Sam Brody doesn't ABIDE by "measure twice and cut once," so he cut each
piece of wood twice instead. At least he was consistent! He's been
constructing for a few years, but this is his LAT debut. Welcome!
 |
| A woodcut of a wood cutter. |
39. Artistic printing method, and a feature of rows 2, 5, 11, and 14 in this puzzle: WOODCUT. A WOODCUT is a relief printing technique where an artist carves an image into the surface of a wooden block leaving raised areas to be inked and printed. For this puzzle, however, it means the four types of WOOD hidden in the grid (HICKORY, MAHOGANY, CHERRY and CHESTNUT), are CUT into pieces.
May must be circles-on-Thursday month, but without them, they would be hard to find (hard wood?). Also, circles are cross-sections of logs, so there's that. This puzzle had appropriate difficulty for today, so I wasn't board. My only hang-up was the intersections of TORTA, ARCH and WAR, which took some guessing.
Lumbering on...
Across:
1. Novice gamers, informally: NEWBS. Slang term for beginners, similar to "newbies."
6. Thurman of "Pretty Lethal": UMA. She has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows since the 1980s. Perhaps because she is 5'-11" tall, UMA is often cast as a tough cookie.
9. Pizzeria array: PIES.
13. Moral principle: ETHIC.
14. "M*A*S*H" setting, for short: KOR. KORea. Both the movie and the TV show took place in South Korea during the Korean War.
15. "Butterfly Dance" artist: YANNI. We don't play this at out house because RightBrain has lepidopterophobia, the fear of butterflies. I don't think she likes the way they flit around near her.
16. Put away: STASH.
17. Under a spell: ENTRANCED. Out for a spell: EXITED.
19. College where Robert Frost taught English: AMHERST. “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” ―
21. "Let's do it!": I'M GAME.
22. NYC home of Matisse's "Landscape at Collioure": MOMA. The Museum Of Modern Art in New York City.
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| "Landscape at Collioure" |
23. Fail to share: HOG.
25. Taylor-Joy of "The Northman": ANYA. Her wide-set eyes were a point of insecurity growing up, so she stopped looking in mirrors and became a star. Excellent advice.
26. Skillets: FRY PANS.
29. Area exposed by an updo: NAPE. When hair is tied up, it exposes the NAPE of the neck.
31. Teases: RIBS.
32. "__ it down!": TONE. Could also be TURN.
34. "Downton Abbey" cook: DAISY. DAISY is played by actress Sophie McShera. Never seen it; never will.
38. Here, in Honduras: ACA. "Here" is a little Spanish for you.
39. [theme]
41. Mod About You polish maker: OPI. OPI nail polish is famous for its creative, pun-heavy shade names, such as Polly Want a Lacquer? and Let Me Bayou a Drink. I have no idea what colors they are, but they sound like fun!
42. Mexican sandwich: TORTA. A TORTA is a popular and hearty Mexican sandwich served on a crusty roll and filled with ingredients like refried beans, avocado, cheese, and a protein such as carne asada, often topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, and jalapeños. Gotta try it!
44. Like a bowstring: TAUT.
45. Trade: SWAP. Swap: TRADE. Yep, it works.
46. Playfully sly: ARCH. I filled in the word, but had to look it up to see how it meant "playfully shy." An ARCH person or expression is playfully roguish or mischievous. It combines a sense of being sly or cunning with a witty, often impish demeanor. So, not your ARCH enemy.
48. Endearment: PET NAME.
50. Electrically adaptable: AC/DC. In the late 19th century "War of Currents," there was intense competition about building power grids. Thomas Edison championed DC, while George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla promoted AC. AC won due to its superior long-distance efficiency, while DC is common in battery-powered devices.
53. __ Majesty: HER. Or HIS - only your perps know for sure.
55. Sazerac options: RYES. The Sazerac is a historic New Orleans cocktail, often considered America's first, traditionally made with RYE whiskey or cognac, bitters, sugar, and an absinthe rinse.
56. Carefree: BLITHE.
58. Abu Dhabi, e.g.: EMIRATE. At the beginning of this month, the United Arab EMIRATEs (UAE)—representing Abu Dhabi's oil interests—formally exited OPEC after nearly 60 years of membership.
