ACROSS & . . .
I do like an "outside the box" kind of puzzle - we had a similar Friday with "Sides Add LE" on April 24th this year from James Mattina. Today we have a crossword from constructors Betsy O and Andrew G - this is their third LA Times collaboration; the others were (1) on Thursday, and (2) on Monday, both with Naomi at the helm to guide us. Today's themers can be resolved by adding corner "around" the corner(s) of the grid, and Bob (Feller)'s Your Uncle. Standard size, no Twurds, typical run of proper names, with TWO Leslies & Penguins today. The themers, reveal, and an expanded graphic of the grid:
1A. *Executive space with great views: [ corner ] OFFICE - Here's a "great view" of my executive blogging command center, taken from the corner at the ceiling 😜
7A. *Area in Westminster Abbey where Chaucer is buried: POETS [ corner ] - More from their website
65A. *Place to find a date?: [ corner ] STONE - ah. That kind of 'date'
66A. *Stop sign locale: STREET [ corner ] - "Hey, baby, what's your sign~?" "Stop."
12D. *Scoring opportunity in soccer: [ corner ] KICK
14D. *Defensive player who's often the fastest on the football field: [ corner ] BACK - The NY Jets used to have ESPN's #9 choice, Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner, but he's with the Colts now
47D. *Eeyore's home: POOH [ corner ] - "Winnie the" and friends' website
53D. *Challenging stretch at Augusta National: AMEN [ corner ] - more from the PGA Masters, here
37. Not far off, or where to look to make this puzzle's starred clues match their answers?:
AROUND THE CORNER
W
a
i
But
There's
M
o
r
e(s)~!
-
59. Wedding crasher's destination, perhaps: OPEN BAR - Crossing - 31D. College with an alcohol ban: DRY CAMPUS (a unique fill ) - how's that for a "mixer"~?
61. Pen pal's signoff: "WRITE ME." - Penguin's (#1) sign off - "White Me"
63. "House __": longtime HGTV series: HUNTERS - Here's an episode about a village near my old stomping ground of Long Island - about 20mins south of where I lived
DOWN:
1. At just the right moment: ON CUE
2. Senses: FEELS
3. Hall of Fame pitcher Bob who won the World Series in 1948 with Cleveland: FELLER - also no clue, name #6, more from the Hall of Fame here
4. Bitter brew, briefly: IPA - was not working with my FINLAND
5. Jargon: CANT - def. #3b
6. Over and done: ENDED
7. Tennis player Shriver and actress Grier: PAMs - know both "names", #s 7 & 8
8. Low digit: ONE - Dah~! This time, it was not TOE
9. Merit: EARN
10. Dress rehearsals: TRIAL RUNS
11. French cry of surprise: "SACRE BLEU~!!" - Frawnche expletive
13. Spoke rapidly: PATTERED - I was not giving up N-attered
19. The Pacific __: NORTHWEST - not the "Rim of Fire"
22. Knitter's ball: YARN
26. Neglected to: DIDN'T
28. Holiday, casually: VACAY
29. Cool remark: "Brr~!" - I think this may have benefitted from a "?", but it filled via perps, so . . .
30. __ in Charlie: 'C' AS . . . meh. CHarlie is a "chuh" sound, not a "kuh", as in Careless editing mistake
32. Part: COMPONENT - solid vague one word 4-letter clue + 8-letter answer
34. Pittsburgh team: STEELERS - PENGUINS (#2) fit, too, name(ish)
36. Afore: ERE
38. GI show gp.: USO - United Service Organization
39. Leslie __ Jr. of "Hamilton": ODOM - Leslie #2, name #9
49. New beginnings: DAWNS
51. Gaggle birds: GEESE
56. Uncommon: RARE
57. Spunk: GRIT
60. "Severance" director Stiller: BEN - name #10, I "neglected to" know ( 26D. ) he directed; sounds like a thrilling TV series
62. Suffix with front or cash: IER - frontier, cashier
Splynter
I saw all the “corners”
ReplyDeleteand thought this was a pretty clever puzzle, and not as difficult as it might have been.
(Except for those “dried peppers” which took ESP.)
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteYay, d-o sussed that "Corner" was the key as soon as OFFICE showed up.
"Winnow" reminded me of the U-W's "sifting and winnowing, by which the truth alone may be found." It was definitely not a DRY CAMPUS -- you could order a beer in the Rathskeller of the student union.
The OMNI showed up for an encore, still (and always to be) a luxury hotel chain.
I have a grand-nephew who lives in the Pacific NORTHWEST. He and I compete daily on the Wordle. I used to compete with his mother, but she passed on a year ago.
