U HAUL
This is my third installment blogging an LA Times crossword from Daniel - the one I reviewed almost a year ago had a similar symmetry, being mirrored on the Y-axis. I have a mixed opinion about this one; on the one hand, it's clever, with a meta-clue reveal, but then I seem to think that either the "shape" of the puzzle's symmetry needed to somehow 'reflect' the "U" shape as well - OR - perhaps more than just three "U" entries~? It feels as though the answers to 22- and 42A., 9- & 11-letter fills, might have been part of the theme as well. YMMV. I count eight names, NINE abbrs, with twenty-three 3LWs but no circles in a standard-sized grid. The themers and reveal;
17. *Device whose poles are close together: HORSESHOE MAGNET
31. Ed Sheeran hit, and a phonetic hint to the answers to the starred clues: SHAPE OF YOU - Not my "thing" - all I know about this artist is that at one time he was the biggest name in music - here in the 21st century - with a #1 album and singles ( his Wiki ), but I can't listen to most of the material coming from "musicians" lately; it all sounds digitized and just lacking depth, IMHO. Here's the video, which happens to mention "magnet";
the "attraction" @ 0:59
And Away U Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Deep purple berry: ACAI - Deep Purple "Blackmore" berry
Closer to my "thing"
5. Worker with lots to attend to?: VALET - parking lots, har-har
10. Actor Guinness: ALEC - name #1, but "U" know he portrayed "Obi Wan"
14. Primer, e.g.: COAT - paint, not reading
15. "Who gives a hoot?" response: "I CARE."
"What do U think of her~?" - Luke's respone to Princess Leia
16. "De __": "Gracias" response: NADA - Espaniol #1, translates to "Of Nothing" = U R Welcome
20. Rio Grande city: EL PASO - name #2
21. Fusses with feathers: PREENS
22. Find a valuable deposit underground: STRIKE OIL - Great fill, but how 'bout BIKE LOCKS~?
26. Rage: MANIA
29. Actress Long: NIA - name #3, this actress
30. Compact __: DISCS - CDs
34. "You said it!": "AMEN~!" - "U" said it~?
35. Once-__: quick studies: OVERS
37. Spiced tea: CHAI
38. Snap: PIC
39. Lattice for vines: TRELLIS
41. Starter course, informally: APPetizer - not going smart phone this week
42. Chess piece on f1 or f8: KING'S BISHOP - another great fill, just not what U'd expect
45. Home __: DEPOT - HD is like my second home . . . .
47. Khaki kin: TAN
48. The Most Stuf cookies: OREOS - and there U are, in a crossword again
51. Actor/director Ken: OLIN - name #4
52. Misplaces: LOSES
54. NYSE listing: CORPoration
55. 128 oz.: GALLon - could have saved an abbr here and gone with
a GAL in turkey socks~!
56. Wipe data from: ERASE - Are U sure~?
57. Medication-approving gp.: FDA - Food and Drug Administration
58. Exercise similar to yoga: PILATES
61. Floofy canine breed: SAMOYED - Not sure I would have understood "floofy", but I do the Down clues first, had most of the crossings, and the rest was easy to fill out on this one
I will be seeing my buddy Cooper tomorrow~!
Still no luck with a pet of my own, but I am not giving up
64. Battery terminals: ANODES
65. Spanish title: SENORA - Espaniol #2
66. Cry after a successful team effort: "WE WON~!" - there's no "U" in TEAM . . .
67. Plain awful: LOUSY - probably how the other team feels . . . .
1. Tooth trouble: ACHE
2. "Sweet!": "COOL~!"
3. Lobby group for seniors: AARP - American Association of Retired Peoples - I qualified in February four years ago, at least in terms of age - but - I am a looooong way from being able to retire.
