Theme: It's a ME thing!
Erica Hsiung Wojcik has authored several puzzles in these pages before. She's a psychology professor whose research focuses on language acquisition in young children. Just because Erica combines interests in crossword puzzles and language development, doesn't mean she thinks you ought to do likewise. As she might say, "It's a me thing."
The big reveal for today's theme appears here:
64-Across. "I'm quirky like that," or, when parsed differently, what can be said of 17-, 30-, and 48-Across: IT'S A ME THING. "It's a me thing" is a way of explaining one's habits or quirks, without apologizing, and without suggesting that someone else is wrong for not doing likewise. You will also find that 17-, 30-, and 48-Across each feature two words that begin with M and E ... a ME thing.
17-Across. Test whose results may be posted in MyChart: MEDICAL EXAM. I'm familiar with MyChart because the health care systems my mom used in Arizona, and now in California, both post appointments, referrals, test results, and after-visit summaries in MyChart web portals.
30-Across. Current stretch of human history: MODERN ERA. Isn't it great to be living in the modern era? Do you think that 2026 will be considered "modern era" in 3026?
48-Across. Boxing night highlight: MAIN EVENT. A night of boxing matches typically involves several fights. The one most advertised usually comes last and features the best known competitors. That match is called the Main Event, regardless of the order.
It's time to move on to the rest of the clues and answers. That's not just a me thing. All of the bloggers in the L.A.Times Crossword Corner follow this format.
Across:1. Artist's numbered work: OPUS. Latin for "work," opus usually refers to a musical composition, or set of compositions numbered in the order of issue. An example is Beethoven's first published work, Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Opus 1, Number 1."
5. Given as a gift: GRATIS. Another Latin word, gratis means free, without charge. Bet you weren't expecting a Latin test this morning.
11. Forearm-to-forehead dance move: DAB. Dab, or dabbing, is a gesture in which a person leans forward into the bent crook of a slanted, upward angled arm, while raising the opposite arm out straight in a parallel direction. It's been a popular dance move since 2010 or so, and is sometimes used as a gesture of triumph or playfulness.
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| Betty White was so cool. |
14. Goose sound: HONK.
15. Heritage: LEGACY.
16. Parisian's "yes": OUI.
17. [Theme clue]
19. Banquet coffeepot: URN.
20. A __ throw away: STONE'S.
21. Do some evil: SIN.
22. Degs. for many execs: MBAS. An abbreviation in the clue calls for an abbreviation in the answer. This one stands for Master of Business Administration degrees.
23. Moon landing org.: NASA. Another abbreviation in the clue and answer. This one, of course, stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
25. Online commerce: E-TAIL. Short for electronic retail.
27. Times to blow out the candles, casually: B-DAYS. Short for birthdays, and easier to jot on a pocket calendar.
30. [Theme clue]
34. Steal from: ROB.
35. Long tale that may involve a quest: EPIC.
37. Midsize stringed instruments: VIOLAS.
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| The middle child of the violin family, the viola rarely plays a starring role. |
38. Small bills: ONES.
40. "Wild" actress Witherspoon: REESE. Reese Witherspoon is an American actress and producer, and the recipient of an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Her big breakthrough was her role as Elle Woods in the 2001 film Legally Blonde. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2015, and Forbes listed her among the world's 100 most powerful women in 2019 and 2021. In 2021, Forbes named her the world's highest-paid actress, and in 2023, she was named one of the wealthiest celebrities in the U.S. with an estimated net worth of $440 million. Is it fair to be so adorable, so brilliant, and so successful?
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| Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde |
42. Big __: semis: RIGS. In North America, vehicles made up of a powered truck tractor and one or more semi-trailers are known as "semis," "semi-trailers," "tractor-trailers," "big rigs," "semi-trucks," or "eighteen-wheelers." In the United Kingdom, a semi-trailer truck is known as an "articulated lorry" or "artic." Quaint!
43. Punctual: ON TIME.
45. "If it __ broke ... ": AIN'T. Bert Lance, Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter, is credited with popularizing the southern idiom, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
47. Service charge: FEE.
48. [Theme clue]
50. Awake: ALERT.
52. Home of the Ninja Turtles: SEWER. The fictional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were created when four baby turtles were exposed to radioactive ooze in a New York City sewer. They continued to live in the sewer even after they became humanoid crime fighters.
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53. "Yeah, I guess": SURE.
55. Crab's grabber: CLAW.
57. Short snooze: NAP.
59. "Hear! Hear!": SO TRUE.