Thanx for the amusement, Betsy and Andrew. Enjoyed your expo, Splynter. (We finished within a few seconds of each other.)
FIR, but neilson->NIELSEN, and waddle->WATTLE.
ReplyDeleteCDC started as "Communicable Disease Center." They are now officially "Center for Disease Control and Prevention, but haven't changed the abbreviation to CDCP or CDC-P.
There's been a lot of discussion about whether OMNI is a "luxury hotel chain." Consumer guru Clark Howard wrote:
"Hotels aren’t what they used to be. For a long time, hotel chains lived and died by consistency and reliability. The brand name on the building — Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt — was supposed to be a guarantee of a certain standard of quality, and that’s how these companies built their value.
But something has fundamentally changed in the hotel business, and it’s no longer about ensuring quality. It’s about room count."
Here's the complete article for those interested.
Pen pal? As in ink and paper? As in envelopes and stamps? As in taking days for a message to be received? I have heard of such things, and I even heard that they wrote in cursive. I don't understand why they had to use foul language.
Thanks to Betsy and Andrew for the fun TGIF puzzle. I nearly gave up early and I'm glad I didn't. And thanks to Splynter for another fine review.
Randon Anonymous Generator (ARG) kicked in again. The drivel above is from me.
DeleteJinx, I made the same mistake with WAddLE. Took a while to back that out!
DeleteFIR. About par for difficulty on a Friday. Except for ristra (?), which I didn't know, the cluing was quite fair.
ReplyDeleteI got the theme somewhat early on. I understood there were corners, but the placement of "corner" took a bit mire time to figure out.
Overall an enjoyable puzzle.
Abbott and Costello, besides "Who's on First" did a short bit about how there's only one Feller on the Cleveland team - "He must be pretty good!"
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I read the first two starred clues, I knew what the theme was, albeit not the exact reveal wording. Despite this awareness, which hastened the solve, I enjoyed the journey to the end. Ristra was unknown but perped easily enough. My only minor nit is that the obvious theme and ease of solve weren’t Friday level difficulty, IMO. Fridays are supposed to be warmups for Saturdays but, then again, some recent Saturdays haven’t lived up to their reputation, either.
Thanks, Betsy and Andrew, and thanks, Splynter, for the very detailed and informative review. Your blogging headquarters looks very comfy and inspiring. All it needs now is a canine companion to keep you company!
Have a great day.
FIW after I failed to notice my solution had director BER Stiller. I was thinking of the fruit dates, which can be found at the corner STOrE. Oops.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed the puzzle, though. Great theme, fun fill, and Friday-appropriate clueing. At least I knew RISTRA, as these festive decorations are traditional here in New Mexico.
Thanks to Betsy and Andrew for the nice challenge, and to Splynter for the entertaining review!
LOL Kat. I had STOrE too, but I was thinking of those recommendations for lonely singles to look for a date in the grocery aisle!
DeleteSACRÉ BLEU, I hung on to toe for ONE, so missed the POETS corner. How silly of me. Then I left off the R of FELLER, not getting the tubular expression. The rest solved pretty quickly. RISTRA filled with perps.
ReplyDeleteThank you Splynter for your fun review. I do like penguins. That joke was really cute.
And to think - Today is POETS day! ([Urinate] On Everything, Tomorrow's Saturday)
DeleteHere are a couple constructors who think outside the box....literally. And an editor who countenances this type of misbehavior. Well done, Betsy, Andrew, and Patti! And thanks, Splynter, for drawing a picture for those of us--like me--who were a bit slow on the uptake to see what was exactly going on in the corners.
ReplyDeleteThe puzzle solving itself I found straightforward and doable (for a Friday). 13-Down reminded me of Gilbert & Sullivan patter songs which are performed at an insanely fast tempo.
I lived in France for a couple years, and never heard anyone say "Sacre Bleu." "Sacre Dieu," yes, all the time.
Thanks, Andrew and Betsy, for a fun ride today, and Splynter for the helpful recap.
I agree, SACRÉ BLEU is very outmoded and more of a joke.
DeleteWe meet at this 'corner' to comment on a CORNER puzzle today.
ReplyDeleteGood morning all. The most trouble for me was starting out, not knowing who Bjork was or where she was from. I've never heard of a KNEEPAN, only PAD or Patella. Not ever seeing a soccer game, Corner KICK was unknown. There was a lot of white and I didn't catch the CORNER connection until I made it to The Masters' AMEN CORNER; its name came from players saying it after playing those three tricky holes.
