Saturday June 6, 2066 by August Miller
August is a constructor we have seen very often here in the last 12 months. I blogged his first LA Times themeless just year and now this is the 6th one. He is a former physics Ph.D. candidate turned farmer who lives in Berkshire County, MA.
Here is part of a very nice interview with August:
Once upon a time I was going to be a physics PhD. I studied physics in undergrad and tried graduate school (twice), but ultimately that environment just didn’t work for me. And now I come home at night smelling of cows and hay, and it feels so much better.
I flew through the top half of August's puzzle but ran into too many options in the mideast, however, I eventually managed a hard-earned "got 'er done"! As you can see below, this puzzle had 9 unique long fills some of which took some effort.
1. App on the half shell: CLAMS CASINO - According to legend, the recipe for clams casino was originally developed in 1917 in the Little Casino in Narragansett, Rhode Island, by a maître d'hôtel for a woman of means wanting something special for her guests.
12. Promos: ADS.
15. Online scale with a green splat icon: TOMATOMETER - The only movie I walked out on got a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 5% and a green splatted tomato.
16. __ culpa: MEA - In current lexicon - "My Bad". All the big names in the movie above owed the public a MEA CULPA.
17. Number that should never be shared: ONE TIME CODE - A CODE that is usually sent to my iPhone to make sure it is a valid log on.
18. Chic bag monogram: YSL - $1,700 will get you this chic bag with the YSL monogram.
20. Bean in frijoles de la olla: PINTO - Beans from the pot. We see "ollas" for Spanish pots here in crosswords.
21. Calculator brand: CASIO - I remember being amazed by my first calculator. Now I have one on my watch, phone and laptop along with many other apps that dwarf the capabilities of our moon lander computers of the 1960's.
23. Shapes into a wreath, say: BENDS.
24. Luray feature: CAVERN - Luray, VA in the Shenandoah Valley is famous for its caverns. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
25. Trampoline sound: BOING.
27. Pride event: PARADE.
28. Maker of Sinatra Select whiskey: JACK DANIELS.
31. Galoot: APE.
33. After-lunch sandwich: OREO.
34. __ compression: information technology method: LOSSY - If you must know more
35. Door opening?: TRAP - Moviedom's best TRAP door scene (2:45)
36. Schedule abbr.: TBA.
37. Comedic interludes on some 47-Across albums: HIP-HOP SKITS - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They exist
39. Moonstruck: IN LOVE.
41. Wee bit: SKOSH.
42. Dress rack label: PETITE.
43. Cinq moins deux: TROIS - In Spanish, 5 - 2 = 3
45. Amino __: ACIDS.
46. Models whose names typically started with 9: SAABS.
47. GloRilla genre: RAP - Her lyrics are NSFW
50. Pea body?: POD.
51. Birth years for some of Gen Z: EARLY AUGHTS.
54. Equal: ARE.
55. Agreed-upon next steps: ACTION ITEMS.
57. Simple way to start the day: TEA AND TOAST.
Down:
1. R&D execs: CTOS - Chief Technology Officer
2. Unique: LONE.
3. Black Card co.: AMEX.
5. Fixed allowance: STIPEND.
6. Really starting to shine: COMING ALIVE.
7. Revise: AMEND.
8. Splinter groups: SECTS.
9. "__, am America": Hughes: I TOO.
10. Kelly who narrates Peter Carey's "True History of the Kelly Gang": NED. I lost my own father at 12 yr. of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silences my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will contain no single lie may I burn in Hell if I speak false.
11. Entities that carry rock and roll: ORE CARS - Fun cluing
12. Comedian who voices Princess Carolyn in "BoJack Horseman": AMY SEDARIS. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
13. Unplanned shortcut: DESIRE PATH.
14. Business where employees often get snippy?: SALON. 😀
22. Hannah's "Hacks" role: AVA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
23. Sweet rice cake from the Philippines: BIKO.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
24. Group of Caribbean islands?: CALYPSO BAND - 😀 Oh, the group is not the islands not the islands but a group of performers on the islands! Doh!
25. Hot pink aesthetic: BARBIE CORE - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Won't this become (or has become) "So last year?"
26. Changing sea levels?: OCEAN TIDES - This is the TIDE chart for Cocoa Beach, FL. for today. If I had teenagers there today around 6:30 pm, would they be finding lots of shells?
27. Mexican bar tender: PESO - Tender is another word for money
28. Wee bit: JOT.
29. "Nice try": NOPE - I'll bet you can do the imitation.