4. "What a terrible thing to do": IT'S A SIN - It's A Song - from Pet Shop Boys, classic 80s, which is more my "thing" - but even better, here's Ghost doing a metal-style cover
5. Helmet attachment: VISOR - I tried SPIKE - hey, it's attached, too...and it's called a pickelhaube
6. German cry of dismay: ACH - Ach~! I put my helmet on upside down~!
7. Southeast Asian language: LAO - spoken in, uh, Laos . . .name(ish)
8. Before, in ballads: ERE
9. Arrangement speed: TEMPO - not how fast U can deliver flowers . . . .
10. Remarkably well-behaved: ANGELIC - I do not recall being referred to as this when growing up
11. Bowling assignment: LANE
12. Garden that needs no improvement: EDEN - Perhaps the fruit should have been kept out of reach~?
13. Pets with toe beans: CATS - I tried DOGS
18. Spanish pronoun: ESTA - Espaniol #3
19. Very dry: ARID - like my humor
23. Wall Street figures: INVESTORS - I was thinking BROKERS
25. Tendency of an eager beaver, maybe: EARLINESS - I'll get up at 4am on Black Friday for these
26. Poster on a subway wall: MAP - my first thought was ADS
27. Friend who likely celebrates Bastille Day: AMI - that friend would be Frawnche
32. Topper in a Super Mario costume: CAP
33. Taste: SIP - don't overdo the spirits this weekend
35. Alternative to com: ORG - internet domains; COMpany and ORGanization
36. Member of the fam: SIS - based on its location in the grid, I figured it was SISter
39. Blast letters: TNT
40. Cable TV abbr.: SHOwtime - abbr #10
43. Cyclotron particle: ION
44. Lumbering Tolkien creature: ORC - or ENT~? name(ish) #5
45. Apt tattoo for a lover of pooches: DOG PAW - I see so many twenty- and thirty-something girls at the gym, covered in tats - legs, arms, whole sleeves - looks "dirty" to me . . . . just my humble opinion
Subtle, and more appealing
46. "Seinfeld" role for Julia: ELAINE - yada yada yada name #6
49. Calls for takeout: ORDERS - I caved in and got General Tso's chicken last Friday
50. "Me time" outing: SPA DAY - I figure my gym trainer is gonna let me slide this weekend 😜
52. Winery discard: LEES
53. Sail the seven __: SEAS - Rhyming answers, LEES and SEAS
59. "Without further __ ... ": ADO - "Let us, tomato . . . . "
60. Decimal base: TEN
62. Voice artist Blanc: MEL - name #7 - Pork Pig's history
Well, not quite . . . . ono more clue
63. Singer Yoko: ONO - name #8
Splynter
Today's puzzle has a "Grid Flow" of 41.8 - by comparison, the Holy Grail puzzle two weeks ago was low - only 15.9 - basically, it's the crossings that give you connectivity to a section with more than a single letter . . . .
And the solution with low Flow:
Just a curiosity
HAPPY THANKSGIVING~!
25 comments:
Well, I got it. And that’s
fine. But what I didn’t get was the theme - I didn’t get that at all until I came on this site. Oh well, FIR, so I’m happy.
FIR, but strap->VISOR, and earlyness->EARLINESS (bad spelars of the world UNTIE!) Gotta be a good puzzle if it contains CATS and DOGs.
In Loggins and Messina’s big hit Your Mama Don’t Dance there’s a lyric “If you're out on a date and you bring it home late IT'S A SIN."
In the Eurythmics big hit Sweet Dreams, they travel the world and the seven SEAS.
Thanks to Daniel for the fun puzzle. My favorite was the fresh clue for the stale AMI. And thanks to Splynter for another fun tour. Like you, I’m pretty sure that ANGELIC is an adjective that’s never been used with my name. Just a reminder - while it's true that there is no "U" in TEAM, there is an "M" and an "E".
Good morning!
Failed to notice that there was a theme...or a reveal, for that matter. [Sigh] Still, it was an enjoyable exercise. Hand up for that helmet STRAP, and with "Lumbering" in the clue, d-o immediately inked in ENT -- the tree creature. Wite-Out, please. Thanx, Daniel and Splynter.
