As you know, Patti Varol is not only the LAT crossword editor, she is also an accomplished constructor. Today, she has delivered our paper by HAND with a well-themed crossword on the puzzle page, so let's start with the revealer:
33. Walk with one's sweetie, and what 16-, 23-, 49-, and 58-Across do?: HOLD HANDS. Each of the themed answers actually HOLD HANDS of one type or another. Very nice and straightforward.
16. See 33-Across: CLOCK FACES. When the big hand is on the 2, it means you're late for work.
49. See 33-Across: RANCH HOUSES. Actually, bunkhouses hold the ranch hands, but close enough.
58. See 33-Across: WOOL GLOVES. These were made for ewe.
I loved this theme, very well executed. At first I was bothered by the "See 33-Across" clues. Like many of you, I usually start at the top. This one required jumping down to discover the revealer first. Once the center was done, the rest of the themers fell into place. For most of them, I had the second word then asked myself, "How would these HOLD HANDS?" Each became a little AHA moment. Lots of fun! But what wasn't so fun was all the people's names - about a dozen of them, not counting a half-dozen other proper names. DIOS MIA!
Names of rivers or schools seem fair; a plethora of people do not. The NE corner was particularly troublesome with 2 short names crossing GIRARDI (assuming you don't know this off the top of your head, like me). Ida, Ila, Ima, Ina, Ira, Iva - nope, not one of those. Then Tala, Tama, Tana, Taya. None of those either. I eventually settled on an "M" at the intersection of TARA. Close, but no cigar.
Let's HOLD HANDS as we traverse the grid together.
Across:
1. Former "Top Chef" host Lakshmi: PADMA. Padma Lakshmi is an Emmy-nominated producer, television host, author, and activist. Oh, and she began her career as a supermodel.
6. Imperfection: FLAW.
10. Tennis champion Swiatek: IGA. IGA Świątek was born in Warsaw, Poland, and has won the French Open four times, and the U.S. Open and Wimbledon once each. Her primary weapon is a powerful extreme-topspin forehand that is very difficult to return.
13. Second calling?: ALIAS. Good clue.
14. Untimely?: LATE. Another good clue.
15. Carpentry wedge: SHIM.
16. [theme]
18. "Educated" memoirist Westover: TARA. TARA s an American essayist and historian. Here she is receiving the National Humanities Award in 2023.
19. Creative inspiration: MUSE.
20. "In __ of gifts ... ": LIEU. In LIEU of gifts...No! You may send me gifts!
21. Coffees, casually: JAVAS. "I'll have a cup of JAVA, please," said no one, ever (at least in this century).
22. Branch: ARM.
23. [theme]
25. Marcus partner: NEIMAN. I misread this as Marcus painter. I briefly wondered, "What famous painting is called Marcus?" Note to self: Buy new reading glasses.
 |
Marcus Aurelius |
28. Dove bar: SOAP. When my mom got mad and wanted to wash my mouth out with soap, I suggested this. It didn't help.
29. Pacific resort, casually: CABO. CABO San Lucas is at the southern tip of Baja California. You can get there via Tijuana Taxi or CABO.
32. "__ but a scratch": TIS. Here is King Arthur fighting the Black Knight who says "Ni" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
 |
| "We'll call it a draw." |
37. General on a takeout menu: TSO. He's only outranked by King Pao Chicken.
40. Financial services co. for mil. families: USAA. Originally called the United Services Automobile Association, it provides insurance, banking, and investment products exclusively to military members, veterans, and their families.
41. Checkout device: IPAD. Checkout device: BINOS.
44. Down counterpart: ACROSS. This could've had a meta clue, such as "This clue." But it plays nicely into the the next one...
47. Margaret who was the first editor of the New York Times crossword: FARRAR. Her stint ran from 1942 through 1969, and she created many regulations that have become standards, such as limiting the number of black squares in the grid, creating a minimum word-length of three letters, requiring grids to be symmetric and forbidding unchecked squares. Great shout-out to a fellow editor from Patti.
