with two compressors on the roof. Now we can heat or cool whichever rooms we're using. Abandoning the radiant heat allowed us to install overhead lighting, too. So that was one easy thing about this puzzle for me! The rest was challenging. Many thanks to Aaron for the midweek skills test, and to Splynter for an excellent review.
A lot of irritating clues for a Tuesday.
Patti must of been burning the midnight oil thinking of was to annoy us mere puzzle solvers.
I’ve never heard of a mini split. And I assume the same for the majority of us.
However the recap was fun and informative.
Thanks splynter.
Wednesday workout. Thanks for the fun, Aaron and Splynter.
I FIRed eventually and saw the MINI SPLIT theme (although I had never heard of mini-split ACs).
Hand up for Stag before HART, and hating that FLAKE clue (although the Cambridge Dictionary definition “to suddenly go to sleep or feel weak because you are extremely tired” does make some sense of it).
This Canadian had trouble remembering MIRACLE and that NINER.
I took a Dive before a FALL (which IMHO better matches the drama of a Plunge).
Another hand up for waiting for perps to decide between FACIa or E.
I LOLed at the options available for that 30A diaper clue. But it did say “filters”.
There were also many options to purchase at Michaels.
Wishing you all a great day.
Happy Birthday Lemonade.
Happy Birthday Lemonade714
Yes, stag b/4 hart.
not sure I understand this mini split thing...
Hola! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Lemonade! I hope you have a grand celebration.
PALMS ever-present in this part of the world. Our Community has 66 of them and they must be trimmed every year at great expense and even greater peril to the trimmer.
Overall, this puzzle was fairly easy and in spite of not knowing about MIN-SPLITS it nearly filled. PIPE/POP IT got me. I have no idea about a POP IT toy though, of course, the packing kind provides fun for children.
Enjoy your day, everyone!
Skins? Who has heard this meaning?
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