Theme: "DARN IT ALL" - Six different kinds of stitches bookend each theme entry.
23. *Result of turning over a new leaf: BLANK SHEET. Blanket.
33. *Staple of mid-century campus style: BASEBALL JACKET. Basket.
51. *Composure metaphor in a P.G. Wodehouse title: STIFF UPPER LIP. Slip.
69. *Royal who's next in line: CROWN PRINCESS. Cross.
90. *Circle of care: SUPPORT SYSTEM. Stem.
105. *Silent film legend in a bowler hat: CHARLIE CHAPLIN. Chain.
Reveal:
120. Laughing hysterically, or what the answers to the starred clues literally are: IN STITCHES.
Priyanka Sethy and Rajiv Sethy are a daughter-father construction team who have published puzzles in several outlets. This is their Los Angeles Times debut. Congratulations to both!
I
often see complaints about circles in crossword grids, and I've never
quite understood them. You aren't asked to draw the circles. You're
simply being asked to notice them. Circles are an important tool for
constructors. They allow for original theme ideas like today's, and, in
some cases, help create visual elements that couldn't otherwise be
shown. If you can spot the theme without the circles, great. But many solvers rely on them to see what's going on.
Across:
1. Aries animals: RAMS.
5. WWII sub: U BOAT. U stands for undersea.
10. Toiling away: AT IT.
14. Swanky events: GALAS.
19. "Planet of the __": APES.
20. River that crosses the equator twice: CONGO. I always love trivia clues.
21. Extinct Mauritian bird: DODO.
22. Japanese 65-Across: UNAGI. 65. Fish in East London pie shops: EELS. I could eat this every day.
25. Onion relative: LEEK. More food: 29. Kebab bread: PITA. 64. Soba alternative: UDON. And
68. Tuna variety: AHI.
26. Geography text: ATLAS.
27. Fen: BOG.
28. Pop star: IDOL.
30. Routing word: VIA.
31. "That is to say ... ": I MEAN.
40. Harness part: BRIDLE.
43. School staff org.: NEA. The National Education Association. Also 45. Government org. with a flower logo: EPA.
44. Entreaties: PLEAS.
46. Cattle chorus: MOOS.
47. Guise: GARB. I associate "Guise" with "false front". Not GARB.
49. "__ queen!": YAS.
50. Grand __: PRIX.
56. Future JD's major, maybe: POLI SCI. Political science. 78. Future MBA's major, maybe: ECON.
58. Wine-y prefix: OENO.
59. Go-getters: DOERS.
60. Fastidious sort: NEATNIK.
62. "Killers of the Flower Moon" director: SCORSESE.
74. Consume: EAT.
76. Speak unclearly: SLUR.
79. Rosary unit: HAIL MARY. I can recite this and the Lord's Prayer.
81. Too much of a good thing: SURFEIT.
84. Fungus propagator: SPORE.
86. Quelques-___: some, in French: UNES.
87. Soap with a bird imprint: DOVE BAR.
93. Bygone Apple player: IPOD.
94. Static cling particle: ION.
96. Status of a Microsoft Teams message: SEEN.
97. French possessive: A TOI.
98. Cul-de-__: SAC.
99. "No more for me!": I'M SET.
101. Appeal of texting?: PLZ. Please.
102. Tacky: GAUCHE.
109. Chuckle: LAUGH.
111. Abbreviation before stating a new fact: TIL. Today I Learned.
112. Nut in early Coke recipes: KOLA.
113. Dutch cheese?: EURO. Dutch currency.
116. Mexican Mrs.: SRA.
117. __ donna: PRIMA.
119. PC key: CTRL.
123. Slender woodwinds: OBOES.
124. Parting word: CIAO.
125. Source of dust allergies: MITES.
126. Green action: PUTT. Golf green.
127. Belarus capital: MINSK.
128. Hot: SEXY. And 129. Not hot: PASSE.
130. Abbey space: APSE.
Down:
1. Jewish leader: RABBI. Funny!
2. Poise under pressure: APLOMB.
3. Scant: MEAGER.
4. Target of ID thieves: SSN.
5. La Jolla sch.: UCSD. UC San Diego.
6. Flower child style: BOHO.
7. Roughly half a kg: ONE LB.
8. Get old: AGE.
9. Tyke: TOT.
10. Improvise: AD LIB.
11. Movement in a core-strengthening Pilates exercise: TOE TAP. Toe taps the ground.
12. In a perfect world: IDEALLY.
13. Tik follower: TOK.
14. Pink-fleshed tropical fruits: GUAVAS.
15. Caper: ANTIC.
16. Kobe Bryant's team: LA LAKERS.
17. Ottoman title: AGA.
18. Part of the fam: SIS.
24. "Ish": KIND OF.