63. Airport with many connecting flights: HUB.
64. [Theme clue}
66. Stump splitter: AXE.
67. Apple pie prep tool: PEELER.
68. See 58-Down: ALTO. Together with the answer to 58-Down, this Silicon Valley city is PALO ALTO, which means "tall stick" in Spanish. The city was named for a 110 foot tall redwood tree which is currently about 1100 years old. It was 162 feet tall in the 19th century -- it has suffered some setbacks -- and it is not so old, as other coast redwoods can approach 2500 years of age.
55. Crab's grabber: CLAW.
57. Short snooze: NAP.
59. "Hear! Hear!": SO TRUE.
63. Airport with many connecting flights: HUB.
64. [Theme clue}
66. Stump splitter: AXE.
67. Apple pie prep tool: PEELER.
68. See 58-Down: ALTO. Together with the answer to 58-Down, this Silicon Valley city is PALO ALTO, which means "tall stick" in Spanish. The city was named for a 110 foot tall redwood tree which is currently about 1100 years old. It was 162 feet tall in the 19th century -- it has suffered some setbacks -- and it is not so old, as other coast redwoods can approach 2500 years of age.
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| El Palo Alto when it had two trunks. It lost one sometime before 1883. |
69. Furry friend: PET.
70. Upgrades that may cost extra: ADD ONS.
71. Some summer babies, astrologically: LEOS.
Down:
1. Electrical units: OHMS. The ohm is defined as an electrical resistance between two points of a conductor when a constant potential difference of one volt, applied to these points, produces in the conductor a current of one ampere, the conductor not being the seat of any electromotive force.
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| A laboratory one-ohm standard resistor, circa 1917 |
2. Pulitzer winner Jericho Brown, for one: POET. Jericho Brown has published three books of poetry, and many other poems in distinguished journals. His 2019 collection of poems titled The Tradition won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Here is Jericho Brown reading the title poem:
3. Ctrl+Z action: UNDO. Computer keyboard shortcut.
4. __ jeans: tight fashion choice: SKINNY. I like skinny jeans, but I've had some that were so tight, I couldn't bend my knees to put my dog in her harness. Those were great jeans!
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| My daughter draped her motorcycle jacket over my shoulders to keep me warm in SF. Check those skinny jeans! 2012. |
5. Windowpane material: GLASS.
6. Theologian's subj.: REL. An abbreviation in the clue calls for an abbreviation in the answer. A theologian's subject is religion.
7. Grows older: AGES. Not me! Nope! Still wearing skinny jeans!
8. Rolled up to the jetway: TAXIED.
9. "Feeling overwhelmed here": I CAN'T EVEN. Said by a person who is so shocked, angry, happy, or disappointed about a situation that they can't put it into words or can't deal with it. Positive example: "This is just so ridiculously cute. I can't even." Negative example: "How could they do this to me? I can't even."
10. Orchestral performance: Abbr.: SYM. Symphony or Symphonic.
11. Burden of a secret agent, perhaps: DOUBLE LIFE.
12. Vibe: AURA.
13. Recycling receptacles: BINS.
18. __ and desist: CEASE.
22. Insignificant: MINOR.
24. French friend: AMIE. Amie is French for a female friend.
26. Nev. neighbor: ARI. Nevada shares a bit of border with Arizona.
27. Sweeping tool: BROOM.
28. Fashion designer Karan: DONNA. You may be familiar with her brand labels Donna Karan New York and DKNY. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute has a significant collection of her designs, which influenced women's fashion in the 1980s and 1990s.
.jpg) |
| Donna Karan ensemble at the Met |
29. "Pay up! No excuses!": A BET IS A BET.
31. Salty expanse: OCEAN.
32. Wild party: RAGER.
33. Positive attribute: ASSET.
36. Stopped from happening: PREVENTED.
39. Tendon: SINEW. A tendon is a fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone, enabling muscle contraction to pull on the skeleton. We usually use sinew to refer to tendon that is cooked, dried, or used as a material. But not always! How about this excerpt from The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
Under a spreading chestnut-treeThe village smithy stands;The smith, a mighty man is he,With large and sinewy hands;And the muscles of his brawny armsAre strong as iron bands.
41. Grabs a chair: SITS.
44. Tiny cat noise: MEW.
46. Divination deck: TAROT. Divination is fortune-telling using omens or supernatural powers.
49. Wiped out?: ERASED.
51. "__ Weapon": buddy cop film franchise: LETHAL. The franchise consists of a series of four films released between 1987 and 1998 and a television series which aired from 2016 to 2019.