61. Expanse crossed by Odysseus: IONIAN SEA. The latest remake of the Odyssey, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, will be released in a few months. I rarely see movies in a theater, but this one may be the exception.
63. Sanctions: OKAYS.
65. Like van Gogh and Vermeer: DUTCH. He went double DUTCH on this one.
66. Superlative suffix: EST. That's the bestest there is!
67. __-Grain: NUTRI.
68. Breyers rival: EDYS. EDY'S and Dreyer's are the exact same ice cream sold under different names based on geography. Dreyer's is sold west of the Rocky Mountains and in Texas, while EDY'S is sold in the eastern/midwestern United States to avoid confusion with Breyers.
69. Tiny: WEE.
70. Blades for some Olympians: EPEES.
Down:
1. Super Mario Bros. console: NES. Nintendo Entertainment System.
2. Jazzy James: ETTA. She needs no introduction.
3. Guitar accessory that may create vibrato: WHAMMY BAR. Vibrato is an oscillation in pitch, which on a guitar is caused by stretching or loosening the strings with a lever popularly known as a WHAMMY BAR. Leo Fender famously misnamed his a "tremolo" arm, which should be oscillations in volume.
 |
| Press down to lower pitch, pull up to raise it. |
4. Knights' neighbors: BISHOPS.
5. Blueprint: SCHEMA. I wanted SCHEMe. A SCHEMA is a structured framework—mental or technical—that organizes information to facilitate understanding, efficiency, or data management. I guess a blueprint falls under that definition.
6. Luau instruments: UKES.
7. May, say: MONTH.
8. Skill: ART.
9. Prehistoric supercontinent: PANGAEA. You can see how everything fit together like a puzzle before continental drift moved them to their present locations over 300 million years. The landmasses shift at the same speed as fingernails grow.
10. Like some pyramids: INCAN.
11. Moriarty, to Holmes: ENEMY.
12. Musician's better half?: SIDE A. The first side of a vinyl record, but sometimes DJs flipped them over and SIDE B became the unexpected hit, like "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris, with every drummers' dream solo.
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| "Surfer Joe" on SIDE A wiped out. |
15. Sweet potato: YAM.
18. Latvian capital: RIGA.
20. Cost: RAN TO.
24. Recipe quantity: ONE CUP.
26. Greek life group: FRAT. FRATernities and sororities use Greek letters to represent secret, values-based mottos that often define their principles, such as leadership, charity, and friendship. The tradition originated with Phi Beta Kappa in 1776 at the College of William & Mary (where I met RightBrain 200 years later!).
27. Part of P.R.: RICO. Puerto RICO. I tried to abbreviate Public Relations, but to no avail.
28. Calm: SOOTHE.
30. S.F. summer hrs.: PDT. Pacific Daylight Time in San Francisco.
33. Leak prevention measure, briefly: NDA. A Non-Disclosure Agreement usually hides something that should be known to all.
35. Home of the Cyclones: IOWA STATE. Aptly named as their campus in Ames, Iowa is in Tornado Alley.
36. Hormel product: SPAM.
37. Cry in pain: YIPE. Similar to"yikes," I guess.
39. Biblical rider of a red horse: WAR. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are biblical figures from Revelation 6:1–8, representing divine judgment. Their horses appear as White (Conquest/Christ), Red (War), Black (Famine), and Pale (Death).
40. Development sites: UTERI.
43. Elements of a strategy: TACTICS.
45. Move stealthily: SNEAK UP.
47. Steve who co-founded YouTube: CHEN. He sold YouTube to Google for the bargain price of $1.65 billion in 2006. Don't worry, he made out okay.
49. Power of classic films: TYRONE. TYRONE was an American actor who became a matinee idol in the 1930s and ’40s and was best known for his action-adventure film roles.
50. Stand: ABIDE.
51. Easy part of a sky in a jigsaw puzzle, maybe: CLOUD. RightBrain took a photo of our fam on vacay in Key West, and had it turned into a puzzle. We put the pieces into another jigsaw box, and saved it for a family night. Part way through, my DIL exclaimed, "Hey, I have a dress with this same pattern!" Then it began to dawn on them...