29. Oyster gem: PEARL.
32. Work toward: AIM FOR.
34. Make mad: ANGER.
35. Old name on Chicago's Willis Tower: SEARS.
36. Hopped: LEAPT.
37. Actor Momoa: JASON. The Aquaman.
38. The Mahabharata, for one: EPIC. The other is Ramayana.
39. Summoned ride: TAXI.
41. "For those in the back!": LOUDER.
42. Spanish partner: ESPOSO.
48. Adornment below a maang tikka, perhaps: BINDI. Maang tikka is traditional headpiece for Indian brides.
50. __ Place: Starbucks blend: PIKE.
51. Sammy who hit 609 homers: SOSA. And 54. Dodger great Reese: PEEWEE.
52. Lab assts.: TECHS.
53. How samosas are fried: IN OIL.
55. Laborer: PEON.
57. Eldest von Trapp daughter: LIESL.
61. Sailor's tattoo, perhaps: ANCHOR.
63. Use elbow grease: SCRUB.
64. Catering container: URN.
66. Inclined, to a Brit: LEANT.
67. South Asian dress: SAREE.
70. CBS procedural set in D.C.: NCIS.
71. Article II subj.: POTUS. Article II established the Executive Branch.
72. Livestock tracker: EAR TAG.
73. Afternoon nap: SIESTA.
75. Texter's show of gratitude: TYSM. Thank You So Much.
77. Like preloved items: USED.
80. Reguetón, e.g.: MUSICA. Reggaeton/Music.
82. "Spider-Man" filmmaker: RAIMI (Sam) I often confuse him with Sam Mendes, who directed "Skyfall".
83. Icy wine drink: FROSE.
84. Mage's cast: SPELL.
85. __ scheme: PONZI.
87. Hockey puck, e.g.: DISC.
88. Moonfish: OPAH.
89. Calling: VOCATION.
91. Cartoon pig with a British accent: PEPPA.
92. British collective: YOU LOT. Their "Y'all"
95. Part of some school uniforms: NECKTIE.
99. "Let me find out": I'LL ASK. Such a big comfort to have TTP back.
100. Middle of an ant: THORAX.
103. "Zip it": HUSH UP.
104. National Audubon Society symbols: EGRETS.
106. Country star LeAnn: RIMES.
107. Metallic mixture: ALLOY.
108. Gets comfortable: NESTS.
110. Eagerness to act: HASTE.
114. Salt Lake City athletes: UTES. The Utah Utes.
115. "__ and shine!": RISE.
117. Fluffy dog, familiarly: POM.
118. Slugger's stat: RBI.
119. Includes on an email: CCS.
120. Troublemaker: IMP.
121. "The Marvels" director DaCosta: NIA. The first Black woman to direct a Marvel film.
122. IRS form expert: CPA.
C.C.
In spite of the puzzle’s title, I didn’t quite understand what tied all of the themed fill together until C.C. explained it.
ReplyDeleteBut It was not too tough, although I definitely had a WAG
at the crossing of “bindi” and “udon.”
Not too many other problems though.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteD-o is certainly no stitch expert. C.C. had to 'splain' the theme. I couldn't get it, even with the circles. Things were going smoothly until Atlanta: YOU LOT, MUSICA, GAUCHE, LAUGH, and HUSH UP made quite the mess. Got it, finally. Whew. Thanx, Priyanka and Rajiv. I'll let you have those EELS, C.C.
Thank you, Priyanka, Rajiv, and C.C.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed like a Thursday type of solve until it hardened with some tough Saturday level clues and fill in the southeast.
There were some stumbling blocks at various points throughout the solve that slowed the early progress and added time. I had SURplus but pROSE didn't evoke confidence for the icy wine drink. Then I got PEEWEE, NCIS and after a while POTUS. So SURFEIT and FROSE. Good.
Similarly, having ESPOSa and DISk led to short delays in filling CROWN PRINCESS and CHARLIE CHAPLIN. I misread the La Jolla clue. I then read actor Mumos instead of Momoa. My first thought for go-getters was "type a." Rosemary unit was sprig. Oh wait, that's rosary unit. D'Oh! SEnt before SEEN. And so it went.