54. Manual readers: USERS.
55. Fellow: CHAP.
56. Extremely opulent: LUXE.
58. With 68-Across, Silicon Valley city: PALO.
60. Irritate but good: RILE. Rile means to annoy or irritate. The clue is slangy, and just means to do a good job of irritating.
61. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO. Rabbi Hillel (who died in the year 10 CE) said the whole of the Bible came down to this rule: "That which is hateful to you, do not do to another." The positive formulation "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" is attributed to Jesus in the New Testament. Other traditions from around the world have similar formulations, some older than these examples.
62. Self-images: EGOS.
64. Craft beer letters: IPA. India Pale Ale is a beer style known for its strong hop flavor and high alcohol content. It was first created in 18th-century England to survive the long voyage to India. Hops acted as a natural preservative. Home brewers (and small craft breweries) value the variety of flavors and aromas from a range of hops, and the short brewing time.
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| Enjoying a warm one with the fellows. |
65. Fellows: MEN.
Here's the grid:
Solvers, did it take AGES to complete this puzzle? Was there something that PREVENTED you from finishing?
Or did you finish ON TIME with an EPIC win?
You know I want to know. It's a me thing. Comments welcome!
-- NaomiZ
26 comments:
A nice, easy puzzle
to start the week, as befits a Monday.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
The Wite-Out got a rest today. Puzzled over the reveal: IT SAME THING. D'oh. Recognized MyChart -- my doctor is hospital-affiliated, and they also use it. OHMS reminds me of hours spent trying to find the correct color-coded resistors for my electronic projects. Being color-blind is not an asset. Thanx for the amusement, Erica, and for another sterling expo, NaomiZ. (It's great that you can still fit into those skinny jeans.)
I don’t know where
you’re from, D-O, but various doctors of mine use “ MyChart” too.
Must be a nationwide thing.
FIR without erasure. Waited for amps/OHMS.
There's no I in team, but there are an M and an E.
Nearly all my physicians are on MyChart. I really like it, especially for test results / history, and billing / payments. Only my ophthalmologist, optician and dentist don't use it.
Finally, we had a fashion clue that even I knew - DONNA, of DKNY.
Thanks to Erica for the fun, easy start to the work week. And thanks to NaomiZ for the tour. I think that whether people in 3026 will refer to us as part of the MODERN ERA will depend on whether their AI-driven robotic masters will allow people to do so. But probably not - think of life in 1026. They didn't even have Costco, let alone Amazon.com. On the positive side, they didn't have The Kardashians or Maroon 5 either.
Good Morning:
This was an easy, smooth solve with a clever, well-executed and well-hidden theme. The themers were solid phrases and the majority of the fill was a cut above the normal Monday fare. The Poet was unknown to this solver and I’m sure Donna Karan was unknown to most, if not all, male solvers. Both, however, were easily perped.
Thanks, Erica, and thanks, Naomi, for the excellent expo and commentary. I loved Legally Blonde, especially Elle’s fearsome chihuahua, Bruiser! Skinny Pants suit you very well! I believe MyChart is nationwide. I sure give it a workout!
Have a great day.
My apologies, Jinx, for my incorrect assumption about Ms. Karan’s name-recognition to males.
FIR. Easy-peasy Monday puzzle. My only misstep was self inflicted when I foolishly threw down taxies instead of taxied. I wasn't paying attention as I raced through this puzzle.
The theme escaped me and only coming here enlightened me.
But overall a very enjoyable puzzle.
I won't be a Karen about it. If not for my late DW's tastes in clothes, I wouldn't have known. Guess I'll keep my man card after all.
Yes, I. go shopping with my wife and am also familiar with Donna and her DKNY products.i like it so much i have stolen for my catch phrase, DKDC, Don't Know, Don't Care.i have never heard of the dance term DAB but the rest was easy. Do flowery pants still count as jeans. Any Oscar commentary. Did you like Ann Hathaway's dress? Gwyneth Paltrow' s fancy sheet which displayed her lovely nude body.Thanks Erica and Naomi, time to shop for corned beef and cabbage
Nice fun and fast Monday
Lemonade - jeans can be flowery, it needs to be denim to call them jeans
Nice clecho - the medical record that uses My Chart for MEDICAL EXAMs is EPIC which is one of the 2-3 most popular EHR for hospitals and their related outpatient clinics. Outpatient only offices cannot usually afford the EPIC price. But every EHR has a patient portal for patients to access their results and to communicate with their health care team. It was invaluable when I had to take care of my mom's health issues to be able to send messages to her primary and her specialists.
