google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, June 30, 2026 ~ Scott Earl & Katherine Baicker

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Jun 30, 2026

Tuesday, June 30, 2026 ~ Scott Earl & Katherine Baicker

Pocket Money

Good day Cornerites! Today, Scott & Katherine give us some things you can scratch. Let's take a look...

17. Old 45, perhaps: VINYL RECORD. Run DMC talked about doing Walk this Way w/ Aerosmith. They had no idea who Aerosmith was except it was the scratch on Track 4 of that Toys in the Attic album which all street rappers used. Here's a 45 where the B-side is the bigger hit -- it better not be scratched...

A-Side B-Side


24. Hiker's annoyance: INSECT BITE. Those make ya' scratch.

35. Lucky purchase, one hopes: LOTTERY TICKET. The Big Money!

We had LOTERIA in my last Tuesday expo

48. Yen for adventure: TRAVEL ITCH. If you've got the time & scratch, scratch that itch.

57. "Never mind!," or what could be said about 17-, 24-, 35-, or 48-Across: SCRATCH THAT.


Close enough.

Across:

1. "Heated Rivalry" co-star Williams: HUDSON. A TV show of two hockey players on rival teams hiding their romance. Heard of it but never seen it.

7. Mountain goat with long horns: IBEX.

Alpine ibex

11. Pigpen: STY.
No.  This is Pig-Pen

14. Boxer's punch combo: ONE-TWO.

15. The whole __ yards: NINE. Here's Words Unravelled on idioms. //Listen long enough and you'll hear our sports BAGEL explanation.

16. Red letters?: IOU. An "I Owe You" means you're in the red.

17. [See: Theme]

19. Male turkey: TOM.

20. Dark deeds: EVILS.

21. Oscar winner Malek: RAMI. I liked him best in the first season of Mr. Robot.


22. Population fig., often: EST. An ESTimate.

23. Hard to track down: RARE.

24. [See: Theme]

27. Put points on the board: SCORED.

29. African American folk magic: HOODOO.


I had to check to see if Harvey Korman said Hoodoo or Voodoo.

30. More than wants: NEEDS. OK, I NEEDed to check Korman's words ;-)

34. Preppy tops: POLOS.

35. [See: Theme]

39. Sherri's twin on "The Simpsons": TERRI.

The Twins

40. "Stuart Little" actress Davis: GEENA.

41. Writer/editor Dave who founded McSweeney's Publishing: EGGERS.

43. X-ray follow-up, perhaps: CT SCAN. A Computed Tomography SCAN.

48. [See: Theme]

52. "__ from New York ... !": LIVE. Chevy Chase first said it back in '75.


Reminiscent of Python's

53. Singer DiFranco: ANI.

54. "__ not see that coming": I DID.

55. Desert refuge: OASIS.

56. Game system with Nunchuk controllers: WII.
We have a Wii; haven't used it in years.

57. [See: Theme]

59. Braying animal: ASS.

60. Person named in a will: HEIR.

61. Orange snack puff: CHEETO.

62. Emerald or ruby: GEM.

63. Greek peak: OSSA. Oh, not a look [peek] under the toga but...

this kinda peak.

64. Female sibling: SISTER. As you're reading this, I'm with one of mine in Dallas.

Down:

1. Watches overprotectively: HOVERS.

2. Pioneering mainframe: UNIVAC. What?!? A singular VACuum tube? Counts to one, does it? ;-)

3. Robert of "Killers of the Flower Moon": DENIRO. I know who DeNiro is but not in this context.  After reading the WikiP, I should probably see the movie.

4. Salon tool: STYLER.

5. Hooting birds: OWLS.

6. Neither partner: NOR.

7. Native Peruvians: INCAS.

8. Ecosystem: BIOME.

Caution, Here Be [36d] ORGANISMS.

9. Make more nutritious, say: ENRICH.

10. Crossed through, with "out": X-ED.

11. Stands by: SITS IDLE.

12. Sound from a choo choo train: TOOT TOOT.

13. "Delish!": YUM. Where's the -mers? Oh, that's right, Hahtoolah will be back soon w/ her yummers :-)

18. Directional ending: ERN. NortherERN, SouthERN, et.al.

22. Kindle unit: E-BOOK.

24. Notion, in French: IDEE. French idea.

25. Hanna-Barbera feline who hatched schemes in an alley: TOP CAT.

He's the one with the tennis banjo

26. Greek goddess of the dawn: EOS.

28. Whole: ENTIRE.

31. Rowing machine, colloquially: ERG.

32. Henna, for one: DYE.

33. Fr. holy woman: STE. French Saint.

35. Core-engaging exercise: LEG RAISE.

36. Living creature: ORGANISM.


RUSH's Natural Science w/ Anika.
(Song addresses organisms in a tide pool so that counts, right?)

37. Rome's __ Fountain: TREVI.

If you're a bit peckish, there's a gelato joint on your left.

