HERE'S A DOLLAR . . .
Get yourself a fig leaf, man~!
Katherine has had several puzzles published in the LA Times - her last was here, Friday Sep 12. Today we have an odd-sized grid, 14 x 16, which allows for the "passing" of synonyms for "BUCK", as they progress from the start of the first themer, and shift by four letters to the last one - clever. Yes, circles, but I think that it's for clarification purposes, not an anagram-like necessity. I am even more impressed that we have barely a handful of names, most being crossword staples. 16 3LWs, an even 20 of four- and five-letter words, plus two new, unique* fills;
18. Enthralled by the theater: STAGESTRUCK - I have not heard of this ( usually, I'm STAR struck ) but in my search, I discovered a movie, and at least one company that does stage/exhibit production - I would like to work with a company like that, building sets, props, special effects, etc.
31. Green-and-yellow farm playthings for kids: JOHN DEERE TOYS* - I have a similar "toy", but it's a Massey Ferguson; here's the son of my friend Melina on his "tractor"
45. Folks who get creative in court: SKETCH ARTISTS* - I grew up seeing these renderings on the evening news, not knowing the reason why; I believe the first major "televised" court case I can recall, if I am not mistaken ( and I frequently am ) was the OJ trial - and now it's part of an exhibit of courtroom sketches
From a New York Times article
58. Shift responsibility to someone else, and an apt title for this puzzle: PASS THE BUCK
And Away We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Ill-fitting: INAPT - this word speaks awkwardly, IMO
6. Ground-breaking tool: SPADE - I showed you all my broken spade in the Sep 10th blog
11. Passed with flying colors: ACED
15. Zenith's opposite: NADIR
16. Stand in art class: EASEL
17. Theater box: LOGE
20. Apple variety: iMAC - the ol' computer/fruit deception
21. Outlets: EXITS - Doors, not electrical receptacles
22. Swimwear brand founded in Australia in 1914: SPEEDO - kinda like a 20th century "fig leaf" - and yeah . . . TMI clothing, IMO
24. Viola clef: ALTO - filled via perps
Relative position of Middle "C"
27. Scallions' kin: LEEKS
30. Squirming: ANTSY
34. Krauss of bluegrass-country: ALISON - Odd spelling; I know she collaborated with Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant on the album Raising Sand in 2007, and again with Raise the Roof in 2021
Please Read the Letter
35. "One more thought ... ": "ALSO . . ."
36. Bubbly drink: POP - Soda, Cola, Coke - depends on your location/dialect
39. Fled: RAN
40. Frozen Four org.: NCAA - College ice hockey
43. Early bloomers: TULIPS
48. Quick bread at tea: SCONE - My parents were born & raised in England - I have had scones
51. Detective story?: ALIBI - and the name of my ex-GF's cat in Florida
52. Boundless: VAST
53. Smoothie fruit: PAPAYA - I mix in "berry medley" with chocolate protein powder, and "tropical" with vanilla - no papaya in my smoothies, but I'd try it
55. Lower back bones: SACRA - plural of sacrum
Why does this image make me think of the movie "ALIEN"~?
57. System operator: USER
64. Spot for curlers: RINK - These curlers
65. Lauder of cosmetics: ESTÉE
66. First Greek letter: ALPHA
67. Intrusive: NOSY
68. Veggies for chips: SPUDS
69. Intel job: RECONnaissance - The etymology of this Frawnche word
DOWN:
1. LiMu business: INSurance - Most insurance advertising is extremely annoying, IMO - I am covered by Geico, and their commercials are the only ones that I can tolerate - and WHY is it such a huge presence in the market~? There's an INS ad every TV break
2. D.C. ballplayer: NATional - baseball for C.C.
3. 1990 accessibility law, for short: ADA - Americans with Disability Act - required knowledge for me as a commercial/residential drafter/designer. The website has this section, which never occurred to me.
4. Statue toppers: PIGEONS - Ah. That kind of "topper"
The caption: "I'm extremely conflicted here."
5. Dino with long teeth and short arms: T-REX
6. Small sofa: SETTEE - Check out the "legs" on this settee
The curvy ones - uh, well, that's not too distinctive
7. Text analyst: PARSER - a bit meh.
8. Tempe sch.: ASU - Arizona State University - the region where my ex-wife now lives - not quite the whole continent away, but close enough....
9. Advent mo.: DECember
10. Community group with lodges: ELKS
11. Extraterrestrial visitors, perhaps: ALIENS
12. Extraterrestrial visitor, certainly: COMET - I just finished "Seveneves" by Neal Stevenson, a science fiction novel with a fair amount of the story involving a comet
13. "Yikes!": "EGADS~!"