Thanks NaomiZ for the blog and Erica for the puzzle
Overnight dropped from 60s and woke up to 17 degrees with a wind chill down to -3 degrees, but fortunately the ice/snow didn't last with the warm ground
Musings
-On this February 7, 1961 night, Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) was not the MAIN EVENT. ">He was on the under card
-Several BIG RIGS were blown off the road yesterday in out 60mph winds
-I may not be who you want to see but I guarantee I will be ON TIME
-If it AIN’T broke…: Ronald Reagan said these are the 9 most terrifying words in the English language – “I'm from the government and I'm here to help”
-Naomi, you are rockin’ those SKINNY JEANS!
-The manual is the last thing this USER seeks out when something doesn’t work
-I sometimes wonder what would most impress a person from 1826 if they were dropped into this MODERN ERA
-I knew DONNA Karen because girls wore a lot of DKNY shirts to school then and I had to ask
FIR. No problems with this smooth CW. I didn’t notice the theme until the reveal. Cute. Never heard of the dance move DAB.
I thought MyChart was a local THING, but I see lots of y’all use it also. I really like the convenience. All our doctors use it even the neighborhood Urgent Care facility.
Thank you “SKINNY jeans” NaomiZ for the great review.
Marvelous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Erica and NaomiZ.
I FIRed in good time, but failed to get the ME thing. I parsed the themer as IT SAME THING, and could not see any IT SAME THINGs in the 3 themers. D’uh! (Is changing ME to M E really parsing?)
IT’S A ME THING crossed by EGOS at the end was appropriate.
I had LUsh before LUXE, and cat before PET. That was my only inkblot. I had trouble getting started with the Across clues and switched to the Downs.
We have Connect My Health which sounds similar to your MyChart.
Lucina will be happy to know that I got ARI today.
Wishing you all a great day.
I liked Ann Hathaway’s dress. My opinion is divided in Gwyneth Paltrow’s.
Thanks, Inanehiker, for answering Lemonade's question! My flowery pants were indeed denim jeans.
Took 4:11 today, according to the tiMEr.
I knew the Actress of the Day (Reese, not Reece) and somehow that the designer was "Donna". I didn't know the "poet," but got it thanks to only four perps.
Easy, but I needed a little thought and a few more perps than for the usual Monday, which I can solve as fast as I can write. "A bet is a bet" was my last fill.
The reveal showed me the theme.
When something doesn't work, Google is my answer with great success. Now my voice mail doesn't work. This time, Google says to contact my phone company. Verizon kept me on the phone an hour and a half with no solution, I had to leave. Maybe I had an inept tech. I am loath to spend more hours on this. In the meantime I check my list of calls and call back cold.
"Yeah, I guess" is much weaker than sure. Sure is certainly.
I love hoppy beer like IPA's. IMO bitter is not a good description for he taste of hops.
DAB is new to me, but it had good perps. I guess I am too old fashioned.
Sinew was is the first synonym that came to mind for tendon.
Have a pleasant Monday.
A walk in the park but stumbling over some STONES on the way. Theme answers all contain ME (self images: EGOS). It’s also a Maine thing
Almost put edda for EPIC (an old stand by) and skanky for “jeans” 😃.
“Are you going to Paris?” “OUI”
“Aren’t you going to Paris”? “Si”(affirmative answer to a negative question)
War, famine, genocide. How is this theMODERN ERA 😟
Inkovers: God/REL, dip/DAB (odd clue for a Monday)
Competed in track online? … ERASED
Candy maker of pieces … REESE
Comes already perforated …PREVENTED
My Chart is popular patient portal that is quite common across the country. It’s a component of a EPIC, a user unfriendly (IMO) hospital electronic health record system . Difficult and time consuming to learn, it looks as if someone took 100’s of minute apps and indiscriminately threw them at the computer screen. I know just enough not to get into trouble. 🙄
Have a good week
Great Monday CW, thanx EHW. I especially liked you keeping the names to 7, which if memory serves me ties one other CW for fewest names. Only DNK 2 of the 7, one being Donna Karan. Learning moment: DKNY stands for Donna Karan New York.
The other DNK name is Jericho Brown. I listened to his poem, "The Tradition", and I can only assume his other works were much better since he has apparently won awards.
My only W/O was where I carelessly wrote ALTO at 71A instead of 68A. Oy.
