MalMan needed one more week off, so the call went out for RustyBrain. The call is similar to the Bat-Signal except it's shaped like a brain, which unfortunately looks like a blob in the sky. Never going to be iconic.
Ben Wildman-Tobriner and his mother Stephanie Wildman aren't as wild as their name implies in this, their LAT debut. In fact, they display their fine upbringing and good manners by doffing their hats when in proper company - which all of us are (except me, of course).
39A. Genteel gesture, or what can be found five times in this puzzle: TIP OF THE HAT. The revealer tells us that each themer is a type of hat that "tips" (is bent at the end and continues downward). Between the beginning of the answer and it's matching unclued down, that's 10 lines - a lot of real estate for a theme. Add in the revealer, and we're up to 11 on a weekday grid. To their credit, Ben and Stephanie did a good job of keeping dreck to a minimum, and even added a GUITAR SOLO! A TIP OF THE HAT to you both and I hope to see more from you.
1A. Headgear often worn by Kate Middleton: FASCI. Along with 5D. -: INATOR. FASCINATOR. The word FASCINATOR comes from the Latin word "fascinare," meaning to "enchant" or "captivate." It apparently worked like a charm as she snagged a future king!
6A. Headgear worn by Abraham Lincoln: STOV. Along with 9D. -: VEPIPE. STOVEPIPE. In addition to splitting logs, Abe repaired potbelly stove flues. He needed a new hat one day, and the rest is history.
10A. Headgear often worn on Easter: BONN. Along with 13D. -: NET. BONNET. A little bit (or a lot) of springtime in every BONNET. Bees are optional.
48A. Headgear worn at graduation: MORTAR. Along with 49D. -: RBOARD. MORTARBOARD. When an apprentice mason became the first member of his guild to graduate from Oxford in the Middle Ages, the master of his shop took an old MORTARBOARD and created a hat for the occasion. Thus began the longest running tradition in the history of higher education. The second longest? "My dog ate my homework."
63A. Headgear worn by Captain Hook: TRICO. Along with 66. -: ORN. TRICORN. Growing up near Colonial Williamsburg, it was common to see costumed employees in their TRICORNs shopping at the supermarket. They mostly wore plain black hats, not gaudy ones like Captain Hook's.
I didn't know what a FASCINATOR was, so a "FASCI" as some odd headpiece didn't bother me much (I have no fashion sense). But the STOVEPIPE hat was obvious and the scheme was revealed.
Hold on to your hat! Here we go...
Across:
1. [theme]
6. [theme]
10. [theme] Three themers in a row...that's a hat trick!
14. Investor Carl believed to have inspired the film character Gordon Gekko: ICAHN. Gordon "Money Never Sleeps" Gekko was portrayed by Michael Douglas in Wall Street.
15. Secret system: CODE.
16. "Voyage to India" Grammy winner: ARIE. India ARIE is an American singer/songwriter. She rose to fame after her 2002 debut album, Acoustic Soul, was nominated for seven Grammy awards, winning none. After "the worst snub in Grammy history," she was the most talked-about performer of the night and went on to stardom.
17. Salami type: GENOA.
18. Each: A POP. Just like 24D.
19. Bouncy tune: LILT.
20. Show signs of life: STIR.
22. Rummage (through): RIFLE.
24. Place for large headlines: PAGE ONE. The largest headline font of the NYT, 96-point, has only been used for five major events in its history: the moon landing, Nixon's resignation, January 1, 2000, September 11th, and Barack Obama's election win. This is the first time, from July 21, 1969:
27. Support pieces: SPLINTS.
30. University extension: EDU.
31. Underwriter's concern: RISK.
33. SoCal home of Soledad Church: EAST LA. Our Lady of Solitude, or Soledad Church, opened in 1925 in East Los Angeles. It is a cornerstone of the local Mexican/American community, but not particularly famous for a crossword clue.
34. Sneak attack: RAID. You gotta sneak up on those buggers.
36. Nanny __: GOAT.
38. Fashion icon London: STACY. Even she has an occasional bad hair day...unless this is a new fashion trend. Sometimes it's hard to tell.