38. Creep (along): INCH.

39. Vietnamese New Year: TET.

42. Pie servings: SLICES.

44. Lists of candidates: SLATES.

45. Non-LGBTQ+ portmanteau: CIS/HET. A cisgender and heterosexual individual.

46. Fly a plane: AVIATE.

47. "The Morning Show" actor Carbonell: NESTOR.


49. Actor Elba: IDRIS.
There you go, ladies ;-)

50. Small crown: TIARA.

51. Chi. summer hrs.: CDT. Central Daylight Time. Aka, UTC-5.

55. "Fancy meeting you here!": OH HI.

56. Move like a happy pooch's tail: WAG.

57. "Dexter: Resurrection" airer, for short: SHO. HBO's rival SHOtime

58. Includes on an email: CCS. Carbon CopieS - An anachronistic way of saying "also informed."

The Grid:
The Grid

WO: TOP kAT (thought it was spelt like Krazy Kat)
ESP: HUDSON
Fav: I liked UNIVAC, the successor to ENIAC. Anyone remember Asimov's SciFi Multivac?

I'm in Dallas w/ Eldest and the oldest of my littles Bro & Sis. #RUSH goes down tonight!


Cheers, -T

30 comments:

  1. Starting off with crossing
    two proper names did not bode well for the solving of this puzzle, but the rest of it wasn’t terribly difficult.
    FIR, so I’m happy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good morning!

    Scott and Katherine teamed with a cute theme and nice execution. In the Navy "Scratch that" was expressed as "Belay my last." Many of the 45s we received at the radio station had no B-side -- those not-for-sale versions had the A-side pressed on both sides. I noticed the SO to our blog mistress at 58d. Thanx for subbing again today, Dash-T.

    Gonna be a hot one again today. That's true for most of the country. We can all suffer together. The algae's gonna love it.

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  3. Morning, all! Just popping in to wish C.C. a very happy birthday.

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  4. Oops! Missed that. Happy birthday, C.C. Thanx for the reminder, Barry G -- long time, no see.

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  5. FIR, but voodoo->HOODOO, and trivi->TREVI.

    I really wanted to stretch ENIAC to fill 2d. UNIVAC was king for a few years until IBM brought their marketing expertise to bear in the mainframe space.

    I understand that McSweeney's was not envisioned to be a nonprofit, but you know what they say - EGGERS can't be choosers.

    I had to Amazon STYLER to discover that it's a fancy word for curling iron. I was thinking more along the lines of "if you want to try Mane Street Salon, avoid Bruce. He's a real tool."

    Although this one was pretty easy for a humpday, the twrds (I'm lookin' at you I DID, TOOT TOOT, CIS HET and TRAVEL ITCH) and the excessive A&E crapola sucked most of the fun out of this one. I did like ONE TWO followed by NINE, and SCRATCH THAT followed by ASS. But thanks to Bayou Tony for the great review. You're much too young to remember, but for a while any single released by the Beatles was certain to be a two-sided hit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unless something changed since I was in school 50 years ago, humpday is tomorrow, Wednesday.

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    2. OOPS! I humped a day early. Consider my ash amed. Thanks.

      Delete
  6. 2d ENIAC was the actual pioneering mainframe. But it doesn't fill the # of spaces.

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  7. FIR. I agree beginning with two proper names crossing was an ominous sign. There were a few questionable clues here and there which made it seem a bit contrived. And cishet (?) was not even a blip on my radar.
    The reveal made the theme make sense.
    But overall not an enjoyable puzzle.

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  8. FIR but hated this puzzle. CISHET? I'm not even looking that up.

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  9. Puzzle was trite

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  10. DNF. I gave up on the NE. One hindrance was my error, I entered INCAn, so couldn’t come up with the insect. I kept vOODOO, so that didn’t help.

    I also stumbled on too many names I didn’t know like HUDSON, TERRI, EGGERS, TERRI, TOP CAT, NESTOR. and CIS HET (?) was all perps.

    Thank you A-t for your nice review. Enjoy your family visits.

    ReplyDelete
  11. FIW, guessed nEENA instead of GEENA for Stuart Little, didn't know the Greek mountain or Dexter so took a WAG with iSSA.

    I was always taught NOT to scratch an insect bite as it will make it worse.

    Thanks A-t for the

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oops, fat fingered the publish button. Thanks A-T for the review!

      Delete
  12. “SCRATCH THAT” my go-to phrase when editing a CT SCAN report

    Inkovers: Incan/INCAS,

    Never heard of Dave EGGERS (it’s only Tuesday. Why not “Hen layers”?)

    Is ”HOO”DOO like an off shoot of Voodoo but involving OWLS?

    Tony, I liked RAMI in Mr. Robot too and yes get a chance to see “Killers of the Flower Moon…” incredible true story

    GEENA Davis. Just starting watching Netflix “The Burroughs” horror series she stars in. Nice and spooky

    TREVI : corruption of ”tre vie” where 3 streets merge. The site of the fountain.