It’s always nice to see a puzzle from a fellow “NICK” especially if Splynter is providing the commentary. I obviously forgot to hit send on my birthday wish to Picard, bout you all did well. I agree the theme seems unnecessary but it must have appealed to Daniel and the editors. My unknown is what is a toe bean?
I agree about tattoos but my sons and their wives could care less what I think. Of course I was taught that you shouldn’t mess with a divine creation.
Thanks Daniel and Richard
Look at the pads on a cat's paw. They're the shape and size of a bean.
FIR. I am not a fan of vertical puzzles, so my attitude about this puzzle began on a negative vibe.
But as I solved it came together nicely. I don't know much about Ed Sheeran so the starred clues actually helped me suss out the reveal.
Despite all the negatives, this was an OK puzzle.
Took 6:09 today to make a u-turn.
Seemed like a themeless puzzle to me. I was thankful there were no circles.
Kielbasa will be served here tomorrow, with turkey.
Good Morning:
I breezed through this as if was a Monday but the theme escaped me until the reveal, which quite cleverly captured the themers. Some of the fill was fresh and lively which added to the enjoyment of the solve.
Thanks, Daniel, and thanks, Splynter, for an honest review and interesting commentary. Enjoy your time with Cooper.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
The puzzle was easy-- IF you knew how to spell KIELBASA (or its shape: I didn't). Also, I don't know about other newspapers but the stars in my paper are so small that they aren't noticeable. After filling SHAPE OF YOU I looked for the stars and noticed KIELBASA's clue had a star.
NECK PILLOW- I gave up trying to use one on airplanes.
The toughest fill was KING'S BISHOP. The newsprint for the clue 'f1 or f8" looks like "11 or 18" and I did not know chess boards had letters numbers for the squares. I also didn't know the back row's bishops, knights, and rooks had 'owners'.
Floofy is a new word for me, but SAMOYED isn't. I guessed fluffy.
So are 'toe beans'.
I had to change EAGERNESS to EARLINESS to make the puzzle and learn the spelling of KIELBASA.
I don't think I've ever heard the term 'earliness' used. "Show up early or get there on time but don't be late and you are late too many times, don't bother to come again" is what I told my employees. I had no complaints because they punched in and were getting paid as soon as they got there, not when we 'officially' opened. Nobody was ever late because it cost them money.
Fun Humpday, last to fall was the Midwest. We’ve had PIC(ture) for “snap”(shot) at least once but otherwise never heard the term used that way IRL.
Interesting U-shaped theme but the longest clues were mostly not part of it. Heard of Ed Sheeran but don’t know his music. But I too remember the Pet Shop Boys Neil Temnant 1987 #1 song “IT’S A SIN” (turn the audio icon on). This is just a brief piece from the original MTV vid
DW is Polish descent so I married into KIELBASA, gołumpki, and pierogi. (Familiar to Daniel Hrynick?)
STRIKE OIL “a bubblin’ crude”. “black gold” “Texas tea”
Base TEN cuz we got TEN fingers. Thats why cartoon characters use base 8. (Take a look at the Porky Pig farewell)
The fussy artist formerly known as ____ …. PREENS
Tyke… WEWON
To flirt with a SEÑORA is called “hacer ______ ” …EL PASO
Tomorrow AM I’ll be handcuffed to the kitchen to “help out” waiting for the fam to arrive. So wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving on its EVE
Easy enough puzzle. However I didn’t know the Ed Sheeran hit until perps came to the rescue. The next step was figuring out the hint. The HORSESHOE was a clear clue. What confused me a little was KINGS BISHOP in the center and my mind kept wanting to make that fill part of the theme. Looked again, and saw, no star. The NECK PILLOW convinced me of the U shape.
Floofy is an interesting word. It works in this context. So this CW was definitely not LOUSY.
Thank you Splynter for a fun and informative review.
That was Monkey above. I forgot to look at my heading.
Musings
-My DW can give a garage sale a once-over from the street and decide whether we should stop
-LOSES: Gotta love my Air Tags
-WE WON: A strange claim when your fav team won, and you merely watched
-Fam is coming tomorrow and so I have to clean the bathroom and vacuum.