39. [theme]
42. Take down a notch: ABASE.
44. Top row center key: F-SIX. The function key F6 on a computer keyboard, but nobody knows what it does.
45. Weary sound: SIGH.
48. [theme]
50. Yard, for one: UNIT.
52. Underground rock: ORE. The most famous underground rock:
53. Incorporates: ABSORBS.
55. Soft tissue: KLEENEX. Although often used to designate any facial tissue, KLEENEX is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark. When a brand becomes so widely recognized that its name is used to refer to the entire product category, it risks "genericization" and losing trademark protection. So, corporations must advertise aggressively to continually educate the public, or else lose the name like DuPont did with "cellophane."
57. Acrylic fiber: ORLON. DuPont learned their lesson with ORLON.
59. Preservative used for thousands of years: SALT.
61. Opera that premiered in Cairo: AIDA.
63. [theme]
67. Therapeutic plant: ALOE.
68. Nutrition figs.: RDAS. Recommended Dietary Allowances.
69. Turbine part: ROTOR. Turban part: CLOTH. Some are parted in the middle.
70. Mental health concern at the VA: PTSD. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental health condition that develops after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event.
71. Fender blemish: DENT. Every DENT on a Fender tells a story and adds to it's mojo.
72. Welles who directed a radio adaptation of Wells: ORSON. I heard it went well.
Down:
1. Pear-shaped fruit: FIG. They have a similar appearance.
2. Top club in Atlantic City?: ACE. *Winner* today's best clue.
3. __ Fernando Valley: SAN.
4. Opted for: CHOSE.
5. [theme]
6. Frightens away: SCARES OFF. I have a way with women...far away!
7. Dreidel, e.g.: TOP.
8. Smells: ODORS. This clue stinks.
9. [theme]
10. Ancient weapons that resemble giant crossbows: BALLISTAS.
11. Stretch for a new college student: ORIENTATION.
12. Love of soccer?: NIL. Love is zero in tennis, but it means nothing in soccer.
13. [theme]
21. Montoya of "The Princess Bride": INIGO. I barely recall the movie, but was surprised that INIGO Montoya was played by Mandy Paninkin.
23. Instant: FLASH. Who remembers the Kodak Instamatic with its nifty FLASHcube?
24. Each: PER. A recluesive (my term for a clecho) of 18A.
25. Poet Limón: ADA. ADA is the first Latina to be named Poet Laureate of the United States by the Library of Congress.
26. Opportunities for shredders to shine: GUITAR SOLOS. A long-time friend has a music studio in his house, and a group of us meet there regularly for jam sessions. RightBrain calls it my "bowling night." Since we're just playing for our own amusement, GUITAR SOLOS abound. We're legends in our own minds! We have three guitarists but no full-time bassist. In this pic, it was my turn to play bass.
28. 1990s girl group: TLC. Having sold over 60 million records worldwide, TLC is one of the five best-selling American girl groups of all time. Their name is derived from the initials of their nicknames: Tionne"T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Rozonda "Chili" Thomas.
29. State: SAY.
32. Japanese cutlet: KATSU.
KATSU
is a Japanese dish of crispy, fried cutlets that are coated with crunchy panko breadcrumbs. It's usually pork, but other meats like chicken are occasionally used.
35. Misrepresented: DISTORTED.
37. "Heads up!": THINK FAST.
40. Bit of wisdom: "A penny saved is a penny earned." At least it used to be.
41. Banish: EXILE.
42. Physicians' org.: AMA. American Medical Association.
43. Short cut: BOB. "How'd you get here so fast?" "I found a BOB."
46. Higher ed hurdle: GRE. Graduate Record Examinations.
47. Curse: HEX.
49. [theme]
51. Italian opera house: TEATRO. "These are great seats, dear. May I borrow your opera glasses?"
54. Biting: SNIDE.
56. Subject of a pop-up: ERROR.
59. Exhaust: SAP. "We've exhausted our maple syrup and there's no more SAP!"
60. Elev.: ALT. Elevation: ALTitude. Elevator: ALTernate to stairs.
62. Levy of Homes.com commercials: DAN. DAN starred alongside his real-life dad, Eugene Levi, in Schitt's Creek, a Canadian riches-to-rags comedy that won 111 awards (153 nominations). I liked it, too!
64. Word often edited to add or remove an apostrophe: ITS. ITS spelled wrong.
65. Dove's call: COO.
66. [theme]
All done at the drop of a hat!
