"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
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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
As I’ve done before,
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteWe 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!
ReplyDeleteYEOW! -- 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
ReplyDeletea 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!
ReplyDeleteTook 12:05 today to get the jobs done.
ReplyDeleteHad 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.
Anon, I remember visiting there, but it was still a national monument at the time, quite a few years from achieving national park status.
DeleteI'd love to say I FIR but it was a DNF today. I couldn't complete the NW because I couldn't think of JOCKEY, even with KIT and YEOW filled. But JUDGE, OPIUM, CREME, and E MEET were unknowns. I think the last FRESCA I drank was in the 60s. DIET POP would have been all perps because nobody in the South call it 'pop'. All the rest was filled correctly, except ROEG ad C SUITES. MOSCATO is unknown and I filled Executive-SUITES.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a Friday worthy puzzle today.
RANCHER- never heard of that term. Ranch or ranchette style.
FIR, but it was a struggle as often Friday puzzles are. There was a lot of tricky cluing and to honest I thought some of it was a bit forced to suit the theme.
ReplyDeleteAnd I completely missed the theme even with the reveal. I had to come here to have it explained to me.
So overall a so-so puzzle.
The E-dog ate my comments. Here's what I remember:
ReplyDeleteFIW, missing with BOLT Out->ELu and REt. I obviously didn't get the theme, or I would have gotten REF and maybe that would have fixed ELu. Also, soda pop->DIET POP, vacancy->VACATED, athlete->TROOPER, snares->TABORS, and in a ->PER.
As a soon-to-be home seller and home buyer, I've been doing a lot of searching online. I've seen RANCHER used a lot.
RAM IN - we used to say "pound to fit, paint to match."
Thanks to Tracy for the challenge. And thanks to Splynter for the interesting tour. I'll stay tuned to find out if you are getting married or becoming a handyman.