49. [theme]
53. Molecule in some vaccines: RNA. RibiNucleic Acid.
54. "No fooling!": TRUTH. Believe it or not!
55. Mousetrap brand: D-CON.
56. Supermodel Hadid: GIGI. Supermodel? Yes. An Emmy-nominated producer, television host, author, and activist? No.
57. Land measure: ACRE.
58. [theme]
60. Take five: REST.
61. Ponte Vecchio river: ARNO. Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone arch bridge over the ARNO in Florence, Italy.
62. "25" and "30" singer: ADELE. She names her albums after her age at the time of recording. I hope Van Halen doesn't do the same thing. I mean they're old, but not that old.
63. Afore: ERE.
64. 403(b) IDs: SSNS. Social Security Numbers.
65. Early PC platform: MSDOS. The MicroSoft Disc Operating System.
Down:
1. Arcade classic with ghosts: PAC-MAN. The "Ghost Gang" of Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde chased after PAC-MAN, and made my wrist sore in the process.
2. Draws: ALLURES.
3. "¡Ay, caramba!": DIOS MIO. "Oh my gosh!": MY GOD! Spanish exclamations.
4. Spice cookie spice: MACE. MACE is an aromatic spice derived from the covering of the nutmeg seed, offering a warm, delicate, and slightly sharper flavor.
5. "Thought you'd never __": ASK.
6. 14-time WWE Women's Champion Charlotte: FLAIR. Charlotte is the daughter of popular wrestler Ric FLAIR. She is part of World Wrestling Entertainment.
7. Like most sneakers: LACED. These shoes are LACED with alcohol:
8. Devoured: ATE UP.
9. Bentley of "Yellowstone": WES. He's not just another pretty face! Well, okay, he's just another pretty face.
10. "Found a solution!": I HAVE IT. I'd prefer, "I've got it!" but you gotta fit what fits.
11. Yankees manager after Torre: GIRARDI. Joe GIRARDI managed the Yankees from 2008 to 2017, and winning the 2009 World Series. He was born in Peoria, that's why he played.
12. Racks up: AMASSES.
15. Hotel bookings: STAYS.
17. Custard dessert similar to crème caramel: FLAN. My daughter-in-law is of Cuban descent. She says FLAN is popular there because it can be made without baking when power is out, which is often.
21. First mo.: JAN. JANUARY is the first month.
23. Guitar accessory: CAPO. Yay! A guitar-related clue! A CAPO can be clamped onto the neck of a guitar, effectively shortening the strings and raising its pitch.
24. Animal in the Premier League logo: LION. The Premier League is England's highest level of professional association football (aka soccer).
26. __-jongg: MAH. MAH-jongg looks like fun. I'll have to learn how to play it.
29. Pre-iTunes stack: CDS. Pre-CDs stack: LPs - although I cringe when I see records stacked this way. Years ago, my cousin ran a load of them through the dishwasher after a party! I'm still in therapy.
30. Cry with a finger snap: AHA. Vastly better than an "oho" moment.
31. Response to Bo Peep: BAA. That is, if she can find her sheep.
34. Rich: LUSH.
35. Semana parts: DIAS. Parts of weeks are days, en español.
36. Beautiful time of yr. at a botanical garden: SPR. It's almost SPRING! I'm sure those of you up north can hardly wait.
37. Raw preparation: TARTARE.
38. Harder to find: SCARCER.
39. Hosp. caregiver during surgery: OR NURSE. The Operating Room NURSE in a hospital.
42. Got somewhere: ARRIVED.
43. Beverly of the "Vacation" films: D'ANGELO. She was perfect playing the wife of the "expert in exterior illumination," Chevy Chase, in one of my favorite Christmas movies.
45. Largish jazz combo: OCTET.
46. "Quiet, you!": SHH.
47. __ shui: FENG.
48. Hikes: RAISES.
50. Baking soda targets: ODORS.
51. NCAA school with the most first-round WNBA draft picks: UCONN. The women's team at the University of Connecticut is perennially top-ranked, leading many players into the professional Women's National Basketball Association.