19 comments:
I understood the gimmick
by the time I got to the reveal, so that definitely helped me to solve this Friday worthy (i.e. challenging) puzzle. However, I never heard of that first “hat” worn by Princess Kate.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Methinks Aunt Eller threatened to wear a "Fascinator" in Oklahoma -- didn't know it was a hat, though. TEATRO is an interesting Willie Nelson concept album, backed up by Emmylou Harris. Cute theme, well executed. Thanx, Ben and Stephanie. I'm impressed with this LAT debut. You were in fine fettle this morning, too, R-B.
Not awake early, but still awake. No sleep last night. Might as well do the CW. At first I hated it. Never heard of a FASCINATOR, and when I saw the 5D clue as "-" I was NOT happy. But STOVEPIPE showed up soon enough and the V-8 can hit. Then I zipped through this CW to FIR in an all-time-best-ever-for-a-Friday 10 minutes! Maybe I should stay up all night more often? 12 names, DNK 5, but they almost perped themselves in. Clever, clever CW. Thanx BW-T&SW, well done. Thanx too to RB for the terrific write-up. Now I gonna try again to sleep.
Thanks for the B-day wishes yesterday.
I was lost in the wilderness, starting with 1A, until I saw the light at MORTARBOARD. It was still a DNF because a few unknowns intersecting.
FASCINATOR- never heard of it and it didn't help finishing next to the unknown INOGO. I filled LOSS instead of RISK. KATSU never had a chance; I never use the function keys, so FSIX didn't make it either.
STACY, ARIE, EAST LA, DAN, BALLISTAS, TLC- those unknowns appeared through perps.
Took 9:43 today to doff this one (barely beating our dear unclefred).
I didn't know Kate Middleton's hat (which I will now remember as being fascinated that they don't slide off her head), the Italian opera house (teatro), or the "fashion icon" (Stacy).
I might have known "ballistas" (which spellchecker doesn't like), but it didn't come easy. Conversely, if you've seen "The Princess Bride," "Inigo" is repeated many times, so it came easily to me this morning.
The comedian/actor Dane Cook had a funny routine about randomly hitting the keyboard with something such as "A:F6", and then finding out that there are websites devoted to the randomness of it all. I'd link to it, but don't know how.
As with many regulars have commented, it is no fun when you have no idea what 1a is. This was a clear warning that this Friday was going to be different. It was easy in places with so man 3 and 4 letter fill but it had its unknowns and I had to unearth the theme before things started to flow.
I didn’t know the term FASCINATOR even though the style is very familiar from years of watching the Kentucky Derby. Once the perps showed me the twist it still was not a walk in the park for me. STACY LONDON and KATSU are examples of Friday difficulty. I also didn’t relate to the clue for ABASE maybe it is just me. ACE was fun as clued. Thanks mom and don and RB appreciate all you put in to your words though wonder why you think we need another term for clecho. Have a nice weekend all, our hint of fall is leaving already.
OK, I forgot to ask why MANDY PATINKIN was a surprise. For me he was brilliant as INIGO and I have enjoyed him most of his movies and tv work.
I have never used the F6 key but I did remember there were 12 of them and FSeven would not fit
They seemed difficult until I saw the theme. Then it became easy .Perps to the rescue.
If you want to see way-out fascinators check out the Kentucky Derby or the royal weddings. Some are truly unbelievable.
I love Japanese Tonkatsu, fried pork cutlets. I have made it myself. Pounding the pork and using panko crumbs are essential. I place any and all items than I bread into the fridge for twenty minutes before frying. It makes the breading adhere better. So tasty.
.
FIW, missing @SPLINeS x eLC. Should have picked up on SPLINTS; no help from TLC. Also, ell->EDU, and eureka->EAST LA. I really wanted the church to be in Soledad Canyon, and was trying to force in Saugus, which is on Soledad Canyon Highway. (I lived in Canyon Country, within hearing distance of the Saugus Speedway.)
Bing Crosby had a big hit song SAN Fernando Valley.
Seems a little unfair to clue an actor in a TV commercial. They don't exactly roll credits for ads. Still, the only Levy I know of this this one's dad Eugene (of American Pie.)
Don't know if this made mainstream news, but two top people at BBC resigned this week after it was revealed that they DISTORTED Trump's January 6th speech by splicing together sentence fragments spoken nearly an hour apart and airing it as a single sentence.
Like Uncle Fred I hated this one at first. and for the same reasons. But I persevered, and got my guesses at FASCI x INATOR, STACY x BALLISTAS, and TRICO x ORN, and ended up admiring the puzzle, if not overjoyed by it. But our Rusty one came through with another amusing tour.