    Have only seen AVIATE in the puzzle. In normal-speak the pilot flies the plane

    Anyway. Busy day have a good one

    😊

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nice Tuesday puzzle from Scott & Katherine. I liked how the the theme remained hidden until the revealer. It would 've been less enjoyable if they had started from SCRATCH.

    I thought that DiCaprio was miscast in "Killers of the Flower Moon." He's a great actor, but 20 years too old for the role of a soldier returning from war.

    Tony, have fun tonight watching Anika and the old folks stepping into the Limelight!

    Happy birthday, C.C.!!

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  14. Nice puzzle that flowed at a smooth Tuesday level. No rarities or roadblocks, and the inclusion of TOPCAT brought a smile to this cartoon-loving child of the sixties.

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  15. I forgot to wish CC a happy birthday. 🎉🎊🎂

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  16. I truly did not like this CW. I suspect many won't be surprised that I didn't like it. 19 names, DNK 12, including DENIRO. I know who he is, of course, but didn't remember he was in "Killers...".GREAT movie, btw, if anyone has not seen it, you should. It is a true story, BTW. It left me totally disgusted that people would do what they did in the movie.

    I've always thought "The whole nine yards" referred to sailing, when you let out all of the mainsail. Just a guess, really.

    35A may refer to a scratch off but have a side meaning: scratch being $$.

    41A reminded me of the little non-profit I ran for a few years. It was not SUPPOSED to be a non-profit, but just ended up that way. After 3 or 4 years, I gave up.

    WMOS: I tried to stretch ENIAC at 2D, and needed a few perps before the V-8 can hit.

    I had a W/O: LEGLIFTS/LEGRAISE. Shoulda seen it was not a plural.

    Never heard of a CISHET. O.K., I get what it is a mashup of, but just have never heard it.

    I can't help but wonder what younger people must think of terms like "carbon copy" and "hang up the phone".

    Also, HOODOO? Not VOODOO???? Hmmm.

    As I mentioned, even though I managed to struggle to FIR in 17 minutes, this is not an enjoyable CW. Also not a Tuesday CW.

    Thanx -T for the terrific write-up. It was definitely the best part of today's CW experience. As I mentioned, you really should see Killers of the Flower Moon.

    And HAPPY BIRTHDAY CC!! I hope your day is great!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. The EVILS of a constructor- TWO proper names to start off the puzzle, which I filled by perps. I was guessing SERENA for the Williams co-star. The old ONE TWO punch to solvers. Then add a founder of a publishing company- EGGERS. And to top it, another dumb alphabet portmanteau CISHET made up to fit the puzzle.

    To know about UNIVAC, you need to old enough to remember FORTRAN, COBOL, or ASSEMBLER.

    HOODOO- unknown but we have a VOODOO Museum in NOLA.
    This Simpson is not familiar with either TERRI or SHERRI.



    ReplyDelete
  18. Replies
    1. CC is the person who created this blog, and a proficient CW constructor, also. Her name is Zhouqin Burnikel, but she just goes by CC. You'll see her CWs here from time to time and also in many other publications.

      Delete
    2. Thank you, sir for the information

      Delete
  19. I agree with all comments relating to how the puzzle started badly with two proper names. Puzzle wasn't one of my favorite's with all the unknown names and if I get the same clues tomorrow, I still won't know the names. Also, for some reason beyond me, I had "Love From New York" instead of Live. I really should triple check my entries.

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  20. A name-fest offering from Scott and Katherine on this sunny Tuesday.

    A rough start in the N.W. corner due to the names. But smooth sailing for the rest of the puzzle.

    I liked the theme. It was clever and could not be sussed until the puzzle was solved.

    If you’re thinking about cooling off with a dip in Trevi fountain today you will need a reservation. Rome has limited the number of visitors due to overcrowding.

    Thanks for the recap -T.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Loved the pic if Idris.

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    2. And you'll get fined if you go into the water.

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  21. Not one of my favorite puzzles.
    Happy birthday, C.C.

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  22. HUDSON WILLIAMS unknown. Someone with two last names? I know about geological HOODOOS. Anyone else?

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  23. TREVI Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Scott and Katherine, and AnonT. (Have a great time at the Rush concert. They will be ushering in Canada Day. Cue up Geddy Lee for O Canada acapella!)

    I FIRed and saw the SCRATCH theme early.

    A plethora of names today, but the unknowns perped eventually. Get to know HUDSON as he is becoming a favourite CW fill Non CISHET.

    Like Jinx, I smiled at ONE TWO followed by NINE. (And we had the TREvi three roads fountain).
    I noted TOPCAT and that TOM cat.

    ESL learners must SCRATCH their heads when “Stands by” means “Sits idle”.

    Happy Birthday C.C.
    Wishing you all a great day.

    ReplyDelete

For custom-made birthday, anniversary or special occasion puzzles from C.C., please email crosswordc@gmail.com

Her book "Sip & Solve Easy Mini Crosswords" is available on Amazon.