30. [See at 30 Down]
32. Some indie releases: EPS - Extended plays
35. MMA calls: TKOS - Images are pretty violent
37. Place for grilling or roasting: HOT SEAT - Senator Kennedy brings the heat!
32. Some indie releases: EPS - Extended plays
35. MMA calls: TKOS - Images are pretty violent
37. Place for grilling or roasting: HOT SEAT - Senator Kennedy brings the heat!
38. Resort wear: SKI SUIT.
40. Top: LID.
42. __ bull: PAPAL - A papal bull is a highly formal public decree or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It takes its name from the Latin word bulla, referring to the leaden seal traditionally attached to authenticate the document.
43. "Nonnas" actress Shire: TALIA - I'll bet you can pick out Rocky's Adrian from this cast picture from Nonnas
 |
| Okay, she's second from the left. |
44. Lustrous synthetic: RAYON.
46. Chica's title: Abbr.: SRTA - Chica is most commonly used for the Spanish word for girl
47. Cassowary kin: RHEA.
48. Spots for checks and balances?: ATMS 😀
49. Whisper before "Pass it on!": PSST.
52. Serena slam?: ACE.
53. Classic Pontiac: GTO.
Lest we forget the June 6 of 82 years ago:
17 comments:
I got it!
Whether through helpful perps or knowledge that I had in the back of my mind from “somewhere,” I got it right the first time. So I can confidently say
FIR, so I’m happy.
Very happy, in fact.
FIW, missing with CAnaRN x AnA and SaDARIS.
Every time we get AMY SEDARIS here, I think of Andy SiDARIS, maker of sexploitation B-movies like Hard Ticket to Hawaii. One of the sailing clubs I raced with featured Tuesday night races, followed by strong drink and sea stories at the dock. Once we arrived after our race to find a big power boat and a film crew shooting a scene with a very naked Dona Speir, a 1984 Playboy Playmate. Best. Post. Race. Gathering. Ever.
LOSSY always make me think of JPG and MP3.
We had SEX and SECTS, as well as CASIO and CASINO in this one.
I liked this puzzle a lot more than yesterday's offering, That may be partly because the LAT web site is working as usual today, while yesterday I could see the across clues, the down clues, but not both at the same time. But I think it is mostly because I was more on today's constructor's wavelength than I was on yesterday's.
Thanks to August for the august puzzle, and to H.Gary for another fine review. I especially liked "In Spanish, 5 - 2 = 3." Reminds me of a work pal who was fond of saying to servers in Mexican restaurants "I don't know if I'm saying this right, but I'd like a Number 7."
Good morning!
Struggled mightily, but never gave up, and after 22 minutes the train came into the station. Whew. Thanx, August and Husker.
ONE TIME CODE: Dw received a data-breach settlement check yesterday, and wanted to deposit it into her Ally account. I told her it'd be easy. We went to Ally's online site. Oops, check deposit is only permitted using a smartphone app. Tried to load the app on my smartphone. Oops, my phone is too old and download isn't permitted. Downloaded the app onto dw's smartphone which is newer. She tried to log in, but Ally didn't like her password. OK, she selected "forgot password" and created a new one. Ally sent a ONE TIME CODE to her phone. I forgot to write it down, and mis-remembered it. Ally send a second ONE TIME CODE, I wrote it down, and couldn't figure out how to get back to the Ally screen. Ally sent a third ONE TIME CODE, I wrote it down, and dw figured out how to get back to the Ally screen. Now we're cookin'. We just had to photograph the back and front of the check and we'd be done. OK..."insufficient contrast." Finally got the photos completed. The final step was to enter the amount in a data field. No sweat. Except, we couldn't figure out how to enter the decimal point. Aha, it wasn't a "button" on the virtual keyboard, but there was a "dot" in the lower left of the display. That worked. But then we couldn't figure out how to make the numeric display disappear so we could get to the "Continue" button. Somehow, we lucked into that. And after a mere 45 minutes I turned to dw and said, "See how easy that was?"
EARLY AUGHTS: As you can see above, d-o is too old to be a Gen-Z'er. In fact, d-o is too old to be a Baby Boomer, but I'm supposed to keep silent about that.
CASIO Calculator: I was in Hong Kong in the early '80s, and I bought one that had a photocell battery. Still works perfectly.
LOSSY compression. I use lossless compression on my music server. It converts CD tracks to FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) files, leaving plenty of free space on its 2-TB drive.
Is it okay to copy definitions verbatim from Wikipedia and post them here?
This offering was beyond my current ability, too many things I know nothing g about -losse I am talking to you. I had fun, and filled almost all of it. Iwent to school in the Berkshires so I have many great memories. Thank August and Gary
Took 12:59 today to get off the hot seat.
I knew the Actresses of the Day (Talia, Amy Sedaris, and Hannah/Ava - palindrome fun!), but I didn't know the Obscure Food Of Saturday: biko.