My bad eyes = I didn't see the stars, so didn't catch the theme. Also filling SHAPEOFHER didn't help, needing a W/O. Other W/Os = HAT/CAP, PSA/ADS/MAP. 15 names (10, 20, 29, 48, 51. 57, 61 Across; 3, 7, 12, 31, 40, 46, 62, 63 Down) DNY 3. So knowing most of the names got me to FIR in 15. Never saw theme until Splynter enlightened me. I not only DNK but never heard of "samoyed" as a dog breed. All-in-all, though, a fun CW, thanx DH. As always, I enjoyed your write-up, Splynter, thanx for all the time and effort. And the shapely legs pic.
Quick and easy FIR today, but needed Splynters help to get the gimmick. I almost got a tattoo once in beautiful downtown Da Nang, but was a few beers short of making the decision...my buddy wasn't, and suffered through a nasty bout of infections.
FIR, but the author doesn’t know his Tolkien. Ents lumber, orcs are quite nimble, if ugly! I also wanted strap until it became untenable. Nor did I get the clue except for SSH sound.
So many ways to clue ONO, and he chose "singer?" Thanks for the morning chuckle.
Hi All!
Thanks Daniel for the fun diversion while I read my email. The grid has lot of good fill in addition to the theme words.
Thanks Splynter for the musical review. The intro comic was perfect for the theme.
WOs: N/A
ESP: SAMOYED
Fav: KING'S BISHOP (even though I had to count on my fingers for the position :-))
Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!
Cheers, -T
1st impressions? Ads b/4 map, and envisioned poodles at "floofy."
Shapely legs? I didn't see any shapely legs?
(Going back to look, I realized I thought Splynter's pic was and Ad, and went blind.)
Funny (strange), i just had a YouTube feed that I saved to watch later about why they had those pointy things on WWI German Helmets. My list is now 550 vids long, so I will probably not see it until 2 months have passed. Thank you for the info!
6. German cry of dismay: ACH - Ach~! I put my helmet on upside down~!
( I would have said " I sat on my helmet.")
Curiously, not all kielbasa are shaped like a "U", however any "U" shaped sausage "will" be a kielbasa....
Toe beans: properly known as digital pads, resemble jelly beans...
Curiously, "lousy" is in the dictionary. This slang in addition to its standard meaning, can also mean "infested with lice..."
I'm sure most of you are aware of this I love Lucy clip, but for those still wet behind the ears...
What does this shape mean to you?
Is it an insult? or are you just screwed...
Isn't that an online-only school headquartered out by the airport?
Drat! my post did not publish!
I will just say this was fun and a good exercise. Thank you to Daniel and Splynter. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
I read an article that explained just about everyone using a neck pillow - like the one pictured - uses it incorrectly.
It turns out the narrow part, where it (usually) fastens, goes in the back of the neck, the pouffy part goes under the chin, not the other way around.
Continued from yesterday: Thank you for the additional birthday wishes from Anon at 7:14PM, Inanehiker and NaomiZ! I am honored that you follow my puzzle solving standard, NaomiZ. And happy to stay in touch with you off the blog. Perhaps someday we can meet up.
Splynter Thanks for the Pumpkin GAL!
Lemonade Thank you, too!
Neat Wednesday puzzle, many thanks, Daniel. And your commentary and pictures are always a pleasure, Splynter , so thanks for those too.
Well, I'd heard of ACAI but don't think I've ever seen or tried one, and didn't manage to get those KIELBASAS or that CHAI either. So even though I love food and food clues in puzzles, this one didn't leave me particularly hungry, except for those OREOS, of course. I love animals too, and have never heard of a SAMOYED breed, and even had to look up FLOOFY to make sure that dog just had comfortable hair we could pat and fluff. It was also nice to see CATS and a DOG PAW, and so thinking of these sweet critters was almost ANGELIC. Well, that's about it for me today. It wasn't exactly a SPA DAY but I could have used some PILATES for my exercise, but maybe a walk around the back yard will do the job.
Have a lovely day, and a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow, everyone.
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