Or, if you want to get in touch with the Dread Pirate Roberts: Elwes, CARY@ID.com
I did a cursory Google search for Elizabeth Duker-Gold, and found her on LinkedIn and Facebook, but with no clear indication that I had the correct person; I can tell it's her LA Times debut, and if this is her overall first publication, then double congrats~! I loved the clever theme of this puzzle - varied common words/phrases with a & t, or "@", in the middle, restructured to resemble an email address, and nothing related to today's bank holiday. Very cool, but some of the people may not be that common - I did know all five of them, partly from doing crosswords. There was some Friday fill, to be expected, and a few that had alternate answers - see below - plus one or two "meh" ones, maybe~? Standard grid, no circles, 19 3LWs, just 6 names - excluding the ones intended for the theme. The five themer email "addresses", no reveal [ BTW, the text format of the crossword screwed up my blogging due to the use of < and >, which are html code separators ];
18. To: Comedian Michael, bedding salesman [.com] - CHE(AT)SHEETS - Michael Che @sheets.com, which I think is a valid website . . . yup
24. To: Athlete Jackson, lawn products salesman [.com] - BO(AT)YARDS - Bo Jackson @yards.com - Bo of both major league baseball and football fame, and 'yards' would be a good website/email address for lawn products - it does come up as a website, but no content
36. To: Broadcast journalist Anderson, surgical supply salesman [.com] - COOPER(AT)ORS - Anderson Cooper @ors.com - "Operating RoomS" but not a real site - and not my buddy Cooper the Australian Shepherd - see 58D. Here's Anderson being interviewed by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
I'd play the segment, but NSFW
50. To: Actor Cheadle, chemistry lab supply salesman [.com] - DON(AT)IONS - Don Cheadle @ions.com - I know Don from his role as "Basher" in the Ocean's Eleven, et. al. heist movies - and a valid website for the TV channel Ion
57. To: Singer Bruno, bulletin board salesman [.com] - MARS(AT)TACKS - my favorite break out ( if not my personal choice in music artists, but our host likes him 😁) - Bruno Mars @tacks.com - and this one led to a "non-secure" go back~! link ( I wrote this while still down on LI, so I was on my brother's network )
Hey Tom, it's "not unusual" to find Martians invading Earth . . .
1. Jaguar or Charger: CAR - I do the Downs first, had two wrong fills to start; I knew this was either NFL - two teams in the national football league - or two automobiles
Trevor Lawrence, and, uh, well, that's not Justin Herbert, and #19 ( on the helmet ) was retired
. . . thanks, A i ~!
4. Orchard basket: BUSHEL - so my "AMASS" at 7D was wrong . . .
10. Gillette brand: ATRA
14. Bullpen stat: ERA
15. "Reckon maybe, yeah": "IS'POSE..." - slang for "I suppose" - I am feeling ambivalent about this fill; it's valid, but is it a Twurd~? Is it 'meh'~?
16. Urge on: GOAD
17. Part of a journey: LEG
part of a "legs" journey
20. Jazz great James: ETTA - Crossword staple, name #1
22. Cropped up: AROSE
23. ThirdLove purchase: BRA - not that I "knew" this, but I had _R_, and it sounded like a lingerie website - so what are the first Two Loves~? I could take a guess . . .
27. Like a best-case scenario: IDEAL
29. "Love it!": "SOGOOD~!"
30. Queerplatonic orientation, briefly: AROACE - short for aromantic asexual - the Wiki, if you care to know more - aah, Friday . . .
31. Dirge: LAMENT - ELEGY did not fit
35. Bills replaced by coins in Canada and Australia: ONES - tell us more, CanadianEh!
39. Mil. no-show: AWOL - Absent WithOut Leave - oh, SNAFU - now that's FUBAR . . .
41. Haberdashery purchase: TIE PIN
42. People in the background of a selfie, perhaps: RANDOS - Ah. Right. "random person" in 21st century-speak; I had the last two letters, so I went with WALDOS - hey, I could see that working . . .
I found him~!
44. Dillydally: LINGER
49. Juvenile eel: ELVER - Learning moment for me; more here
53. Pub pour: ALE
54. Beloved, in Bordeaux: CHERI - Frawnche
56. Set that might have an OLED screen: HDTV - Organic Light-Emitting Diode, and High Definition; 'Set' threw me at first - a TeleVision set, which, now that I think of it, is kinda weird . . . it's a set of electronic tubes, circuits~? And I did not know what the "O" stood for, even knowing what an LED was
61. Taste: SIP
62. Show opener: ACTI - Ha~! Had this last Friday, too
63. Leash: TETHER
64. Part of a rock band?: ORE - Clever - new way to clue the old fill - a 'band', or stratum in geology
65. Smart home system by Google: NEST - I bought a "smart" thermostat for my house, but the furnace uses just two wire leads - so it's useless; the furnace tech I needed to call two weeks ago told me not to bother with a smart device - he is if the mindset that the most efficient way to heat/cool one's house is to "set it and forget it" - thanks Ron Popeil~!