FIR in 10, about typical for me on a Monday. I did see the theme, but only after the reveal.
Thanx NaomiZ for the fine write-up.
Just right for a Monday CW, FIR in 8:48, figured the theme after the reveal. DNK DAB, DONNA (or what DKNY stood for), or the POET. “Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo”~Don Marquis. Thank you Erica for the Monday treat, and to NaomiZ (and the other bloggers) for working GRATIS for our reading enjoyment. I’m a fan of SKINNY jeans and you wear them well, others not so much.
Ah, Monday puzzles. (Probably the only good thing about Mondays...)
forgive me if I speak my mind... I have finally confirmed for sure that I am not losing my mind.
(Hmm, that didn't come out right...)
But in addition to occasionally not seeing an entire line of across clues,
(Im reading the write up, and I swear, I never read those clue answers...)
I often reread The Blog because I miss posts. Well today I can tell you for sure it's not me! The last two posts before I started typing were Yellowrocks and Uncle Fred. After I hit refresh, Ray-O popped up right between them!
You have to reread the Blog constantly if you don't want to miss anything!
Anywho, I would have missed Gwynith Paltrow's dress if I hadn't read theBlog...
The "steal" clue for "rob" reminds me that I learned from The Beatles "She Came In Thru The Bathroom Window," (she could steal but she could not rob...) that steal and rob are two different things. To steal is to take something when some one is not looking. To rob is to take by force...
Anyway, speaking of "me" things. I have a question...
I went to CVS yesterday to pick up meds, and was confronted with some new fangled gizmos you had to deal with to get your Rx. A giant computer screen with a built in keyboard, in which you "have to" type in all you personal history and other what not that everyone can now see. Not only can I NOT type anything without my glasses, I can never fat finger my phone number correctly anyway! On top of that I am OCD! I don't want to touch that skeevey thing that God only knows how many other sick people have touched before me...
And why do I have to do what the person behind the counter used to do now?
So, I couldn't help myself, and said " I don't want to do this" out loud...
To which the guy in a lab coat behind the consulting desk announced to the entire store that is was being "disrespectful."
What do you think?
Divided on Paltrow's dress LOL. Especially the side view!
Monday Funday! Nice way to start the week, Erica.
Naomi, thanks for the Betty White gif. A little DAB'll do ya! Congats on still rocking skinny jeans. Are they DKNY?
Thank you, Erica and NaomiZ.
I did not catch the ME combos during the solve. IT SAME THING and ITS A ME THING caught me by surprise.
325 million patient's health records are in MyChart in the U.S. The corp that developed it is EPIC Systems. It is the most widely used health records system in the country. 60 Minutes or 20-20 or some such did a feature story on Epic Systems founder and CEO Judith Faulkner maybe 10 or 12 years ago.
The story stuck with me. She is a UW-Madison grad, and their main location is just outside of Madison. Rather rural Wisconsin as the central hub for the nation's largest developer of healthcare records software. Not the Silicon Valley, not NYC nor Seattle nor Raleigh/Research Triangle. Not Austin nor DFW nor Northern Virginia nor any of the other major software development sites that would first come to mind. Rural Wisconsin. Quite the individual, and quite the story. She became a multi-billionaire and is giving back 99% of her assets to philanthropy after signing The Living Pledge.
My PCP and his staff use Epic and MyChart. It was foisted upon them when they became part of the area hospital system. They seem to be constantly at their keyboards when not working with patients. I think they have a love/hate relationship with it. As a consumer, I really like it.
Weeee, I FIR’d this one! Last week was rough for me. I love Monday CCs, they always give the confidence boost I need :))
Thank you Naomi for the write up. I’m definitely adding “articulated lorry” to my vocabulary, for when I want to sound smart.
Delightful Monday puzzle, many thanks, Erica. And your commentaries and pictures are always a treat, thanks for those too, Naomi.
Could an OPUS really be GRATIS, our would it require a POET to pay some fees out there to have their work published? But we certainly know that a MEDICAL EXAM will require a FEE and won't be free. And let's hope we don't have to put the money in an URN. But there are many bills amassing in the MODERN ERA, aren't they? Well, at least B'DAY gifts can be pretty modest--they just have to be delivered ON TIME. And I would never pay a FEE to attend a MAIN EVENT at a boxing venue. So, all in all, I feel lucky that I don't lead a DOUBLE LIFE, and that after dealing with all this financial stuff this morning, I can now take my NAP.
Have a lovely, delightful day, everyone.
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