This is Jeremy's second LA Times puzzle; RB had the first one a year ago. Today we have the addition of "DIS" to phrases that I found to be not as common as I would have liked, and therefore left me feeling a little DISsatisfied with the results. YMMV. Ektorp returns with two examples, a standard grid, one-third the # of 3LWs to four-letter words, a handful of names, and I'm DISappointed that the crossword had no circles - we already had two this week. The three themers and reveal;
20. Hours at an art gallery?: DISPLAYINGTIME - The base phrase refers to the equal distribution of on-field activity for all team members of a little league, etc. - and here's the Dissed version . . .
Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory"
25. Factory that produces bad vibes?: DISCONTENTMILL - The base phrase is more broadly recognized as "Content Farm" - with more here from Wiki; the Dissed version . . .
Santa's Elves Unite~! Local N.P. 33
44. Admit to wearing a dental prosthetic?: DISCLOSETHEGAP - The "gap" being a wide variety of things, but mostly bringing technology and eductaion to those without - and the Dissed version . . .
He was my first thought - here's a list of other 'gap-toothed' people
51. Process of detachment, or an apt title for this puzzle: DISASSOCIATION - what's the difference between ignorance and apathy~? I don't know, and I don't care . . .
But . . .
Wait , , ,
There's . . .
More~! ! !
ACROSS:
1. Carrefour's country: HAITI - Jeremy likes Haiti - it appeared in his first LA Times puzzle, too - geo name #1
6. Cuticle oil spot: NAIL - this made no sense until I looked up cuticle oil - it's lotion for the unguis
10. Trellis part: SLAT - I had to rebuild one in April
14. "Snowy" bird rarely found in snowy places: EGRET - five-letter snowy bird~? - Ektorp
15. Hindu mentor: GURU
16. Pixar film set partially in the afterlife: COCO - half-filled via perps
17. Inner self, to Jung: ANIMA - Mentioned frequently in Jordan Peterson's Psychology of the Bible series
18. Soup noodle: UDON - crossword staple
19. Bicycle attachment: HORN - training wheels didn't fit
I like this attachment - the wire basket, that is 🙄
23. Munich article: EINE - Deutsch - we saw this last Saturday
24. Memoji platform: IOS - I am PC ( Android ) - so I didn't get this one
32. Irrefutable point: FACT
33. Fad: RAGE - memoji~? obvi it's totes all the rage
34. Trout's team, on scoreboards: LAA - I had _ AA from perps, and not being into baseball . . .
35. Concise concession: "ILOST."
37. Part of some uniforms: HAT
38. Judicial pauses: STAYS - I get it, but pauses~? . . . meh
40. Mum's mum: NAN
41. Word in a Samin Nosrat cookbook title: ACID - HEAT, and two others I couldn't recall
43. Burden: ONUS
49. Broadcast: AIR
50. Ivy in New Haven: YALE - collegial reference
58. Slam dance: MOSH - now this one I knew, but I do not participate - seems a bit silly to me; guess I'm old now
59. Viola clef: ALTO - filled via perps
60. Getty Images download: PHOTO - Getty being one of the image sites that sometimes "license" a photo, and therefore, ones I avoid at all costs when writing the blog . . .
61. Otherwise: ELSE
62. Standard choice: GO-TO
63. Took effect: SET IN
64. Shredded side: SLAW - I'm a fries / onion rings kind of guy
65. School founded in 1440: ETON - four letter old school~? = Ektorp
66. Clear one's name, perhaps?: ERASE
DOWN:
1. Eye site: HEAD - Once again, had most of my Downs wrong; starting with filling in FACE
4. Storms: TEMPESTS - I love this album cover image
Nanci Griffith - storms
5. Bold alternative: ITALIC - Ah. Referring to fonts / type
6. "The Sympathizer" Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh: NGUYEN - Friday name, #2, filled via perps
7. German auto: AUDI - Yay~! I got a Down answer right~!
8. Nutrient in beans and rice: IRON - Ah. My mind had "protein" polarity
9. Putting one foot forward, in a way: LUNGING - some of the most difficult exercises working with my gym trainer involve lunges and squats - my knees are aging faster than the rest of me . . .
