Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a Friday puzzle created by Alan Southworth. Alan made his NYT debut in 2018. I did not find a previous label for Alan on the Corner blog site so this may be his debut in the LAT.
Today's theme is pretty straightforward (as so many of them are once we "grok" them) so let's start with the reveal:
54 Across: "I can't see through you!," and what's needed to complete 17-, 24-, 33-, and 45-Across?: DOWN IN FRONT.
We are asked to mentally add the word DOWN in front of the themed answers completed in the grid in order to derive the correct/complete answers to those clues.
Here are the four places where the gimmick is employed:
17 Across: Said, "Skipping school isn't a big deal," say?: (DOWN) PLAYED HOOKY.
24 Across: Australian-themed amusement park?: (DOWN) UNDER WORLD. Down Under being a nickname for Australia. . .
33 Across: Unused vacation days, essentially?: (DOWN) TIME TO SPARE. Extra downtime.
45 Across: Recession indicator?: (DOWN) TURN SIGNAL. An indicator of an economic down turn.
Here is the completed grid:
Here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Cold nuggets: ICE. Anyone misread this as Gold nuggets?
4. Fluffy accessory: BOA. What’s the difference between a BOA and a Python? A Python doesn’t have feathers.
4. Fluffy accessory: BOA. What’s the difference between a BOA and a Python? A Python doesn’t have feathers.
7. Bus. type: LLC. Limited Liability Company
10. "Last four digits" ID: SSN.
13. Some Argentine reds: MALBECS. MALBEC is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine.
15. Lock insert: OAR. Not a door lock reference. A rowing reference.
16. GPS prediction that accounts for traffic: ETA. Stands for Estimated Time of Arrival, but, much like SSN, now stands on its own.
19. Iran neighbor: Abbr.: PAK. PAKistan
20. Fails to mention: OMITS.
21. Game cube: DIE. Singular of dice.
22. Mother in a stable family?: MARE. Stable as in where horses might reside.
23. Philosopher Descartes: RENE. Along with RENE Magritte, a frequent visitor.
27. __ table: TRESTLE.
29. Online biz: ETAIL. A portmanteau often seen in our puzzles. Electronic retailing.
30. Berry touted as a superfood: ACAI. Frequently consumed in our puzzles.
32. Crewmate of Sulu and Bones: SCOTTY. A Star Trek reference. Remember "The Monster Mash"? Bobby "Boris" Pickett also came up with this in 1975:
Star Drek
36. Learn backward and forward: MASTER.
38. Laura Lippman genre: NOIR.
40. Says grace over, say: BLESSES. Here's one:
Heavenly Father, As we stand before this microwave-made marvel, we bow our heads and ask for a touch of guidance. Bless us with the wisdom to interpret cooking times without triggering popcorn explosions. May our reheated leftovers be as satisfying as the first time around, and may our mealtime excitement far exceed our microwave’s ding. With gratitude for modern convenience and a sprinkle of humor, we pray, Amen
49. __ Scotia: NOVA.
50. Locale of the 2018, 2020, and 2022 Olympics: ASIA. South Korea, Japan, China.
51. Murmur: COO.
52. Group of talking heads: PANEL.
53. Word with school or party: BUS.
57. Not long. for this world?: LAT. Longitude and LATitude. The dot after the long. abbreviation was the tip off.
58. Airbnb alternative: INN.
59. Whistle blower: REFEREE. A clue to be taken literally and not idiomatically.
60. High trains: ELS. Famous ones run through Chicago.
61. Ed.'s pile: MSS. ManuScriptS
62. Having everything one needs: SET. My record collection includes Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp, and Tom Petty. It’s almost a full Heartland Rock SET . . . Close, but no Seger.
