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
11 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.
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