But then I got to the southeast area. All thoughts of coming in under 30 minutes were set aside. Then the goal simply became to solve it error free. The clues - especially the foreign language and foreign reference clues - almost did me in.
The big delay was that my first thought for tacky was gaudy and it meshed with EAR TAG and SIESTA, but it wasn't long enough. Oh, that has to be garish, right? After a good twenty minutes of staring at garish and rereading the interecting clues, the answer was nope. I finally worked out GAUCHE.
And then I was done. After all of that, it was still a FIW. In my early HASTE, I'd keyed in cOLA rather than KOLA, and didn't notice that made the uniform part a NECcTIE.
After all of that, I'm going back to bed to catch an early morning "SIESTA." :>)
FLN, I only comment from my phone when I'm out of town and to avoid the anon label, I'll write 'Big Easy here' before writing anything. Otherwise, it will come across as anonymous.
Delete"the daily views of the blog have averaged just over 5000 compared to over twice that of say ten years ago. Commenting has dropped as well, averaging just over 41 comments per day."
IMHO, a good reason might be "Perhaps Patti's editorial decisions have contributed to that."
Not being any kind of a seamster, the circled words made no sense to me till C.C. explained it, and they didn’t help or hinder the solve. A little more crunch than a typical Sunday, it took a few WAGs here and there but I did manage a FIR w/out help in 37:39. I was slowed down by the adjacent verticals YOULOT, MUSICA, LEANT, and the variant SAREE. Had to change “tyvm” to TYSM. I only know BINDI as Steve Irwin’s daughter, TIL it’s an adornment below a maang tikka, whatever that is (and that clue warrants a nomination for worst-of-the-month). I hesitated at LAUGH cuz it was in the reveal clue. YAS perped as did ESPOSO and FROSE. Thanks to the father/daughter duo for your very challenging creation, congrats on your LAT debut, and to C.C. for the enlightenment!
ReplyDeleteHola! Whew! This was a bit more challenging than most Sunday puzzles. I sashayed through most of it until I hit the SE corner where I had HERONS instead of EGRETS and TEHEE where LAUGH belongs. That just made a mess! Thanks to Priyanka and Rajiv for the workout!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see HAIL MARY in a puzzle. And I also erred with SARIS instead of SAREE so no way SYSTEM could emerge.
I'll blame it on no coffee and rising too early! Have a lovely day, everyone! I'm going to a birthday lunch later.
FIW, missing UNiv x SARiE and TYvM. No habla frog, and I say "thank you so much." Also PaPPA x SaEN. Foreign toon x a Microsoft app I've never used = fun sink.
ReplyDeleteDW liked DOVE, so we've used it for the last 35 years. Since she passed, I found some old Dial soap and started using it. I feel much cleaner after using the Dial. Guess the DOVE leaves some moisturizer behind.
When my nephew was in high school, he ran with the "wrong" crowd. When he graduated, he realized that he was on a track that wasn't in his best interest and decided to enlist in the USMC. Between the time he enlisted and the time he reported to basic training, he concentrated on physical training. In basic training the sergeant soon realized that push-ups and the like were not a punishment for my nephew. The next time correction was needed, the sergeant pulled him aside and made him do TOE TAPs for an unspecified time. My nephew was very sore afterwards, and he learned his lesson. (He got out, got his college degree, then reentered the USMC as an officer. He became a fine man, and retired from the USMC a few years ago.)
I've never seen NCIS. I think it's time I tried it.
CCS: Centum Call Seconds are the units Verizon engineers use to properly size their network. (Engineers actually say "hundred call seconds" when they read "CCS."
Thanks to the Sethys for the challenge. Not my cuppa due to all the showbiz and foreign language stuff, but it was clever in places. And thanks to CC for another interesting review, even though I still don't recognize most of those stitches.
Kind of a niche theme, but fine we can live with that. It seemed like they went heavy on the foreign stuff today as well. Not for me, I didn’t enjoy it at all.
ReplyDeleteDo I know different STITCHES? Other than CROSS stitch, no.
ReplyDeleteDo I like some text speak abbr. (TYSM) beside a British spelling of leaned (LEANT), beside an alternate spelling of sari (SAREE), beside whatever the hell MUSICA is, crossing a Frawnch word (UNES), next to another British saying I've never heard or seen (YOU LOT)? In crossword land I would call that 'tacky', which I incorrectly guessed GARISH. A DNF due to that section.
There were too many abbr. in this puzzle; way too many.
