Carolyn W. Stewart is a veteran constructor that for some reason or another, hasn't published here in the LAT before - probably because she has trouble spelling
"GEARS." But she's turned that into an asset in today's Los Angeles puzzle. I'm glad she finally found us!
Here's the revealer:
59. Shift, or what the ends of 17-, 23-, 38-, and 48-Across do: CHANGE GEARS. In each of the themers, the order of the five letters that spell GEARS are CHANGED (scrambled).
Since the themers don't relate to each other (except for sharing the last 5 letters) I'm going GEAR up by inventing new definitions for each of them:
17. Some fines: LATE CHARGES. A fine imposed when returning GEAR late.
23. Group leaders: TEAM MANAGERS. People who may select GEAR for a team to use.
38. Old name for neon or argon: RARE GAS. GEAR to contain gases include tanks and cylinders.
48. Prom purchase: WRIST CORSAGE. Floral GEAR worn on a wrist.
Now you're all in GEAR. This theme was one that needed the reveler to decode. Circles would have clued us in earlier that something was happening at the end of each answer, but then it wouldn't be Thursday.
Let's CHANGE GEARS and shift into Drive!
Across:
1. Headcheese ingredient: ASPIC. Headcheese is not actually cheese. It is a spicy appetizer mold made of pork roast. For me, the gelatin is the worst ASPIC of this dish.
6. Nave-y bases?: PEWS. Ha ha! "Nave" as in the central area of a church.
10. Ad __: HOC.
13. Like bagpipes and wetlands: REEDY.
14. Overly familiar: TRITE.
16. Forest hooter: OWL.
17. [theme]
19. Messenger __: RNA. RiboNucleic Acid is essential for life (as we know it).
20. Marked down: ON SALE.
21. One with snappy comebacks: WIT. If you can't come up with a clever retort, you are WITout.
22. Attach a patch, say: SEW. A mini poem!
23. [theme]
27. Broccoli __: RABE. Broccoli RABE (pronounced ROB) isn't broccoli at all. AKA rapini, it's a leafy, bitter relative of the turnip. Mine is missing - I've been RABED!
30. Go without a destination: ROAM. Or ROVE.
31. Carol contraction: TIS. 'TIS not the season yet, but it starts earlier every year, so who knows? And remember folks, there's only 252 shopping days until Christmas, so you'd better get going! To save time, you may contact me here for my list. Just sayin'...
32. Didn't waste: USED.
33. Landscaping supply: SOD. In South Florida, it's very difficult to grow grass from seed in our sandy soil, so I recently added some SOD to my lawn. Per instructions, I laid it green-side up.
34. Take exception to: RESENT.
37. None at all: NIL.
 |
| NIL (not pictured) |
38. [theme]
40. San Francisco's __ Hill: NOB. NOB Hill is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the US. You can hobnob with snobs there.
41. Long rowboat, or a long kitchen: GALLEY.
43. Square on a waffle: PAT. A PAT of butter.
44. Best guesses: Abbr.: ESTS. Abbreviations is abbreviated, so we must double abbreviate ESTimateS?
45. In medias __: RES. Latin for "in the midst of things," it is a narrative technique where a story begins in the middle of crucial action rather than with a traditional preamble. You see it at the beginning of every action movie, as director's try to stay fresh by emulating Homer's Odyssey from the 8th century BC.
46. The Smiths guitarist Johnny: MARR. Johnny MARR is an English-born Irish musician, singer and songwriter. Fender now offers a signature model Jaguar built to his specs.
 |
| Johnny and his Jaguar |
47. Political satire that won 17 Emmys in seven seasons: VEEP. It's on HBO, so many of us haven't seen it.
48. [theme]
52. Many, many years: EON. Many, many years: EVEN. The rest are odd years.
53. "Color me intrigued!": OOH. Tell me more!
54. Drive-in server: CARHOP. Before the drive-thru, meals came to you! You were still eating in your car, but at least you were parked. So civilized.
58. Shakshuka ingredient: EGG. Shakshuka is a popular North African and Middle Eastern dish of EGGs poached in a flavorful sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, and onions, seasoned with spices like cumin, paprika, and cayenne pepper. I'm glad this clue wasn't the other way around - Egg dish: SHAKSHUKA. That would've been ridiculous.