52. Pilots' milestones: SOLOS. To get your pilot's license, you must fly so high and SOLO.
56. Mercury and Neptune: GODS. Roman gods and their namesake roamin' planets. "Planets" (from Greek planētēs) means "wanderers," a term used by ancient astronomers for five bright, naked-eye objects (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) that roam across the fixed starry background.
58. Once cost: WAS.
59. Go on the __: LAM.
Be good. RB
29 comments:
Lost it again! Like
Rusty Brain, the combination of “ Iga” “Tara” and “Girardi” did me in. That’s an unusual two days in a row for me!
An enjoyable classic style puzzle with a tight theme. I am always happy to see my alma mater UCONN favorably clued in a puzzle. The success of both the women’s and men’s basketball programs is very impressive to me knowing this smallish state school.
Not only did I not know TARA I have never heard the term MEMORIST.
JOE GIRARDI started his managerial career here in South Florida so I have seen his name in print countless times.
Thanks Brian and Patty.
Good Morning!
The names did me in. Again. Today it was the G in the DANGELO/GIGI cross and the R in the TARA/GIRARDI cross. Bzzzzt. Thanks for playing. D-o also went sideways in a couple places: LAtEx/LACED and orbS/GODS. Wite-Out fixed those fox passes. I really loved MSDOS. I wrote a simple game in C which came in at 35k bytes. The same game in Python/Windoze runs 10 megabytes. (OK, the graphics in the Python version are better.) Thanx, Patti (CABO/CAPO was cute) and Rusty-Brain. (I loved the Peoria comment.)
Thank you, Patti and RustyBrain
Sweet! Under 12 FTW (for the win).
Started in the middle and got HOLD HANDS quickly. That clue told me to look at the 4 across clues, and they all ref'd back to 33A. That immediately told me that to fill those answers, we were looking for things that hold hands.
No struggles today. I initially had the E and I backwards in NEIMAN, but the downs corrected those. Didn't know GIGI, but knew PADMA and GIRARDI.
FARRAR was another gimme. Just yesterday I read this interesting commentary about puzzle content in general. Note the contrast in views from both Margaret and Wil: Too Topical? Too Safe? Too Family Friendly? — What Belongs in Crosswords? I think you wll also find it interesting. There are a number of other thought provoking articles about crosswords at that blogspot.
Here's another, that the author expands upon from the first, a few years later:
What Belongs in Crosswords: Another Look.
I have to make some coffee now and will read RustyBrain's review after that.
See all y'all later n'at!
"Mary had a little lamb
With mint sauce and mashed potatoes..." recited by a friend's daughter in her first grade class. She said that's when she realized her dad's sense of humor was different as this was the version he taught her. I don't recall how the rest went.
Thanks, Rusty Brain.
I never thought about that General TSO and King Pao relationship. But no fooling! TRUTH.
I had idea before MUSE.
FLAIR perped in, and I presupposed that she must be Ric's wife. WES perped in. Same with TARA.
Chicago Cubs fans would also know GIRARDI from his playing time here.
Yep. Can hardly wait to get my hands in the gardens this SPR. Big plans.
Lemonade, I think I heard on Sportscenter or The Herd that Geno Auriemma set another record last week.
P.u.nothing but names titt
Took 5:23 today to lend a hand.
I knew the Actress of the Day (D'Angelo), but on the other hand, I didn't know the crossword puzzle editor (Farrar).
Knowing "Girardi" came in handy.
Hands down, the worst clue was the "memoirist" clue/answer.
I do have to hand it to the constructor, it was a clever theme, but too much of the fill suffered.
The old Apple II I sold last year included a chess game that ran in 16 kilobytes. Its graphics were low resolution, and it took a long time to move, but I rarely beat it.