63. Go on to say: ADD.
Down:
1. Significance: IMPORT. Not as in to bring goods into a country from abroad. Used, here, as a noun.
2. Less windy: CALMER. Also, how we may feel after completing the puzzle.
3. Paige known as the "First Lady of British Musical Theatre": ELAINE. Unknown to this solver. Thanks, perps.
4. Some drones: BEES. Not the kind of drones that deliver packages, spy on us and deliver explosives.
5. Med. condition with repetitive behavior: OCD.
6. Fire proof?: ASH. Not fire resistant. Evidence of a fire.
7. Sarge's superior: LOOIE. Slang. Sergeant and Lieutenant.
8. Luka Doncic, for one: LAKER. A basketball reference.
9. Weep: CRY.
10. Not together: SEPARATE. Apart.
11. Like a clear night: STARLIT. A well known example by Van Gough:
7. Sarge's superior: LOOIE. Slang. Sergeant and Lieutenant.
8. Luka Doncic, for one: LAKER. A basketball reference.
9. Weep: CRY.
10. Not together: SEPARATE. Apart.
11. Like a clear night: STARLIT. A well known example by Van Gough:
12. With nothing to hide: NAKEDLY. Hmmm. Quite the job of teeing things up but we'll keep it safe for work by presenting, instead, a wonderful book that this solver read nearly thirty years ago.
14. Data units: BYTES. A computer reference.
18. Like half the numbers on a 21-Across: ODD.
22. The "Mo" of Motown: MOTOR. Detroit aka MOTOR City.
24. Stomach woe: ULCER.
18. Like half the numbers on a 21-Across: ODD.
22. The "Mo" of Motown: MOTOR. Detroit aka MOTOR City.
24. Stomach woe: ULCER.
25. Not on the rocks: NEAT. A reference as to how alcohol might be served.
26. "You're important to us": WE CARE.
28. Big cat handlers: TAMERS.
31. Cyclotron particle: ION.
32. "__ the tea!": SPILL. Colloquialism for gossiping.
33. Romanov supporters: TSARISTS.
34. Turner memoir: I TINA. Not Nat Turner. Not Ted Turner.
35. Buckwheat noodle: SOBA.
36. Not set in stone: MUTABLE. More often seen as its opposite, IMMUTABLE.
37. Just like always: AS USUAL. Not mutable, I suppose.
41. Catch: SNARE.
42. Hermosillo's state: SONORA. This time the state is in Mexico (although it does border the USA).
43. Leveled (out): EVENED.
44. Like some peanuts and winter roads: SALTED.
46. Clicked images: ICONS. A computer, or cell phone, screen reference. What would happen if we were to click on a Pop Icon?
47. Met Gala interview topics: GOWNS. . . . and who are you wearing?
48. Starter start: NON. A couple of weeks ago we had NAAN Profit.
52. Scoffing sound: PFFT. Punt!
54. Not bright: DIM. I got tired of flipping the little switch on my rear view mirror to DIM the reflected headlights. So I removed the whole mirror. I haven’t looked back since.
55. E-file org.: IRS.
56. Once named: NEE. As in Jacqueline Kennedy NEE Bouvier.
Well, we have now gone completely DOWN the list of clues so that will have to do it for today. Yours truly will once again (what, again?) be taking some time off to travel. First to Japan "just for the halibut" and then to NYC for the Bat Mitzvah of a long-time friend's granddaughter.
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30 comments:
I thought the reveal was
very clever; in fact, the whole puzzle was. And it wasn’t that difficult either, especially for a Friday. FIR, so I’m happy.
This seemed a bit easy for a Friday. There some obscurity but the perps were very fair. SPILL THE TEA is not a phrase I know. Nice to where the
MANATEE came from. Thanks
Welcome to the Corner Alan and great job as always Joseph
Good morning!
Didn't notice the reveal. Forgot to look for the theme. Some things never change. Needed my Wite-Out to correct SET APART to SEPARATE. The rest of my grid is clean. Nicely done, Alan. Enjoy your travels, Mal-Man.
FIR, but bots->BEES, and louie->LOOIE. DNK MUTABLE nor MALBECS. I knew TRESTLE, but not in the context of a table.
I remember the What's My Line PANEL. One guest was a little-known governor of a southern state named Jimmy Carter. Guess that was yesterday's equivalent to appearing on a Joe Rogan podcast.
My dad used to say DOWN IN FRONT when I blocked the view of the TV set. My sisters would just say "hey Jinx - you're a pain, but not a window pane."