52. __ Moore: canned stew brand: DINTY.
54. Oscar winner Witherspoon: REESE. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of June Carter in the biopic Walk the Line in 2005. REESE did all her own singing and that helped put her over the line.
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| Reese with Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash |
57. "As if!": HAH.
59. Londoner's pal: MATE.
60. Brontë orphan: EYRE. To EYRE is human...
62. Darn: SEW. This answer is so clever.
64. Certain sib: SIS. A sibling may be a SISter.
Be good. RB
It was tough!
ReplyDeleteParticularly that “super continent” crossing two obscure proper names.
However, I did eventually understand the gimmick, which helped solve that problem among others.
FIR, so I’m happy.
At least it wasn't GODWANALAND or LAURASIA for the continents. I knew Pangaea
DeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteKEEP IT DOWN slowed things until TONE finally showed up. After the reveal I could see HICKORY. Forgot to look at the rest of 'em. TYRONE Power was quite the leading man, but was taken out by a heart attack at just 44. In the end, Sam put the WHAMMY on me. ACO and TOXTA looked OK. Bzzzzzt. Thanx, Sam and Rusty.
Working via "hotspot" this AM. Internet dropped yesterday afternoon right in the middle of streaming an episode of The West Wing. ISP is sending a tech over this afternoon to troubleshoot things.
Thought it was a misprint with "Breyers" as I did not know this brand, only Dreyers. Must be confusing out there on the West Coast when one screams. Enjoyed the puzzle and the review. Thx to both.
ReplyDeleteFIR. Another circle jerk! Yuk! They were totally unnecessary. Why design a relatively good puzzle with circles?
ReplyDeleteIMO, the theme was lame and somewhat contrived. And totally irrelevant. Its only purpose was to support having circles.
This was a typical Thursday hard puzzle. I had to really work at it to get the win. But the clues were fair and the perps were there when needed.
Overall, circles excepted, an enjoyable puzzle.
I finished the grid but finishing the SW took luck. Thursday puzzles have been tougher than Friday's . WAR, ARCH, TORTA, and CHEN were unknowns. BLITHE - did I know it meant 'Carefree'? Not really. But the split trees in the circles were an easy spot. And I'm glad WOOD CUT was in the center as there was no way I could or would have filled WAR.
ReplyDeleteThere were many guessable unknowns today. YANNI, AMHERST, MOMA, ANYA, DAISY, OPI, IONIAN SEA.
ACA and WHAMMY BAR- 100% unknown and they took perps.
RYES for 'Sazerac options' is just on of over 500 different liquors sold by the Sazerac company, which is still a privately owned NOLA company. A couple of weeks ago, Bill Goldring made an offer to buy the maker of Jack Daniels. I've met him playing pickleball If you come to NOLA, after visiting the WW-II Museum, visit Sazerac House, a free museum. And you get four free (small) drinks of different cocktails.
Well, I did enjoy this difficult puzzle and really appreciated the clever theme. However I DNF. I couldn’t come up with RICO, TORTA, WAR and CHEN. In retrospect, had I persevered I’d like to think I would have finally gotten it. But I’ve got an appointment this morning and need to go.
ReplyDeleteThank you RB for that great review.
Musings
ReplyDelete-NEWBS/NOOBS took help
-We had DEGAS for Dance Class painting recently and so 5-letter artist for Butterfly Dance…
-Daisy took a lot of abuse from Mrs. Patmore in the kitchen
-I have a friend who says to make the rope TAUNT and I never correct him
-I saw Gwenyth Paltrow’s mother BLYTHE Danner in a M*A*S*H episode which hampered my fill here
-Maybe and might are not months
-I taught about PANGAEA for years
-Our roofing repair job yesterday RAN TO $7,000
-ARCH filled itself but, huh?
ARCH???
ReplyDeleteYeah, I LIU. Looks like it has been used to mean roguish or mischievous since the 1600s.
DeleteThe Reveal in the center I found difficult to uncover because of several Naticks and other obfuscations blocking me, like TORTA, CHEN, NDA, WAR (ludicrous clue), and ARCH.