59. [theme]
62. Low grade: DEE.
63. "Home Alone" boy: KEVIN. KEVIN! Played by Macaulay Culkin.
64. Will of "Blue Bloods": ESTES. Will ESTES is an actor, apparently, who stars in something.
65. Orchestra sect.: STR. The STRING section.
66. Tide type: NEAP.
67. Surgical tube: STENT.
Down:
1. "Collapsed in Sunbeams" singer-songwriter Parks: ARLO. ARLO Parks is a performer perhaps better known by her English countrymen, although now living in the States. Since the only ARLO I know is Guthrie, I assumed she was a he. And you know what happens when you assume...
2. Astin of "The Goonies": SEAN. SEAN Astin is an accomplished American actor who started as a child in Goonies. I liked him as the Hobbit Samwise Gamgee, Frodo's best friend in Lord of the Rings.
3. Dependents that can't be claimed as tax deductions: PETS. Actually, they can be deducted if they are also service animals. Here's Buster patrolling the beach as a tax-deductible life guard.
4. Contributed to a brainstorming session: IDEATED.
5. Repetitive sequence: CYCLE. Ever felt like you're getting nowhere?
6. Org. that may take summers off: PTA. Like many school-related organizations, the Parent Teacher Association follows the academic calendar and has summer vacation.
7. Miss a cue, say: ERR.
8. Native American hut: WIGWAM. A WIGWAM differs from a teepee in that there are less ways to misspell it.
9. Hofbrau vessel: STEIN. Hofbräu is a Bavarian beer from Munich traditionally served in a German beer STEIN.
10. Good judgment: HORSE SENSE. You can trust a horse's advice if he's wearing glasses.
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| Mr. Ed talking sense into Wilbur |
11. One with a title: OWNER.
12. Scratches (at): CLAWS.
15. Lots of rich folks?: ESTATES. See sNOB HILL.
18. Word of mouth: HEARSAY.
24. "Wuthering Heights" setting: MOOR. The MOOR in this story is in northern England, thus no bagpipes. It lies between Liverpool and Leeds, near Haworth where the Brontë sisters wrote most of their novels.
25. Met expectations, in a way: MADE PAR. This clue was average.
26. PX patrons: G.I.S. G.I. is a nickname for an US soldier, thought to be mass-produced "Government Issue." Originally stamped on trash cans and equipment made of "Galvanized Iron" in WWI, it's adoption is an even more cynical take. In any case, soldiers shop at Post EXchanges, retail stores on an Army base.
27. Stepladder step: RUNG.
28. Land east of the Urals: ASIA.
29. Quasimodo, for one: BELL RINGER. Yeah, I know. His face doesn't ring a bell.
34. Daily grind: RAT RACE.
35. Pay attention to: NOTE. Because if you miss a NOTE, the melody sounds wrong.
36. Cookbook meas.: TBSP. A TaBleSPoon measure.
38. Update, as inventory: RESTOCK.
39. Needle-nosed swimmers: GARS.
42. French article: LES.
44. Highest point: EVEREST. While Mount EVEREST is the highest point above sea level, it's interesting that there are taller mountains on Earth, but they start on the sea floor.
46. Natives of the Colorado river valley: MOHAVE.
48. Works the garden: WEEDS. The difference between WEEDS and flowers is whether you want them there or not. We're trying to grow more wildflowers around our South Florida home that add color and thrive naturally in the sub-tropics with low water requirements.
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| Not our yard, but it's certainly colorful! |
49. Thesaurus creator: ROGET. In junior high, I thought it was Roger's Thesaurus, but that's a different word.
50. Financier Steve who owns the New York Mets: COHEN. He seems very popular.
51. Green plums: GAGES. Greengages (or Green GAGE) are a cultivar group of the European plum recognized for its small, round shape and intense sweetness. That's plum crazy! The things you learn from xwords.