If God had intended for us to swim NAKED, we would have been born that way.
Thanks to Alan for the fun, easy-for-Friday puzzle. And thanks to our MalMan for another punny review. I was shocked - SHOCKED I tell you - that you included the OCD poster with the F-bomb. Brought to mind that old Bob Newhart TV commercial where over the phone he said "I'm not any kind of retentive, I just like things neat!"
Took 8:43 today to put this one down.
I didn't see the theme while solving, and didn't think it was totally needed. I also found it relatively easier than what used to be a normal Friday-level difficulty.
I didn't know the Actress of the Day (Elaine), but my biggest obstacle was misreading "learn backward and forward" as "lean backward...."
After messing up the north, it was smooth sailing in the rest of the puzzles. I misspelled LOOIE as LOUIE before my AIR Lock became an OAR lock. The LAKER's basketball player was an unknown. Plus, my brain was stuck on the game cube, thinking SIX instead of ODD. The unknown ELAINE crossed MALBECS (not a wino and only know of the types), and the north was almost complete. Then I changed SET APART to SEPARATE. I never noticed the DOWN theme.
NOIR was a guess for a 4-letter genre. EMO or SKA for 3-letter genres.
TAMERS- I just read about a tiger that killed his tamer at a show this past week.
PFFT- that's not a word but I guess they needed a clue for a non-word.
Lemonade- I'd never heard of 'spill the tea' until a few months ago.
The guest was named Jimmy Carter, not the southern state.
FIR. For a Friday puzzle this was extremely easy. My only mystery was malbecs. I'm not a drinker so references to wines and liquors are meaningless to me. I'm reminded of the movie "The Jerk" when Steve Martin says about wine, "They come in colors?"
The theme was quite clever. But I needed the reveal to get it.
So overall a most enjoyable puzzle.
Fantastic Friday. Thanks for the fun, Alan and MalMan.
Officially a FIW as this Canadian can never remember LLC (the closest we have is a corporation), I really misspelled LOOIE as LuOIE, didn’t know that LAKER, and hung on to Key for too long. OAR never appeared.
But I did get the DOWN IN FRONT theme.
Rte changed to ETA.
I moved from Ess, to Gun (what the starter uses to start) to NON.
We had SOBA again today.
The LY on NAKED seemed superfluous.
STARry was too short- STARLIT fit.
The usual TSAR was expanded with IST today. Is there a Czarist? (Apparently an alternate spelling also).
This Canadian with universal health care found that cartoon for ULCER very sad.
I won’t go political on tariffs with IMPORT, or ICE.
CSO to the late Tinbeni with NEAT.
Wishing you all a great day.
It took me a while to see TRESTLE. Odd, because we sit at our trestle table daily.
Good Morning:
My only stumbles were misreading learn as lean (Hi, SS!) and misinterpreting Mother in a stable family as a reference to Mary. Of course, Nakydly changed it to Mare. I had no clue about the theme until the reveal, but the solve itself was not the expected Friday difficulty. I may be overthinking it, but I think the theme had dual meanings, i.e., one, a common expression, as Down Played and another one to fit the clue, prefaced by Down, as in (Down) Played Hookey; Down Under, (Down) Under World; Down Time, (Down)Time To Spare; Down Turn, (Down) Turn Signal. If I’m correct, then the theme is trickier and more creative than it seems at first glance.
Thanks, Alan, and congrats if this is your LA Times debut and thanks, MalMan, for the fun and facts and commentary. Enjoy your travels.
Congrats to my Yankees and good luck against the Blue Jays! (Sorry, CanadianEh, you and I are at odds for a while!)
Have a great day.
Flew thru the first half, only to see a sea of white in the bottom half. It perped itself out to reveal a very clever theme reveal. I think it was the down under amusement park that sent me sideways, I wanted Luna Park…
Yes, I too was shocked by the F bomb reference. but it does describe OCD…
I’m fumbling with the new iPad that presents everything differently than what I’m used to, so I hope my interpretation of down in front comes thru on this link…
Another interpretation of down in front: just pick me up and put me to bed if you find me there…
Ok, I did all the above links exactly the way I always have, but this new iPad turned them into copy paste commands...