ReplyDelete"Tremolo" and "vibrato" are often confused. Vibrato (oscillation in pitch) is a type of tremolo. Oscillation in amplitude--or loudness--is tremolo, Italian for trembling. So Leo Fender's famous mistake was not that he misnamed his bar "tremolo"; he actually misnamed it "vibrato."
The puzzle's theme was apt, and the circles were useful, as they usually are.
I grew up in the East knowing only one brand of ice cream: Breyers. It was nice to see it make an appearance in today's puzzle.
Thanks. Sam, for a Thursday-appropriate and interesting crossword. And thanks, RB, for the useful recap.
Learning moment = Arch.
ReplyDeleteCan't seem to find anything silly enough for a theme link, so here's a PSA on bushcraft knife skills.
And, an honorable mention...
And for goodness sake, dont try to split kindling with it standing up, rookie mistake...
FIW. Struggled in the NW, with some incorrect fills.
ReplyDeleteA fairly tough Thursday but figuring out that names of trees were filling the circles was a big help.
ReplyDeleteSome fresh and fun clues:
Leak prevention method/ NDA
Musicians better half / Side A
Blithe filled in with perps but I didn’t know it as carefree. Always learn new stuff here.
Thanks Sam for the challenge.
Very clever construction. Never saw that spelling of PANGEA before. Last to fill was that area of WAR/ARCH/CHEN all unknown. Thanks for the learning moment about Wipe Out being SIDE B.
ReplyDeleteTook 7:14 today, and now I will oPINE:
ReplyDeleteI knew the Actresses of the Day (Uma & Reese), but not the actor (Tyrone).
I didn't like the Honduras clue atop the Mexican clue.
Speaking of things I don't like, ...
Oh joy, circles!
Edward in Lis Angeles: I enjoyed this morning wood.👍
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I was unable to print the CW from my e-newspaper. Just as well, I woulda had to go online anyway. 25 names, DNK 10, so this CW was a struggle. FWH (red-letters) in 20.
ReplyDeleteHG@9:09 = NOOBS/NEWBS; yep. Me too. Red-letters said no to NOOBS.
I wanted TENET at 13A, but perps said otherwise.
What RB said about TORTA/ARCH/WAR. And when ARCH filled, I had no idea.
I wanted KEEP for TONE, but again, perps said no.
There's a Breyer's and a Dreyer's ice cream? Hmmmm.
Overall, a tough but still fun Thursday level CW, thanx, SB. And thanx too to RB for the terrific write-up.
Typical tricky Thursday. Some rough spots but FIR. The reveal answer letters were consecutive obvious and in order so perhaps circles were unnecessary but helped and provided lots of perpage. Didn’t get the cut-to-pieces aspect till splained by RB (?)
ReplyDeleteARCH “playfully shy” like a playfully shy BISHOP?
ENTRANCED, hit with a WHAMMY!
Liked “musician’s better half” while “Development sites” UTERI though we’ve had before, a little too clever/cute. Never watched Dowtown Abby (Abigail who worked the streets of London? 😄)
FRAT : many like ours start with Alpha (adelphos = brother)
TORTA sounds like it should be a cake or pie not a sangwidge
PANGÆA continental drift explains how the kangaroo pair ended up in Australian once they left Noah’s Ark 😉
Inkovers: noobsNEWBS, might/MONTH, one tsp/CUP, Reece/REECE, Aegean/IONION
Off to get my ears lowered. 💈
Till tomorrow
The Continental Drift theory that continents 'drifted', was found out to be incorrect after geologists discovered the mid ocean ridges were forcing the plates to separate and move apart. 'Plate techtonics'is the right term to describe the various movements of the earths surface plates. When plates collide , they cause earthquakes and volcanic mountains to form.
DeleteI enjoyed Sam's puzzle with the various CUT WOODs. In the NW, I was looking for a wa-wa pedal, but that turns out to be a wah-wah pedal, which wouldn't have fit anyway. Perps gave me the unknown WHAMMY BAR, which I imagined would be a delight to the guitarists in the Corner. RustyBrain's review was a delight, as usual. Nice job coloring in the grid, too!