I have never heard of "lossy", "les", or "clams casino", so thank you perps.
I also didn't know the foreign math problem, and I also don't think that's Spanish.
Much appreciation and respect to all those intrepid Americans involved in D-Day.
DNF. I never heard of lossy, and both nope and peso escaped me. And I thought this was going to be easy when I threw down clams casino and filled both the upper left and lower right without hesitation. Barbie core was a total WAG. Guess I wasn't a fan, because I still don't get it.
So overall a so-so puzzle.
LOSSY was unknown.
One nit: the "maker" of whiskey is the JACK DANIEL Distillery; the apostrophe S is on the label as a descriptor.
Good Morning:
My lengthy comment disappeared so I’ll be more concise and just say that the fill was outstanding and the difficulty level met Saturday standards, IMO. Once again, the cluing was too cutesy for my taste. I don’t mind fair trickery and misdirection but fair is the operative word. Allowing for a certain amount of age-gap differences, I think more a more moderate use of said cluing tactics would serve both solver and author well.
Thanks, August, and thanks, HG, for a terrific review that highlighted several of my favorites: Clams Casino, Cary Grant, Moonstruck, Vince Vaughan, etc. Most appreciated, though, was the reminder of one of the most important dates in our history. 🇺🇸
I agree with you about the too-cutesy cluing. There were too many instances where it seemed that the constructor, upon filling in the word, pondered "now what is the most unfair, obscure, or far-reaching clue I can imagine," and went with it.
It Tok a while, but FIR finally. Lots of unknown names like LOSSY, BIKO, the RAP group, and EPS, but I did know TALIA and kinda AMY SEDARIS. I’m not familiar with the Luray CAVERN.
For 1 across I wanted oysters Bienville, but wrong bivalve and too long. DESIRE PATH was a WAG. I tried emus before RHEA then the AUGHTS showed up.
We had two instances of AA in SAAB and TEA AND TOAST. Always makes me pause.
Thank you HG for the fine review. I’ll have to look up that movie you walked out on.
--Berlioz's "Les Troyens" is an opera that contains some magnificent music. Unfortunately, it's in five acts, running over four hours.
--Speaking of French things: 43-Across, "Cinq moins deux," is in French, not Spanish.
--The most significant French thing today, though, is of course the invasion of Normandy 82 years ago.
GRR. It should be it took.
I forgot to mention D-Day without which I would not be here and the sacrifice of so many.
Desperate-otto. I know exactly what you went through, that is why I cringe when I have to do something out of the ordinary on line. It is NEVER smooth.
Another Saturday FIR today. I stumbled all over the place until the end with all the unknowns, helped by some WAGS. JACK DANIELS, ONE TIME CODE, SEX Ed.
I started badly with an OYSTER for the unknown CLAMS CASINO. I wanted ORE CARTS but it was one letter to long by CARS fit.
LOSSY, Luray, DESIRE PATH, BIKO, BARBICORE- never heard of them.
RAP and HIP HOP SKITS were really unknowns but easy fills.
EGG before TEA AND TOAST.
My AMEX is not Black. It's a discontinued blue type that has no yearly fee with a 1.5-2-5% cash awards. No points my ccs, only cash rebates.
Princess, BoJack, & AMY SEDARIS- all unknown
Ditto for AVA, Hannah, and "Hacks"- unknown.
August's 'smelling like hay and cows'? P-U. When I do yard work, I smell like grass, and when I'm sure Gary smells like the golf course, as they usually mow them frequently. The worst was the bowling alley. I was a horrible bowler (average about 100) but friends would call me when they needed a substitute in this league. I would strip on the back porch so the house wouldn't stink.
You are correct, sir. It's Jack Daniel's. Sez so right on the label.
I’ve had some issues with August Miller’s brilliant Saturday puzzles, and 22 annoyances (bad clues, unknowns, lame entries) in today’s puzzle posed many obstacles.
But it was a suitably challenging puzzle, and I FIR in a grueling hour despite encounters with Princess Carolyn in Bojack, Hannah’s “Hacks” role, DESIRE PATH, BARBIE-CORE, TOMATO METER, the insipid TEA AND TOAST, the Glo-Rilla clue, and LOSSY.
My first fill was the Luray CAVERN. I soon found EARLY AUGHTS, ACTION ITEMS, and the deftly clued CALYPSO BAND. I struggled with COMING ALIVE until I displayed ---I-GA-IVE horizontally and figured it out. That and STIPEND helped me figure out that the “app” in 1A was an appetizer, CLAMS CASINO. Fair or unfair? Probably depends on whether you FIR.
Post a Comment