55. Can't stand: HATE. Can't stand: SITS.
56. __ Ishii: Lucy Liu's "Kill Bill" role: O-REN. I stumbled upon Kill Bill: Volume 1 while flipping channels years ago, and was immediately riveted. Watched it from the middle, then again from the beginning. I like Tarantino's incongruent music choices.
 |
| Lucy Liu as O-Ren Ishii |
57. "Over here!": PSST.
60. Actress Vardalos: NIA. It all started at her wedding...
61. Economic fig.: GNP. This nomenclature for a country's wealth figure, the Gross National Product, is outdated though still in common use. In 1993, the United Nations renamed it GNI, the Gross National Income, to better reflect their intent to measure residents' income vs. product manufacturing.
Be good. RB
7 comments:
A pretty challenging
puzzle, but I got through it. I have to cry foul, though, at something near the end: the crossing of “Estes” and “Oren” - a potential Natick if I ever saw one. Fortunately, the perps were kind here, as elsewhere.
FIR, so I’m happy.
From yesterday.
1. Painting tip: When the job is large and takes more than a day, wrap your brush/roller in a plastic bag and place it in the freezer. When you're ready to paint again, remove from the freezer, allow to thaw for about 30 mins, and paint away.
2. Gas tax. FYI For the most part, gas taxes are XXcts/per gallon. thus if the gas tax is $.25/gal, one pays $.25/gal whether the price of gas is $2.89/gal or $4.98/gal. Google, "How much is the gas tax".
3. "merch". It seems some here don't quite understand the meaning. Yes, "merch" IS slang for "merchandise", but, it is used in a specific context. It is products that a person, entity, or brand sells that promotes and advertises their product/brand. At a Tayler Swift concert, you will only find Tayler Swift merch, there will be no Beatles, Cher, or Adele merch in sight. At Disney World there is only Disney merch...no Coke, no Nike, no Knotts Berry Farm tees. If you're a PBS fan you can go to their website and purchase PBS promoted/branded "merch". "Merch" ranges from Tees, hoodies, baseball caps to glasses and mugs to totes and keyrings...and other items portraying their logo or slogan or portrait (brand).
4. "the woman who torpedoed The Beatles"? How sexist, chauvinistic, and/or misogynistic...AND demeaning of men. Were the 4 Beatles limp d*cks with no free will or agency? Btw, sometimes a man will select a "dragon lady/hatchet woman" to fight their battles for them and/or do their "dirty work". Just a thought.
Anonymous at 3:58am
Yes, that is true about the gas tax. It is a set amount per gallon, not a percentage. If gas prices rise, states, counties, and cities will not see a windfall, but will probably lose revenue because gallons of gas purchased will likely decrease.
Google "how much is the gas tax in (your state)" to find out.
Good morning!
Yay, d-o read the full reveal clue and found the mixed up GEARS. Yup, tried TEEPEE before WIGWAM became obvious; wickiup was too long. Don't think I'd ever run across MOJAVE spelled with an H before, but Mohave County is a huge county that comprises most of NW Arizona. I guess I must visited, because I've crossed the London Bridge at Lake Havasu City. It's a nice bridge, but I was expecting towers. Thanx for the amusement, Carolyn and R.B.
Had fun thinking there was a name for the square indentations on a waffle till anticlimactically "pat" became put. Agree about Oren and Estes.
FIR, but erased stien for STEIN. Bad Spelars of the world, UNTIE! I really resisted MOHAVE, but finally concluded that it was more likely than "OOj."
A week or two ago I linked to our local drive-in Doumar's. They still have CAR HOPS, but in modern times the roller skates have given way to walking. Your order is still taken and delivered in person - no tinny speakers there. The restaurant was opened by the guy who invented the machine that makes waffle ice cream cones.
Around here we have mostly NEX (Navy EXchange) and MCX (Marine Corps Exchange) stores, although we also have Air Force, Army and Coast Guard installations here. I've presented project management classes to the folks who provide operational support the NEX stores. Smart people who take their work seriously.
I was less than gruntled with this one. Too much A&E again, and hand up for giving a big, wet raspberry to ESTES x OREN and GAGES. Thanks to Rusty Brain for another fun review. I really liked your picture of NIL.
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