PLZ, SRA, CTRL, SSN, UCSD, LB, NCIS, TYSM, POTUS, POM, CCS, CPA, T.I.L., POLI SCI,
Also, I DNK JASON, BINDI, EPIC, FROSE, NIA, T.I.L. and filled them VIA perps for my ultimate DNF today.
FIR. You all can say what you will about circles in crosswords, but I've been doing them for almost 70 years (yes I'm that old), and circles are a relatively new gimmick that didn't used to exist even 20 years ago. I don't believe they belong in crosswords and should be left in Jumbles where they belong. Enough of my rant!
ReplyDeleteI had a struggle with today's presentation and found it tougher than most Sundays. Last to fall was surfeit because I didn't know either Raimi or frose. Add to that a few lucky guesses here and there and I got the win.
But overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
Took 22:22 for me to sew this one up, incorrectly.
ReplyDeleteI turfed it at the intersection of the South Asian crossing the French.
As a proud member of the anti-circle crowd, I will echo what KS wrote. The circles are helpful to see the themes, but the themes themselves are a gimmick, and thus often feel too ... gimmicky. And as a result of having gimmicks 6 out of 7 days per week, we have to deal with less than stellar fill, such as the following "Quelques-___: some, in French", "British collective" "French possessive," etc.
So, without further ado, oh joy, circles!
Un vrai travail. Merci mais non.
ReplyDeleteRE. number of comments, by the time I finish and come here, the 'regulars' have pretty much said it all, and I do enjoy reading them, but I rarely have anything to add. And hey, I do enjoy the circles. I don't find them any more gimmicky than the long answers.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-SAR_E/UN_S. I’d like to buy a vowel Pat, “I”? Sorry.
-I agree with C.C. in wondering why having circles in the puzzles annoy some people but am glad KS, et al. still solve and comment.
-Speaking of liking trivia, I learned this morning: Montpelier is the only state capital without a McDonalds and Boston is the only one without a Wal Mart
-After writing it in so many times, this morning I finally looked up the pronunciation: oo·NAA·gee
-Does anyone still use an ATLAS? They are cumbersome and usually out of date.
-The NEA has lost hundreds of thousands of members over recent years as it has become more political
-In France a GAUCHE person is left-handed. In America, it means you are awkward or socially inept
-My doctor’s scale gives me a more friendly number as it weighs in kilograms :-)
-A modern source of BINDIS
-Kentucky-born PEE WEE was the first Dodger player to befriend Jackie Robinson
-A group of three MAGES is part of the Christmas story
The theme itself was a good one, but some of the clues were not clues at all...
ReplyDeleteI rate a puzzle on its "aha" moments, and while this puzzle had a few, I do not appreciate having to finish a puzzle with multiple alphabet runs just to fill in one blank space...
Speaking of "aha" moments,
I was going to ask what the heck the meaning of CC's "a priest, a pastor, and a rabbit was. But in reading it for the third time, the realization suddenly dawned on me... quite honestly, it was the best "aha" moment I had so far today....
The circles were no help to me...needed CC to explain the stitches. DNF. My experience is pretty much an Echo of Big Easy. That whole SAREE MUSICA LEANT UNES area was pretty much all GREEK to me. (or French, brit, textspeak, etc. Might just as well have been sanskrit) There was also quite a bit to like in the rest of the puzzle, however, so it wasn't a total loss this morning.
ReplyDeleteI try to solve every puzzle as a themeless, and the circles neither help nor hinder my ability to do so. I read a clue, fill it in if I know it, or come back to it later and work it out with perps.
ReplyDeleteAs for today’s puzzle, the top half was a breeze, but the Southeast exploited my lack of foreign language/culture/vernacular expertise.
Too many such clues in the same cluster for my liking.
With that in mind, I’m giving this puzzle a 6/10.
SAREE MUSICA LEANT UNES, etc and I don't speak Frawnch. I don't mind circles but they were no help today. As for stitches I know you use a needle and thread and that's it. There was an overdose of abbreviations. Not my favorite Sunday puzzle. And CC, you can have my share of eels too. I did enjoy the recap and the Rabbi joke.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Rabbi(t) joke.
ReplyDeleteDidn't enjoy the puzzle much, although it has some nifty words, such as NEATNIK, SURFEIT, GAUCHE, APLOMB, MEAGER, ANCHOR, VOCATION, THORAX, and HASTE.
I like those unagi, too.
DW was an avid knitter, so I was familiar with most of those stitches.
Good reading you all.