66. Grooms, as feathers: PREENS
67. Homer's neighbor: NED - Pffft - Ned . . . Name #2
DOWN:
1. Red carpet VIPs: CELEBS - Dah~! Not A LISTS
2. Defiant reply: "ARETOO~!" - Dah~!! Not I AM NOT
3. Motley: RAGTAG - I toyed with CALICO, which we had last Saturday
Definitely "ragtag" - Mötley Crüe
4. Pen name: BIC - another clever clue - literally, the 'name' of a pen maker, ergo, name #3
5. See to a seat, casually: USH - more 21st century-speak for "ushering"
6. Pickle serving: SPEAR - I guess in the 21st century, it's 'one syllable easier' than to ask for a pick-le
7. Stockpile: HOARD - Dah~!!! Not AMASS
8. These, in Spanish: ESTOS - and yet I nailed the Español word . . .
9. "__ is more": LESS - well, more or less, I guess . . . 🙄
10. Number that's always positive: AGE - Ah. True. Mine is getting further along on the spinny-wheel thing on websites these days
11. Cutesy name for paw pads: TOE BEANS
12. Unpleasant routine: RAT RACE
13. Media revenue source: AD SALES
19. Trust-worthy figure?: HEIR
21. From __ Z: A TO - three out of four two-word answers in a row
25. Texter's encouragement to try something new: YOLO - You Only Live Once - but maybe in multiple universes~? - ooooh . . . trippy
26. Assimilates: ADAPTS - I wanted adOpts
28. Portal: DOOR - into another plane of the multi-verse . . .
30. __ the Hun: ATTILA - he lived an "active, outdoor lifestyle", per George Carlin; name #4
32. __ fun: noodle dish: MEI - never heard of this - the "E" came from knowing the themer that crossed
33. Bard's before: ERE - poetic
34. Suede quality: NAP - Sleep quality; NAP time
36. New fans: CONVERTS - CON-verts, the noun, not the verb
37. Like a quaint shoppe: OLDE - ye olde quaynte shoppe
38. "I got this!": "ONIT~! - Dah~! I had ON ME, like the check/tab
39. Local guy in The Onion headlines: AREA MAN - this was a total unknown for me - an example
40. "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" poet Stevens: WALLACE - name #5, no clue - the poem, sort of a Zen-like "what is the sound of one hand clapping" mental exercise
43. Antarctic predator: ORCA
SE(ri)AL killer
45. Research org. with facilities in Bethesda: NIH - National Institutes of Health - filled via perps on my second pass - the website, if you care
46. Jake Gyllenhaal, to Jamie Lee Curtis: GODSON - huh. I tried COUSIN, which sort of helped, as the "O", "S" and the "N" actually worked; name(ish)
47. Complete: ENTIRE
48. Answered, in a way: RSVP'ed - I like it, but YMMV
50. Put off: DETER - Not DELAY, and not DEFER, so I didn't understand the crossing themer at first
51. Provide an address: ORATE - the "speechify" version of address, like Lincoln's Gettysburg
52. Not wide-ranging: NICHE - ah. Good one. I knew what we were looking for, but needed perps
55. URL intro: HTTP - the "other" kind of address; http//www.crosswordcorner.blogspot.com
58. Gather dust: SIT - gather pet fur; dog-sit - Cooper is so bad in the summer, my clothes were covered
we stopped to "smell the flowers"
59. "KPop Demon Hunters" voice actor Jeong: KEN - no clue, name #6 - his Wiki
There were a number of obscurities in this puzzle, but I got through them. And I finally DID understand what was going on: it’s all based on _(person’s first name) AT (or @)_(something related to the clue). Clever. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
I agree the rheme was creative and the fill Fridayish , much of my experience was similar to Splynter's but AROACE I did not understand and Mr. Wallace was a no go. The write up made the journey feel better and that was good. I finally learned the genesis of the Juneteenth holiday since I knew the amendment ending slavery was not passed in June. Sunday is Father's Day and best wishes to all. I do love my 2 sons and 5 grandchildren. Thank you Elizabeth and Richard.
I must've been looking over Splynter's shoulder today: AMASS, ADOPTS, ON ME, COUSIN, DEFER. Sheesh. Like Lemonade, I needed help to understand AROACE. And I must've been asleep, failing to notice the ATs (@s) in the themers. Double-sheesh. Thanx Elizabeth and Splynter.
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3 comments:
There were a number of
obscurities in this puzzle, but I got through them. And I finally DID understand what was going on: it’s all based on _(person’s first name) AT (or @)_(something related to the clue). Clever.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
I agree the rheme was creative and the fill Fridayish , much of my experience was similar to Splynter's but AROACE I did not understand and Mr. Wallace was a no go. The write up made the journey feel better and that was good. I finally learned the genesis of the Juneteenth holiday since I knew the amendment ending slavery was not passed in June. Sunday is Father's Day and best wishes to all. I do love my 2 sons and 5 grandchildren. Thank you Elizabeth and Richard.
Good morning!
I must've been looking over Splynter's shoulder today: AMASS, ADOPTS, ON ME, COUSIN, DEFER. Sheesh. Like Lemonade, I needed help to understand AROACE. And I must've been asleep, failing to notice the ATs (@s) in the themers. Double-sheesh. Thanx Elizabeth and Splynter.
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