Once again, they moved moved the furniture around in Helen Kellers house...
From my old iPad:
Luna Park
shocked by the f bomb ref
my interp of down in front
just put me to bed if you find me there
I don't know what I'm going to do, I just cannot navigate this new technology...
test
So American! The F-bomb is okay, but prudishness reigns with "nakedly".
There's gambling going on in here (Rick's Cafe)?
I could CRY. I messed up this fine CW by keeping INC for LLC in the north so left that little area blank. However everything else was CALMER.
I too had to wait for the reveal to get the fun theme. I’m not familiar with SPILL the tea, but that was easily WAGGED.
Last night I opened a bottle of MALBEC.
Thank you MM for all that great info and for a reference to that MANATEE book. I’ll look for it. Bon voyage.
Musings
-Nice puzzle! Somehow the gimmick fills almost stood on their own
-I certainly did not know MALBEC but seeing the word reds in a clue lets us know we are in for a wine
-TRESTLE table was new
-Everyone laughed when this frumpy Scottish woman said she wanted to be the next Elaine Page on Britain’s Got Talent. They got a big surprise.
-Those What’s My Line shows brought an air of elegance to TV
-Those big cats can never be really TAMED
-One of my OCD traits is that all my bills in billfold MUST be facing the same way (face out) and in sequence!
-I’m wearing Costco today
-Bon Voyage M2!
This wasn’t a difficult – or memorable – Friday puzzle. I liked the theme idea and did notice the word “down” fit the entries; nevertheless, only UNDERWORLD really worked as a theme entry, and TURN SIGNAL didn’t make sense to me, except as a downturn.
I enter the Corner hoping MALBEC didn’t annoy anyone. It’s the obvious red wine from Argentina. . . . Perps made the Hermosillo/SONORA answer obvious, but I think I would have figured it out without them. . .I found SCOTTY and MUTABLE interesting and considered “fire proof” a clever entry in a puzzle containing a few labored clues.
I didn’t know ELAINE Paige or TRESTLE table, but the perps were useful. But MSS, while obvious, was also dreadful.
INC and KEY stayed there far too long, causing this otherwise mid-difficulty CW to take 19 minutes to finally FIR. LOOIE not occurring to me did not help at all. Also DNK "Trestle" table. I don't know how many times my bad eyes told me it was GOLD nuggets, not COLD nuggets. Good misdirection, AS. To no one's surprise, I forgot to look for the theme, but suspect I would have seen it had I remembered to look. 26D "You're important to us" clue made me think of being on hold when you call a business, and hearing, repeatedly, "Your call is very important to us, and we will be with you shortly" or whatevs, and thinking, "If my call is important to you HIRE SOMEONE TO ANSWER THE &^%$ PHONE!!" 1D "Import" for "importance" = no fair! No indication of abbreviation or slang in the clue! Overall a fun CW, with only 8 names 3 DNKs among them. Thanx for the entertainment, AS, although it took quite a while to FIR, I enjoyed your creation. MalMan you outdid yourself today with your write-up, lotsa fun, loved the "no Segar" and "mirror" comments. The Star Drek audio was fun, too. Thanx MalMan for all the time and effort you put into your write-up.
May the best team win!
IMPORT is neither an abbreviation nor a slang word.
Happy to hear that you listened to, and enjoyed, the Star Drek. Doctor Demento used to play that back in the day.
IMPORT as a noun can mean significance, importance, consequence or meaning of something, but is not as commonly used. Patti/Alan chose a more obscure clue today.
Hmmm. To me "Import" means to bring something into the country. I had to look it up to see Monkey and CEH! are correct, it can be used as described in the CW, without it being an abbreviation. Learning moment for me. Thanx.
Thanks, everyone, for the good travel wishes. I will try to check in here occasionally just to see what my fellow "inmates" are up to.
Well, as a Red Sox fan, I am disappointed by last night's game, happy for IM, and rooting for the Blue Jays from here on!
I thought that today's theme was especially clever and well executed. Thanks Alan and MalMan for a nice start to the day.
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