Our reviewer was too kind. This was an absolute dud. A cryptic reveal and a convoluted theme. If the gimmick doesn’t hit you, then you have no chance. And trying to parse the theme answers together results in bumping into proper noun after proper noun on cross after cross. Other than some of their Saturday stinkers, I can’t recall a LAT puzzle that was less enjoyable than this one.
FIW, missing my WAG @ PArMA x rIOSMIA. No idea about TV chefs, and I was racking my so-called brain to remember the Taco Bell commercial to help with "ay, caramba."
DW preferred Dove SOAP, so that's what we used. After she passed, I found a few new bars of Dial that we had on hand. I like the Dial a lot better because it rinses cleaner, but I guess the Dove is supposed to moisturize the skin.
To me, this puzzle was more fun than I expected from Patti, but it still won't rank among my favorites. Too much INSIDE baseball on crossword history and women's sports, and too much foreign language fill for my taste. But Rusty Brain's review was a fine contrast.
FIW. The crossing of dias and Farrar did me in. In fact with the presence of so, so many proper names I'm not surprised that there weren't more errors, but I guess my guesser is guessing we'll today. The huge number of proper names was absolutely ridiculous!
It took a while for me to get the theme until ranch houses filled and then the light bulb lit up.
But overall this was a terrible puzzle and definitely NOT enjoyable.
I'd love to say I HAVE IT, but it's a DNF today. The NE intersecting unknowns TARA and GIRARDI got me. It didn't help my CARD 'PARTIES', not PLAYERS, were the ones that would HOLD HANDS.
Completing DIOS MIO tested my translating Spanish to Spanish ability.
I see Patti put a lot of women in today's puzzle. PADMA, TARA, FLAIR, FARRAR, GIGI, IGA, BoPeep, ADELE, D'ANGELO, and the U-Conn clue. The only ones I really knew were Iga and Adele.
CABO & CAPO; DIAS & DIOS- close ones
Sak's 5th Ave bought the money losing NEIMAN Marcus a couple of years ago. Bad Idea. Sak's just declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Good Morning:
This was a FIW for me due to Arc for branch, rather than Arm. The unknown Spanish cross also aided and abetted my error. I always find cross-referenced cluing confusing and ignore it which, today resulted in a total unawareness of the actual theme until the very last entries. Proper names usually don’t bother me but there were too many today that were from niche fields and therefore mostly unknown. I also think foreign language answers are, in some cases, unfair and over used. My struggles in solving were due to my own shortcomings , not Patti’s offering, although I have enjoyed solving some of Patti’s work that was far more accessible and enjoyable than today’s outing.
Thanks, Patti, even though I had my share of complaints and thanks, RB, for your well-explained analysis and your cheery and informative commentary. Your humor was a welcome antidote to my solving disappointment .
Have a great day.
Isn't it "Kung Pao"?
Musings
-Patti had a spring cleaning for obscure names
-Her fun gimmick illustrates how solvers have to have great flexibility about definitions, e.g. Hikes/RAISES!
-For some reason I remember IGA is NOT the name of the former grocery store in our town
-All my doctors use IPADS for check in and require the silly finger signature and a near small town (pop. 1,100) restaurant uses one for taking orders and settling the bill. Cash is fast becoming outmoded.
-As I got older, the CAPO allowed me to find a key where my voice still worked
Thank you RB for explaining the theme, I had too many blanks to figure it out. It is indeed a good theme.
However I DNF because I got overwhelmed with people’s names, almost all of which I’d didn’t know. Some even crossing each other. I even missed USAA even though we have our home owners and automobile insurance with them.
We had UCONN crossing DCON and CAPO and CABO. I don’t quite get the clue for I PAD.
Well, there’s always tomorrow. On to Wordle now.
Memoirist, not memorist
FIR in 9:12 today, slowed down by the aggravating "see 33 across" gimmick. I work from top to bottom and having to skip clues and return to them later is a pet peeve of mine.
Proper names are a pet peeve of many other solvers in this forum, but they don't bother me. I either know them or I solve via perps just like every clue in a puzzle.
I appreciate the lack of "look how clever I am" clues in this puzzle.