FLN: Darren, looks like the print version of the LAT crossword isn't as reliable as the online version. BTW - I drove from West Virginia to LA in my microbus, with all of my belongings inside. (I gave away or trashed everything that didn't fit.) Loved that thing.
FIR. What a workout, but it is Friday after all.
I got the theme early on with stove pipe. But I've never heard of a hat called fascinator (?). But then I've never heard of ballistas, Teatro, or Inigo either, among others.
There were a few too many proper names for my liking. Thank heavens for perps.
Overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
I think Mandy Patinkin could play just about any role. I think of him as the male Meryl Streep.
A very cleverly designed grid and theme which I didn’t find as easy as some previous commenters as it took me about a half hour FTW. I did know what a FASCINATOR is, only because DW bought a fancy green one to wear last St. Patrick’s Day ☘️ and she introduced me to the term, and that helped to suss the theme right away. Wasn’t sure if it was nylon or rayon before perps decided ORLON. DNK INIGO, STACY or BALLISTAS, last fill was an a-run to get the S in the KATSU/FSIX cross, on my iPad that key is Y6. Thanks to Ben and Steph for the fun solve, nice debut collaboration and hope to see more. RustyB ~ Glad you’re on the blog squad, your recaps never disappoint!
Missed it by one. I had "motor" instead of "rotor". Clever one. Enjoyed it.
Good Morning:
Despite some tricky unknowns, i.e., Ballistas, East LA, Arie, FSix, etc., this was a quick and smooth solve, particularly for a Friday. I credit the clean grid and the helpful and plentiful perps. I caught the theme early on, but the surprise reveal was an added bonus. Props for a very clever and well-executed gimmick, not to mention the satisfaction and enjoyment of the solve.
Thanks, Ben and Stephanie, come back soon, and thanks, RB, for entertaining us with your humor and lighthearted commentary.
Have a great day.
Musings
- Opening with three themers was indeed impressive. Obscure names only bother me if there is no alternative.
-THE FSIX key does not appear on my MacBook keyboard unless I push the fn key but it finally dawned on me and I “got er done”. Crossing KATSU was almost unfair.
-I finished without any idea what the • - cluing on the down cells indicated.
-MORTARBOARD smacked me in the face and the gimmick became apparent. Cool!
-D-O: In the musical Oklahoma, Aunt Eller promised to wear her FASCINATOR which is a triangular shaped shawl to the picnic.
-I liked the underground picture of John, Paul, George and Pete
-No one in our house asks for a facial tissue, an adhesive bandage or a tube of lip balm
-I know the BOB hairstyle was a real sign of youthful rebellion a hundred years ago
I love the puzzle! I love the write-up! Thx❣️
I bombed this one. DNF. I forget to be on the look out for this kind of theme, so, I was confused. When I saw the dots I was looking for a word to identify them, starting with entering DOT, the others of course weren’t identifiable. Talk about being on the wrong road in this walk in the park.
In addition lots of unfamiliar names like ARIE, EAST LA as clued, STACY, INIGO, KATSU, BOB as clued, DAN as clued.
Thank goodness for Rusty Brain who clarified all this mystery for me.
A clever and well executed theme.
Everyone seemed to have a speedy solve but alas I spent nearly 30 minutes to FIR. I don’t mind spending that much time solving a puzzle if I am enjoying it. This was well constructed, perps were fair, Friday difficult, and fun finish.
Thanks Ben and Stephanie.
Awesome recap RB .
Tricky theme but finally “Hooks” right-angled TRICO-ORN gave it up for me (WEES: but what’s a FASCI-INATOR? ).
“A Bouncy tune” HAS a LILT but is it one? “Soledad/EASTLA kind of a stretch. Agree that “top club”/ACE was a cool.
Does anyone remember this Red Skelton character San Fernando Red
What’s the point of a giant crossbow? to kill giants one at a time?
Ergo a “pear” 🍐 is a fig shaped fruit .
Inkovers: toy/TOP, Ida/ADA ,
The 1763 golden jewel of an opera house in Bologna is called the TEATRO communale (commmunity theater). Saw many great performances there
So quickly, what’s Lent all about?…. THINKFAST
Steadfast political supporters …. ABASE
Third to the last row… EXILE
Taking off for Boston soon ✈️ I’m
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