10. Doctrinal rupture: SCHISM - I read this as "doctoral", and went with HERNIA . . .😜 It's also one of my favorite "Tool" songs;
Tool, from Lateralus, "Schism"
11. Arachne's device: LOOM - I knew we got "arachnid" from this myth, but WEB didn't fit
12. Land division: ACRE
13. Boatload: TON - thank you for not being the A TON Twurd~!
21. "It's __-brainer!": ANO - aaaaand I spoke too soon . . .
25. Start of a Tibetan religious title: DALAI - a gimme; "ocean" master / teacher
26. Taskbar lineup: ICONS - I was forced to upgrade to Windows 11 while writing this blog - but so far, I have not had any issues . . . 🤞
27. Swap: TRADE
28. Consume: EAT
29. Glazer of "Broad City": ILANA - the single, opening cel where I didn't bother to do the alphabet run - A~? E~? - in retrospect, I needed to see MILL as the logical end of the themer. Sigh. Her IMDb; Name #3
32. Happen across: FIND - Ah, right - I "happened across" an article I saved from a Cincinnati newspaper detailing the movie "The Golem" that I worked on half my life ago . . .
Most likely the best time of my life
36. "The Godfather" actress Shire: TALIA - a, a, name, #4
37. Third-person possessive: HIS - I got locked into OUR
39. As one: TOGETHER - as in the next clue/asnwer
42. Boutonnière partner: CORSAGE - nailed this Frawnche pair - buttonhole and bodice in English
Awww, matching . . .
45. Nut used to make cheese or butter: CASHEW - this and ALMOND fit, but I waited on perps
46. Titan of industry: TYCOON - crossword staple
47. Japanese assent: HAI - the equivalent of "yes"
48. Pass: ELAPSE
51. Barbie or Ken: DOLL - it could have been a, a, a NAME
52. Rae of "Barbie": ISSA - a NAME, a crossword staple, aaaand#5
53. Opening at the post office: SLOT - not an employment opportunity, but this 🠋
54. Springfield Elementary bus driver: OTTO - knew it, "The Simpsons", still name #6
55. Wee bit: IOTA - Yay~! not the Twurd ATAD
56. Elevator name: OTIS - aaaaand #7
57. __ of the above: NONE - which name did I like most in today's puzzle~? . . .
58. Mayo o diciembre: MES - I knew what we were looking for, didn't know Español for 'month'
The fact that the gimmick was evident right away (that is, with sussing the first themer) made this puzzle a little easier to solve, though there were a few “toughies” like the first name of that Vietnamese author. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
And, by the way, the annoying “extra steps” to post continues!
It doesn't recognize me when I arrive. I have to select "Google account" before entering my comment, otherwise there'll be no avatar -- see my comment at 6:26.
Crunchy cereal today. I briefly thought today would turn into a DNF. Whew. I could've showed up in that list of GAPpers. Mine slowly developed after the wisdom teeth were removed. Thanx, Jeremy and Splynter.
No floods, no tornadoes, no severe thunderstorms, but the hot muggy air is killin' me. Yesterday was a three-shirt day.
Thanks for the enjoyable puzzle and review, but I don't get the connection (there's a, ahem, gap in my understanding) between a dental prosthetic and a gap. Letterman's goofy-looking grin is surely natural. What am I missing?
mslk at 6:59 AM: My DH has a dental bridge that sits on two teeth, and bridges the gap between them where two tooth are missing. If he were to remove the appliance, it would DISCLOSE THE GAP. As indeed, I have just disclosed it here.
FIR, but cap-> HAT, thunders->TEMPESTS, dalhi->DALAI (UNTIE!) and hie->HAI (UNTIE!)