Testing Thursday thanks to Patti. And thanks to RustyBrain.
Officially a DNF today since I spent way too much time visiting Google for all the unknown names and American clues.
But I did finally have an AHA moment to see the themers HOLDing HANDS.
I will plead Thumper on the rest.
Wishing you all a great day.
I find finishing a puzzle with a single letter alphabet run a personal failure, however I consider multiple single letter alphabets runs cruel and unusual punishment...
Thanks TTP for the informative links. I wrote the above before I read them. I will try not to say cross words about crosswords in future...
I did like the theme though...
DNF. TITT on this crossNAME fest when I realized there was no enjoyment to be found in the obscure and niche names. I suppose I could have googled them, but that is not what I want in solving a puzzle. Hard to find an Aha! moment when you've never heard of the person. Felt like another "look how clever I am in finding names no one ever heard of" ego trip.
Margaret Farrar was a crossword editor for 27 years. This was before computers and the Internet. Impressive. And solvers had only the dictionary, thesaurus, and friends to check or look up answers. Or we had to wait until the solution was published the next day. No computer, no blog. I still print the puzzle every day and enjoy the challenge. But, in desperation occasionally go on line for help, and I enjoy this blog.
Thanks, Patti. And thanks CC and all her bloggers. And thanks all for commenting.
It was a little intimidating seeing Patti as the constructor, and seeing several unknown people, but perps were fair and I FIR w/out help in 14:14. Not very often when the only clue for the themers is in the reveal. I worked top to bottom, perps filling the top two, when I got HOLD HANDS, the bottom came together pretty easy. Contrary to what some others have said above, I very much enjoyed the solve, thank you Patti, nice work! And thanks to RB for the entertaining and informative review.
It is Kung Pao. No wonder I'd never thought about that relationship.
The theme was OK, but not exceptional. The plethora of names didn’t bother me en route to FIR, although Patti picked an obscure GIGI and I knew Margaret FARRAR only upon reflection. I wasn’t familiar with Charlotte FLAIR, but when I figured out the answer, I realized she must be related to Ric. I always stumble over IGA Swiatek (what’s wrong with the co-op supermarket chain?), but she has appeared many times in the LAT crossword, so I’m always bewildered when solvers think she’s making her puzzle debut.
By the way, the UCONN entry meant Patti squeezed in three women’s sports references, which is fine with me but is an over-representation for most.
I read TARA Westover’s book “Educated,” which was about her escape from her oppressively violent conservative family in southeast Idaho (Napoleon Dynamite country!) to get a college degree. Joe GIRARDI was a memorable catcher for the Chicago Cubs before his managerial career.
My larger issue with Patti’s puzzle was the large number of paraphrases, including TIS but a scratch, no fooling/TRUTH (hardly anyone says that), and the seldom-used syntax of I HAVE IT. If Patti reads The Corner, she apparently does so contemptuously. A good rule for paraphrases: If you need perps to figure it out, it’s a dud.
CED, thank you for brightening my day with that touching photo. (No pun intended.)
It's always interesting to read the comments and find some people really liked a CW, and others really hated it. Add me to the "hated it" list. This obscure name fest was no fun at all.
After printing the CW and counting 17 names and 15 DNKs among them, I decided to go online and use red letter help. Then I decided, "The hell with it. I'm just gonna look up all these names and fill them in, and work the rest of the CW." Even after this massive cheat, it still took me 15 minutes to fill the rest.
After looking up all the names I realized I shoulda known "PACMAN" and "NEIMAN". But no V-8 can from the clue.
So I really did not enjoy this CW. Gotta admit the theme was clever, and I got it early. But just far too many obscure names. "PADMA"? "FLAIR?" "GIRARDI"? Gimme a break.
Thanx for the fine write-up RB.
FIW Names Names Names
This was a puzzle only solved by the 1%.
13A Second calling/alias was a brilliant clue.
I started the puzzle and immediately filled in Padma and PacMan giving myself a false confidence about how this puzzle was going to unfold.
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