Splynter, should have connected Johnny Cash's SUE and his "RING, (not RIM) OF FIRE for "The Pacific _________"
POOH took a while; thought it was Hundred Acre Wood.
AMERICA- after a couple of perps, I was guessing AMELIA but came up with an empty square.
NARC, RISTRA, SYMS,- no idea on those perped fills.
DRY CAMPUS- maybe at BYU but most campuses have a few establishments nearby.
PAM Shriver was the first professional tennis player to use an oversized racket; now, all tennis (amateur & pro) players use them.
Musings
ReplyDelete-AMEN CORNER finally rose up and smacked me in the head. What a cool puzzle!
-The only other issue was to accept CANT for jargon and KNEE PAN for patella even though they looked so wrong.
-KESEY, SYMS and RISTRA took care of themselves.
-I temporarily confused ICELAND’S Björk with Sweden’s Björn Bork but cleaned it up
-We attended a parent’s meeting for our second daughter at UNL and the presenter said it was a DRY CAMPUS. I found it hard not to laugh at loud.
-Veteran serious actor LESLIE NIELSEN reinvented himself as a comic actor at 60-years-old. His deadpan delivery in Airplane was hilarious.
-My Swiss last name often requires me to spell it, “S as in Sam, C as in Charlie, ….
-Nice job, Splynter!
Took 6:08 today to crash in the non-corner intersection of "kneepan" and "cant." Knee pin and cint sounded just as good to me, though I was more surprised that "ristra" was correct.
ReplyDeleteI knew the Actress of the Day (America), but not the writer (Kesey) or the singer (Syms). The French lesson sounded familiar.
I took a "vacay" to "Iceland" earlier this year. It was beautiful.
I agree with Ms. Irish Miss's take on the old Friday-level of difficulty.
Yet another constructor who does not know the definition of “REV.”
ReplyDelete“Rev” to “fire up” as “ASAP is to STAT” in the crossword world, I guess. As long as the editor continues to allow it.
I’ve only stayed at one Omni Hotel. That is the Omni William Penn in Pittsburgh, PA, a gorgeous hotel in a gem of a city. Pittsburgh used to be overlooked and under appreciated, but no more. Tourism is now the city’s second biggest industry.
ReplyDeleteI started with CSUITE and was off to a flying stop. Actually IPA and ENDED both worked, but I CANT fit the rest. I knew the second answer was POET'S Corner so the theme exposed itself early. I agree with Irish Miss that once revealed, the repeating "corners" made things very easy for a Friday.
ReplyDeleteHoliday meaning VACAY is a British thing.
I don't get why Eeyores' home is POOH. He lives in the Hundred Acre Wood, specifically in an area known as Eeyore's Gloomy Place or Wren's Warren Valley. Unless his "home" is in the Winnie the POOH books or shows, but they don't go simply by POOH either.
The Walking Dead opens in Atlanta because the virus that's turning people into zombies originated near (or by) the CDC.
You cornered the market, Splynter!
"House at Pooh Corner" was the sequel to "Winnie the Pooh." A lot of the sequel's plot revolved around the new character, Tigger.
DeleteEdward in LA: I painted myself into one on this today.
ReplyDeleteFriday Fail. Thanks for the fun, Betsy and Andrew, and Splynter.
ReplyDeleteOfficially a FIW since I left NON ARAB thinking nATTERED was good, and not noticing PoMS.
I also had STOrE as a good place to find a date! I did question BEr and thought it was BEN, but it took Splynter’s comment for me to “get” CORNERSTONE. groan.
I did get the CORNER theme with OFFICE, but I had Here to the CORNER before AROUND perped and made more sense.
I noted that we had 4 themers with CORNER at the end and 4 with CORNER at the beginning., but now I see from Splynter’s diagram how they fit the corners of the grid. Clever!
Hand up for WAddLE before WATTLE.
KESEY, RISTRA, SYMS we’re all perps, but this Canadian did know NIELSEN (and the spelling).
The cross of KESEY and FELLER was almost a Natick for the E.
Wishing you all a great day.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteI saddled up to a stool in CORNER BAR at had a shot and a beer after solving today's puzzle. I don't recall feeling CORNERED at all during the solve but I am pretty sure that I had a few write-overs
Enjoyed Splynter's corner-y comments
BTW, I think that "C, as in CHARLIE" is derived from the NATO Phonetic Alphabet. I believe it's use (Charlie vs Careless, e.g.) is due to the C and K sounds being too close. Someone unfamiliar with English could say "C, as in KILO, e.g., based solely on the phonetic sound. FWIW, I use the NATO Phonetic Alphabet often when speaking with customer service reps