"EDGE"SSENTIAL WORKERS
Tracy Gray had two puzzles last year, one landing 51 weeks ago, also on a Friday, that had the themers 'turn' on the word DIME. Today's construction is another "visual" theme from her, offering us a series of ten fills that are "jobs", found on the perimeter, or "side" of the grid - very clever. We have seen this type of theme before, and I liked the puzzle, but it felt like the author had to "RAM IN" some of the fill - I'm looking at you, 18A~! Perhaps having the solution to begin will be the best way to explain the reveal;
38. Secondary gig, or a literal description of 10 answers in this puzzle: SIDE JOB - the edge, or "side" fills are careers, or "jobs", but clued synonymously;
Top Across:
1. Undergarment brand: JOCKEY
7. Single-story home: RANCHER - just called a "ranch" where I grew up
Down Right:
13. Enc. or dict.: REFerence, encyclopedia & dictionary; one of two abbrs - REFEREE
29. Representation built to scale: MODEL - not the meteorologist🠅, this🠇
52. Perry of classic TV: MASON - Stonemasonry - name #1
Left Up:
57. Confirm the credentials of, say: VET - the straight verb, and the other abbr, VETERINARIAN
33. Test episode: PILOT - "Pilot~? What's a pilot~?"
1. 2017 AL Rookie of the Year: JUDGE - NY Yankees baseball slugger, Aaron, name #3
B u t W
M a
o i
r t
e ,
T h e r e' s
ACROSS:14. Starts a revolt: UPRISES - my incorrect Down fills seriously hindered my progress in the NW
16. Good-natured: AMIABLE - the Corner discussed AMICABLE not too long ago
17. Fresca, for one: DIET POP - a Coca~Cola product - an interesting history
19. Extra product: GUM - clever misdirection; this product
20. Some surfers: WAHINES - Downs gave me - - HINES, and I recalled this 'Hawaii Five-O' term
22. Collaborate on Microsoft Teams, say: eMEET
25. "The Man Who Fell to Earth" director Nicolas: ROEG - name #4, and I am shocked that I had never heard of this 1976 Sci-Fi movie staring David Bowie - more here
30. Big to-do: RUCKUS - in another Sci-Fi movie, Agent J asks why all the "ruckus"
32. 1990s fitness fad: TAE BO
33. High-performance German cars: PORSCHES - I'll have the plug-in hybrid 918 - name(ish)
36. Frank: CANDID
37. Brewpub fave: IPA
40. Beth Ann Fennelly's "__ to Butter": ODE - name(ish) - Quite raunchy - I love it~!
41. "Grumpy Old Men" actor: LEMMON - I remembered these movie outtakes; name #5
43. Spot for horsing around?: CAROUSEL - Great clue/answer~!
45. Film production company named for a constellation: ORION - they put out a lot of winners
47. Shades at the beach: TANS
48. Daycation locations: SPAS
49. Earthquake: SEISM - the "def" from Greek seismos
53. Tops of most org charts: C-SUITES - CEO, CFO, COO, etc.
56. __ salt: SEA
57. No longer occupied: VACATED
63. Paragon: EPITOME - uh PIT oh mee - like hyperbole 😜
64. Starting line?: "HERE I GO - again", Whitesnake~!
DOWN:
2. Yves Saint Laurent perfume: OPIUM - name(ish)
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3. __ anglaise: CRÈME - I thought HABLA, but no - it's this Frawnche sauce
4. Word with mess or press: KIT - ah... Not HOT 😏
5. Unusual ability: ESP - Friday, so no indication that this is an abbr~?
8. Interspersed with: AMONG
9. African flower?: NILE - crossword misdirection - flow-er, like mower
10. Former name of a med. imaging tool: CAT SCAN - originally EMI, now CT - here's why
11. "Task" network: HBO - filled via perps
15. Ignited: SPARKED
21. Comfy cover-up: HOUSE COAT
23. Hesitant sounds: Ers - I had Ums to start
24. City near Saguaro National Park: TUCSON - filled via perps; geo name #7
27. Overhauls: REDOs - the noun, not the verb REDOES
28. Remain faithful to, with "by": ABIDE - meh. I filled in STAND
31. Viola holder: CHIN - Dah~! Not CASE
34. Palais Garnier performance: OPERA - total WAG
35. Force to fit: RAM IN - my time at UPS was spent putting 10lbs of boxes in a 5lb van
36. Heart: CORE
39. Impromptu gig, casually: JAM SESH - has actually appeared once before in another crossword
42. Sweet Italian wine: MOSCATO - WAGed the "C" - my 53A. was messed up due to my 48 Down🠇
44. Draw upon: USE
46. Biter of Miles Morales: SPIDER - mostly perps, not a comics fan, didn't "get it"; his Wiki; name #8
48. Sarcastic challenge: "SUE ME." - I filled in "SEE ME", as in "watch this~!" - Bzzzzt
50. "To refresh your memory ... ": "I SAID . . ."
51. Marsh plant used for papyrus: SEDGE - I was tempted to try REEDS
54. Discontinue: STOP
55. Misrepresent, as data: SKEW
58. Diamond birthstone mo.: APRil - I knew this; here's a comprehensive with alternatives chart
59. AFL partner: CIO - frequent crossword appearances
61. Golden yrs. fund: IRA - Individual Retirement Account; I can finally start funding mine again - let's just say I'm about to be the next "Hubby" - more to to be revealed in the coming weeks~!
62. Parts __ million: PER
6 comments:
As I’ve done before,
I reserve the right to put in my comments later. See you then.
I do look forward to Fridays, my old blogging stomping grounds both for the challenge of the puzzles but also for the visit with Splynter. This was a joy on both counts.
We begin with a wet maiden with legs that don’t end, to linking underwear ads where most would have included boys boring ones, to a wonderful perfume ad and the one time famous Suzanne Somers , no relation to the actress who played Joyce Summers in the Buffy movie and co-starred in the David Bowie movie. Fun every place I looked.
I also grimaced at RANCHER and BOLT OFF
but overall Tracy made this fun and perfect for a Splynter write-up.
Thanks and avoid ladders and black cats
Good morning!
YEOW! -- not Ouch. DIET POP, not SODA POP. UPRISES, not RISES UP. JOCKEY didn't occur to me -- I wear Flute of the Room. That entire NW corner was too messed up to salvage. Bzzzzt. Further down, Nicolas with four letters -- gotta be CAGE, right? Hand up for Viola CASE. What a fiasco. I remember Suzanne SOMERS as the blond in the red TBird in American Graffiti. The puzzle was very clever, but d-o just wasn't up to it. Thanx, Tracy and Splynter.
There are many ways
a person can be “helped” with crossword puzzles, if they are doing it online.
I wasn’t getting anywhere with this puzzle, so I took one of them, putting a diagonal line through each incorrect letter.
So I solved it, but not without a LOT of help!
Never got the theme but managed a FIR. That Northwest corner though!
Took 12:05 today to get the jobs done.
Had I caught the theme, "Warden" & "Judge" would've come a lot quicker. I knew the Actress of the Day but never realized it was spelled "Somers". Have never heard of the director (Roeg) or his movie, although I am familiar with the David Bowie song, "The Man Who Sold the World" (though I'm partial to the Nirvana acoustic version). I also didn't know the French sauce (creme), the perfume (Odium), or that a ranch was a "rancher."
Saguaro National Park is an interesting park to visit. Those cacti are huge and everywhere. I believe that when I got to the park at around 9 a.m., it was 100F. I'm guessing our Senora Lucina has been there before.
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