14. Wooden duck, e.g.: DECOY
19. "Hush": "SILENCE~!" - I tried 'BE QUIET' first
23. Shareholder dividend: PAYOUT
24. Slightly cracked: AJAR - Again Doors, not minds . . . .
25. Title person in a Kinks hit: LOLA - I was never a fan of the song - this one was better, IMO
Come Dancing
26. Lean: THIN - oops, not TILT - see below
28. Mauna __: alphabetically first of two Hawaiian volcanoes with similar names: KEA - thanks for the hint~! The other is LOA
29. Mo. town: STL - Not "Detroit", which is related to the muscial Motown
32. Party animal?: DONKEY - as in "Pin the Tail On the. . ."
33. Big bird: OSTRICH - our second "Big Bird" of the puzzle - LiMu ads feature an Emu
36. Tuscan tower town: PISA
Saw this on FB under "Dad Jokes"
37. Makes a choice: OPTS
38. Covert summons: PSST~!
41. One step __ time: AT A
42. Knee stabilizer, for short: ACL - the ligament that is prone to injury
44. Suitable for habitation: LIVABLE
45. Snidely critical: SNARKY
46. Sounded like a 59-Down: HISSED - AND - 59. Nile snake: ASP
47. Becomes less intense: ABATES
48. Rebuff: SPURN
49. Label printer maker: CASIO
50. Blossoms: OPENS
54. Gibbons, e.g.: APES
56. Nurture: REAR
60. Early Beatles bassist Sutcliffe: STU
61. Scanned lines on a pkg.: UPC
62. Margaret of "Fire Island": CHO
63. Mo. neighbor: KANsas - who knew that Kansas lived next to Chairman "Moe"~?
Splynter
25 comments:
No need for a reveal
for this one, which, unlike the last couple of days, seems perfectly appropriate for its Wednesday slot: not too hard, and not too easy.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
D-o saw all the ruminants. We've got a good sized herd hanging around our town. It's not unusual to see a dozen or so in our back yard. My labelmaker was made by Dymo, but I do have a CASIO solar calculator from the '80s (still works) and an "atomic" wristwatch. Thanx for the amusement, Katherine, and for the stellar expo, Splynter.
I thought this was a very clever puzzle though it took me a beat to see the . I have never been a hunter. I think they are lovely creatures. My only unknown was ALISON no matter how she spells it. A very fine but calm write up Splynter, thanks. Katherine a name that has many spellings, keep them coming.
FIR. I ignored the circles but the theme was so obvious that they were hard to ignore.
For a Wednesday puzzle I found this to be Monday easy.
Overall an enjoyable puzzle.
Took 4:42 today to bull rush my way through this one.
I also knew the name "Alison Krause" from her collaboration with Robert Plant, and have always considered "Come Dancing" a superior song to "Lola," not that there's anything wrong with that.
I worked this puzzle in a clockwise manner, while doing my best to ignore those pesky things along the way. I am also trying to ignore "parser".
Oh joy, circles!
Wonderful Wednesday! Thanks for the fun, Katherine and Splynter (Adam needs a SPEEDO).
I saw the DEER family early in the game, which helped to fill those circles.
I smiled at the PASS THE BUCK theme.
A Saturday clue would not have clarified which Mauna was needed.
I WAGged the L in the cross of ALISON and LOLA. The Barry Manilow LOLA I would have known.
This Canadian needed perps to complete ADA, but I did manage to fill KAN, NCAA, INS, STL., NAT (yay Blue Jays).
This Canadian has learned Americana doing CWs. I thought the DONKEY party animal was referring to your Democratic Party (and Elephant for the Republicans).
CSO to DH with those JOHN DEERE TOYS. All the grandchildren have them.
I LOLed at those PIGEONS.
Wishing you all a great day.
Enjoyable, clever, but did we really need the circles?
(I say yes, and they show the passing of the deer down the themers)
But that got me wondering, (I know, dangerous...) if we did not have circles, could we have changed "pass" the buck to "find" the buck?
I dunno, my abstract thoughts might be too much for this blog...
Musings
-The DEERE that are not toys are starting to harvest the huge crop here in the heartland
-A post Bay Of Pigs application of today’s theme
-ALSO: Today’s government shutdown is another example
-The SKETCH of OJ’s attempting to put on the gloves over the latex gloves may be the biggest blunder in courtroom history.