Is NGUYEN pronounced "win?"
Thanks to Jeremy for the Friday challenge. And thanks to Splynter for another fun review. Remember the junior high joke "why did the hooker buy a bicycle? So she could peddle it all over town."
FIR. Typical Friday difficulty as can be expected. I spent a great amount of time trying to understand "content mill". Totes didn't compute for me, and Ilana, one of too many proper names, was unknown to me. A WAG made it happen. I got the theme from the get-go and that helped a lot. Overall an OK puzzle.
I knew two of the Actresses of the Day (Talia & Issa, but not Ilana). I did not know today's writer (Nguyen) or Hindu god (Agni).
I really wish the LAT would do away with the "foreign language or foreign city article" as a clue. Those are ugly and generally highly unhelpful. So, I did not know "eine". I did get "mes" with only 2 of the 3 letters filled in.
I also found this puzzle dissatisfying. I am not familiar with "content mill" or "close the gap."
After a slow NW start it got easier and easier. Carrefour is one of Europe's largest supermarket chains; didn't know it was a city in HAITI and AGNI was unknown.
I know at least 50 people named NGUYEN (my cardiologist, his wife and kids, my neighbors, granddaughter's best friend, three players on DW's tennis team, and many others), but the one in the puzzle was all perps. So were ACID, ILANA, and LOOM.
CONTENT MILL is a new term for me and after adding DIS, it was all perps.
DIS-CLOSE THE GAP- I had a molar die and start to decay in junior high and the oral surgeon pulled it after putting me to sleep using ether. Yuck. About 50 years ago, my dentist put a GOLD plate covering three teeth to span the opening. I remember the cost-$740 for the plate and the dentist was $200 and that took all the money I had. I often wonder what the plate is worth now.
Not a fan of this puzzle. While not an abundance of show-offy entries, therr were enough to leave a sour taste. TOTES can join YEET in the trash heap of discarded fill. Still FIR in 12:08 but would have gladly spent double that time on a fun puzzle.
I liked Jeremy's puzzle! Good Friday fare. The DISsed phrases weren't easy, but made sense and were well clued. I FIW by guessing IvANA instead of ILANA. Obvs I don't know which team Trout is on. Splynter offered a fine review with a clever title. Bravo!
Musings -Some fills delayed me but were not as hard as I thought -Nebraska had many NGUYENS move here after the war. All the high school graduation ceremonies we attended for our grandkids in Lincoln schools had a large number of NGUYENS graduating as honor students. -No idea on CONTENT MILL but “it had to be”. Was anyone else unfamiliar with this word? -IGNI made sense as a god of fire but… -For some reason I remember this SCHISM from high school history -I thought sure that DALAI had a hidden “H” in there somewhere -Pols have reporters who ask them LAYUP questions in a “news conference” -TALIA played the unfortunate sister of Michael Corleone in The Godfather -CASHEWS must be processed before eaten. Raw ones contain the same toxin as poison ivy.
I think this is a perfect example of how difficult it is to develop a clever, interesting, fun, challenging theme for a puzzle, particularly a Friday offering that has some pizazz. It’s an admirable effort but falls short, IMO, due to what appears to be forced themers and reveal. Props, though, for some lively and impressive fill: Tempests, Schism, Tycoon, Corsage, Cashew, etc.
Thanks, Jeremy, and thanks, Splynter, for your honest and straightforward review and commentary. Some puzzles have themes that are hard to grasp or explain clearly but you do a good job with what you have to work with, so thanks for that.
"As always, should you or any member of the crossword corner be caught using red letters or google , the Secretary will DISavow all knowledge of your actions.”
”The message will self DIStruct in 5 seconds” 🔥💨
So quickly…:ðŸ¤
I didn’t catch on to the non DIS part of the answers till the reveal. “Content farm” ?