ReplyDeleteThis was a FIW due to my insistence on keeping Rels as in Public Relations. Puerto Rico never entered my mind. Not knowing Aca, Torta, and Bar added to the logjam. I liked the theme but found the reveal pretty bland. The puzzle itself, though was a Thursday level of difficulty, IMO.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sam, and congrats on your LA Times debut and, thanks, RB, for the solid review and the personal tidbits about you and Mrs. Right Brain. More about Buster would also be appreciated!
Have a great day.
As Buster's agent, I try to spread out his appearances to prevent over exposure! LOL
DeleteFIW @ oNYA x PANGoEA. I was so concerned BLITHE, WAR and ARCH that I forgot to go back and reconsider oNYA, which I thought was probably wrong.
ReplyDeleteI've been to BLyTHE. California. Well, I've passed by BLyTHE at about 80 MPH. It's on I-10 between Phoenix and Marina del Rey. I'm pretty sure it is the county seat of Middlanowhere County, CA.
Sanctions is one of those words that can mean something very good or very bad. The PGA of America sanctions this week's PGA Championship. They will sanction a player for submitting an incorrect score card.
I only know SCHEMA from data base design.
Thanks to Rusty Brain for another fun review, which took some of the sting out of finishing the puzzle.
DW and I used to stop at Blythe to get gas on our drives between San Jose, CA, and Phoenix, AZ.
DeleteHola! Many unknowns in this grid beat me. I had ETHIOS instead of ETHIC so SCHEMA never made it. Of course, I should have known MOMA. That was a clever clue for it.
ReplyDeleteI knew DAISY immediately as I am a big fan of Downton Abbey.
and I knew TYRONE Power from going to movies in the 50s. He was a heart throb.
YANNI was a total unknown, but perps filled it.
I also taught about PANGEA for many years.
ETHICs class was required for us before graduation.
Have a happy day, everyone!
I liked this puzzle, and I pondered over the same answers as many of you did.
ReplyDeleteOne of my best friends while I was at Yale was a guy from Amherst.
Good reading all your comments.
Slightly challenging Thursday puzzle, but still pleasant and delightful to work with,--so, many thanks, Sam. And I always enjoy your commentary and pictures, Rusty, so thanks for those too.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's hard not to get hungry when the first line of a morning puzzle gives you PIES. Had me looking forward to food right away. But instead there was a lot of ART at first, especially with ETTA James being supported by the music of those UKES and the musicians' SIDE A (news to me, never heard of that before). But food came back into the picture when we saw some FRY PANS which were probably used to heat up those RIBS right below. Did that Downton Abbey cook DAISY heat those up, and serve them along with a Mexican TORTA, maybe accompanied by those YAMS? We also needed ONE CUP of beer or wine to go along with that food. At least REESE Witherspoon might have gotten us a chance to try out those NUTRI-GRAIN products along with some DUTCH treats.
Hey, not a bad morning as we head to the end of the week.
Have a fun weekend coming up, everybody.
RustyBrain -- PBS is bring this back especially for you! ...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.tvinsider.com/1259877/downton-abbey-pbs-masterpiece-alastair-bruce/
Good to hear from you two days in a row waseeley!
DeleteOh boy!
DeleteTreed Thursday. Thanks for the fun Sam (congrats on your LATimes debut) and RustyBrain (greetings to RightBrain too).
ReplyDeleteI FIRed eventually, but it was a workout and a few WAGs.
But I saw the WOODCUT theme early and that helped fill some of those circles.
Hand up for tenet before ETHIC.
ARCH filled with a headscratch, but then I remembered that other meaning.
Jane perped to EYRE.
The real stumper was the cross of ACA, RICO and TORTA. I need to learn Spanish. I WAGged the O, then realized that P.R.stood for Puerto Rico, which gave me ACA. Phew.
I did know BLITHE (not to be confused with Gilbert Blythe of Anne of Green Gables fame).
Sazerac was new to me; when RYES perped, I figured it was a bakery. LOL!
Favourites were the clues for NDA and SIDE A.
Wishing you all a great day.