-Current click baits are saying you can cut your INS costs by a huge %
-PARSING: GARY liked this puzzle. Gary LIKED this puzzle. Gary liked THIS puzzle. Gary liked this PUZZLE.
-Our local BUCKS (rabbits) treat our TULIPS as a salad bar and require fencing
-The Mizzou/KANSAS FB game is billed as a "border war" and has uber rabid fans on both sides
Nothing wrong with this puzzle. Lots of clever and fun clues like statue toppers. I immediately thought PIGEONS but I thought surely not, but yes. Or the clue for party animal.
Yes, very few names, thank goodness. What a lovely feeling. I did have to WAG the L of LOLA crossing ALISON, but no big deal.
And then a cute theme. Best CW so far this week.
Splynter, great review. I love the UPC animal with the QR code animal.
Good Morning:
This was an enjoyable solve with, thanks to Eagle-eyed Splynter, an added layer to the theme with the “passing” of the circled themers. I was fooled by the Apple clue and also by the Curlers clue but, otherwise, smooth sailing to the Tada.
Thanks, Katherine, and thanks, Splynter, for an informative review and commentary. Loved the UPC zebras!
I was very disappointed by the Yankees loss last night. 🤞for a happier outcome tonight and tomorrow night!
Have a great day.
Zipped right through this enjoyable crossWORD puzzle! Came directly into my wheelhouse this morning, which is certainly not always the case. Another fun review by Splynter put the icing on the cake.
IM, while I usually agree with everything that you say, as a Boston native and lifelong baseball fan: Go Red Sox! :o)
Straightforward outing from Katherine, with just enough grist for a Wednesday. My few hang ups we solved by perps so all's well.
Splinter, I liked your PASS THE BUCK painting! Really classed up the blog. LOL
Kat, your Sox deserved that win last night, especially because of the impressive pitching by Crochet. Of course, the ninth inning meltdown by my Yanks was the last straw for a possible NY comeback. 😢
A pleasant and enjoyable puzzle today.
Parser was a bit of a nose wrinkler.
Otherwise the cluing was fair and on point.
Thanks for the recap Splynter. I lol at the zebra cartoon.
No gripes with this one. Well done. Also well done on the recap Splynter.
Hola! Easy solve today. Thank you, Katherine and Splynter!
Nothing stands out but ADA had me guessing and I correctly had the A but no idea what the law is about.
I'll take a CSO at ASU.
Learning moment that SPEEDO originated in Australia.
it seems that ELKS should be part of that circled group.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Constructor here - thanks everyone for the kind words!
While this theme was quite straightforward, filling the grid was actually a bear. The geometric constraints kept me from moving theme entries around to allow for easier filling. I am glad that many of you enjoyed the result.
And thanks Splynter for the fun review! Love the photo of your young friend with the JOHN DEERE TOYS.
Thanx KS for this fun CW, and for popping into the blog. I especially liked your clues "Statue toppers" and "Party animal". As Monkey said @ 9:55, pigeons was my first thought, but then thought, "Nah. That wouldn't be" but is is! I can see how this CW would be difficult to construct and get the buck passed ending on a cell and the next buck starting on the next column cell. Brilliant, and well done! FIR in 12, and had fun doing it. 14 names (I HATE names in CWs!) with several crossing ( I REALLY hate crossing names!!) but still I only DNK 4 names, so I managed. Thanx again, KS! Terrific write-up Splynter, you added to today's fun. Thanx!
How nice to get this interesting and pleasant Wednesday puzzle--many thanks, Katherine. And your comments and pictures are always a pleasure, thanks for those too, Splynter.
Well, seeing EASEL early in the puzzle made me hope for an ART theme ahead, and ALTO emerged pretty soon, although it didn't leave me STAGE STRUCK. But then there they were, when we got to the middle of the puzzle: the SKETCH ARTISTS. Yay! Will we learn what they sketched? Would be nice to see their pictures, wouldn't it? Maybe they made pictures of ALIENS, descending from a COMET or something. But, of course, that could have been just a DECOY. There were a few animals, like those PIGEONS sitting on top of those statues, but of course that OSTRICH surely didn't go there.
Time for me to get some lunch and take a nap. No, that's not an ALIBI--just my regular schedule. Have a good rest of the day, everybody.
Splynter, speaking of sci-fi novels, I’m currently reading The Three Body Problem. An interesting mix of Chinese history and cosmology.
I liked this puzzle.
KAN was a CSO to my origin. Happily, my x-axis extends well beyond that now.
My pleasure - thank you for stopping in~!
I will look for it - I am running out of novels from Neal . . .
Post a Comment