HAITI (I tried to squeeze France in first) took a while particularly since I held onto “lens” for 1d too long. Speaking of which I’m doing the puzzle with some DISability as I had a post-cataract laser (capsulotomy) procedure to both eyes about 4 hrs ago. 👀
Inkover: our/HIS, lens/HEAD,
Scratching my HEAD (but avoiding my eyes) trying to come up with an alternative to the laundry product ”Bold” 🙄 Knew TOTES but am DISheartened and DISpleased that these nonsense words creep silently into our puzzles
So it wasn’t events that ”happen across” the country
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The fact that the gimmick
ReplyDeletewas evident right away (that is, with sussing the first themer) made this puzzle a little easier to solve, though there were a few “toughies” like the first name of that Vietnamese author.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
And, by the way, the annoying “extra steps” to post continues!
I am not sure what extra steps you are referring to.
DeleteWould you care to add the specifics?
It doesn't recognize me when I arrive. I have to select "Google account" before entering my comment, otherwise there'll be no avatar -- see my comment at 6:26.
DeleteThank you.
DeleteI also start off as anonymous. When I click on comments it takes me to the last one, so I have to scroll up if I want to read the first ones.
DeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteCrunchy cereal today. I briefly thought today would turn into a DNF. Whew. I could've showed up in that list of GAPpers. Mine slowly developed after the wisdom teeth were removed. Thanx, Jeremy and Splynter.
No floods, no tornadoes, no severe thunderstorms, but the hot muggy air is killin' me. Yesterday was a three-shirt day.
Thanks for the enjoyable puzzle and review, but I don't get the connection (there's a, ahem, gap in my understanding) between a dental prosthetic and a gap. Letterman's goofy-looking grin is surely natural. What am I missing?
ReplyDeleteA dental prosthetic may have prevented (or closed) the GAP in his front teeth.
DeleteThx, still seems far-fetched to me.
Deletemslk at 6:59 AM: My DH has a dental bridge that sits on two teeth, and bridges the gap between them where two tooth are missing. If he were to remove the appliance, it would DISCLOSE THE GAP. As indeed, I have just disclosed it here.
DeleteFIR, but cap-> HAT, thunders->TEMPESTS, dalhi->DALAI (UNTIE!) and hie->HAI (UNTIE!)
ReplyDeleteIs NGUYEN pronounced "win?"
Thanks to Jeremy for the Friday challenge. And thanks to Splynter for another fun review. Remember the junior high joke "why did the hooker buy a bicycle? So she could peddle it all over town."
FIR. Typical Friday difficulty as can be expected.
ReplyDeleteI spent a great amount of time trying to understand "content mill". Totes didn't compute for me, and Ilana, one of too many proper names, was unknown to me. A WAG made it happen.
I got the theme from the get-go and that helped a lot.
Overall an OK puzzle.
Took 7:43 today to play the diss track.
ReplyDeleteI knew two of the Actresses of the Day (Talia & Issa, but not Ilana). I did not know today's writer (Nguyen) or Hindu god (Agni).
I really wish the LAT would do away with the "foreign language or foreign city article" as a clue. Those are ugly and generally highly unhelpful. So, I did not know "eine". I did get "mes" with only 2 of the 3 letters filled in.
I also found this puzzle dissatisfying. I am not familiar with "content mill" or "close the gap."
After a slow NW start it got easier and easier. Carrefour is one of Europe's largest supermarket chains; didn't know it was a city in HAITI and AGNI was unknown.
ReplyDeleteI know at least 50 people named NGUYEN (my cardiologist, his wife and kids, my neighbors, granddaughter's best friend, three players on DW's tennis team, and many others), but the one in the puzzle was all perps. So were ACID, ILANA, and LOOM.
CONTENT MILL is a new term for me and after adding DIS, it was all perps.
DIS-CLOSE THE GAP- I had a molar die and start to decay in junior high and the oral surgeon pulled it after putting me to sleep using ether. Yuck. About 50 years ago, my dentist put a GOLD plate covering three teeth to span the opening. I remember the cost-$740 for the plate and the dentist was $200 and that took all the money I had.
I often wonder what the plate is worth now.
I commented above and had to enter my account so I wouldn’t be anonymous. Now I had to do that again. More EXTRA STEPS.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the puzzle. I DNF. The DIS was easy to detect, but the phrases didn’t ring any familiar bells.
The west fizzled since I entered Items for ICONS, and I rest.
I didn’t know ISSA, ILANA, MOSH, LAYUP, and TOTES was a WAG.
For 1 across, I wanted France but it didn’t fit. That is a weird way to clue HAITI. I knew NGUYEN as soon as the NG showed up. What else could it be?
Thank you Splynter for your fine review. You must be a lot younger than I if MOSH meant something to you 😜😜
Now my font is different from other bloggers. It is tiny, tiny, and faint. Is there something I can do about that on my end?
Now my font looks like every one else’s. It changes only when I type it. And of course I had to again reenter my account.
DeleteNot a fan of this puzzle. While not an abundance of show-offy entries, therr were enough to leave a sour taste.
ReplyDeleteTOTES can join YEET in the trash heap of discarded fill.
Still FIR in 12:08 but would have gladly spent double that time on a fun puzzle.
A crunchy offering from Jeremy Venook.
ReplyDeleteA rather boring puzzle and theme IMO.
Nothing “popped”.
The best part of today was Splynter’s recap.
I liked Jeremy's puzzle! Good Friday fare. The DISsed phrases weren't easy, but made sense and were well clued. I FIW by guessing IvANA instead of ILANA. Obvs I don't know which team Trout is on. Splynter offered a fine review with a clever title. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-Some fills delayed me but were not as hard as I thought
-Nebraska had many NGUYENS move here after the war. All the high school graduation ceremonies we attended for our grandkids in Lincoln schools had a large number of NGUYENS graduating as honor students.
-No idea on CONTENT MILL but “it had to be”. Was anyone else unfamiliar with this word?
-IGNI made sense as a god of fire but…
-For some reason I remember this SCHISM from high school history
-I thought sure that DALAI had a hidden “H” in there somewhere
-Pols have reporters who ask them LAYUP questions in a “news conference”
-TALIA played the unfortunate sister of Michael Corleone in The Godfather
-CASHEWS must be processed before eaten. Raw ones contain the same toxin as poison ivy.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI think this is a perfect example of how difficult it is to develop a clever, interesting, fun, challenging theme for a puzzle, particularly a Friday offering that has some pizazz. It’s an admirable effort but falls short, IMO, due to what appears to be forced themers and reveal. Props, though, for some lively and impressive fill: Tempests, Schism, Tycoon, Corsage, Cashew, etc.
Thanks, Jeremy, and thanks, Splynter, for your honest and straightforward review and commentary. Some puzzles have themes that are hard to grasp or explain clearly but you do a good job with what you have to work with, so thanks for that.
Have a great day.
"As always, should you or any member of the crossword corner be caught using red letters or google , the Secretary will DISavow all knowledge of your actions.”
ReplyDelete”The message will self DIStruct in 5 seconds” 🔥💨
So quickly…:ðŸ¤
I didn’t catch on to the non DIS part of the answers till the reveal. “Content farm” ?
HAITI (I tried to squeeze France in first) took a while particularly since I held onto “lens” for 1d too long. Speaking of which I’m doing the puzzle with some DISability as I had a post-cataract laser (capsulotomy) procedure to both eyes about 4 hrs ago. 👀
Inkover: our/HIS, lens/HEAD,
Scratching my HEAD (but avoiding my eyes) trying to come up with an alternative to the laundry product ”Bold” 🙄
Knew TOTES but am DISheartened and DISpleased that these nonsense words creep silently into our puzzles
So it wasn’t events that ”happen across” the country
Boatload: TON. Wee bit: IOTA
A second to spare.
Have a great weekend 😃