D'Art BOARD
Girls Eye~!
I had a run of Jay Silveman puzzles on Wednesdays back in '24-'25, and his last LA Times post was in March of this year. Today we have four 'pun-ishing' clues that "repronounce" an English word as a its foreign counterpart, with some humorous results - if that's your thing. I liked the theme, just got stuck trying to find the one wrong square when I did not get my "ta-DA~!", and it was a name crossing one of those foreign words, compounded by a low Grid Flow. Standard grid, a mere eight 3LWs, twice as many four- as five-letter words, no circles, two handfuls of names, three "others", and nary a Twurd to be found~! The themers;
17. Comfort that can only come from French bread?: PAIN RELIEF - It was the last themer that sent the V-8 can flying, and thus today I learned that the Frawnche word for "bread" is "pain" - pronounced all in the nose, sorta "puuhh(n)"
26. Creating perfect sunbathing conditions on an Italian beach?: SOLE PURPOSE - I was stumped at this themer, and the low grid flow meant only one crossing for help; don't know why I struggled to think of the Italian word for "sun", = "sole", with a 'flair' on the e, "sol-uh"
43. Positive review in a German newspaper?: GUT REACTION - pronounced "goot", this one made sense on my second pass . . .
58. Home for the king of Spain?: REAL ESTATE - and again with a differing pronunciation, "ree-ahl", which means royal, as opposed to "not fake" - learned from Spanish football / soccer teams
If you're American when entering a bathroom, and American when exiting, what are you inside~?
European . . .
Mais Aspettare Es Gibt Más~!
ACROSS:
1. Path behind a mower: SWATH - There's a guy who lives near me on rte 32 who takes the most meticulous care of his grass . . . and last weekend, I saw this thing cruising his lawn
It's
this $5349 mower AND
snowblower 😮
6. Cheese in a Greek omelet: FETA - semi-Easter egg of old language, new crossword
10. Whack with snowballs, say: PELT
14. Goosebump-causing: EERIE
15. Person with a fan club: IDOL - person with a fan club; Billy Idol
Yeah, I've used this image before . . .
16. Cooking spread: OLEO - learned by doing crosswords
19. Gradually introduce to solid foods: WEAN
20. Isfahan's country: IRAN - geo name #1
21. Claims that won't pass fact checks: LIES
22. Posh and __: nickname of a British celebrity couple:
BECKS - name (ish) - the
duo of 'Posh Spice' Victoria and David Beckham, he of European football ( soccer ) fame . . .
Married 27 years tomorrow~!
23. Mesopotamian empire that included parts of 20-Across: ASSYRIA - geo name #2, but the circumreferential clue made it easier this time
25. Likely to be mouthy:
PERT - I'll wash that mouth
out with Pert shampoo . . .
Plus~!
31. Software demos: BETAS
35. Capital of British Columbia: VICTORIA - geo name #3, and the #1 "other" Victoria . . . 🙄
36. Employs: USES
37. Spot: SPECK - Spot was sooo last week . . .
39. Staple that's often helpful in a pinch?: SALT
40. Chased: RAN AFTER - I had WAS AFTER to start
42. Bench press muscles: DELToidS - AND - 38D. Bench press muscle: PECtoral - this one-arm out, one-arm curl & press is brutal - as you can tell from my grimace . . . down to 203lbs~!
46. Clairvoyant: SEER
47. Lost one's cool: SNAPPED
52. Word with act or action: CLASS - class act, class action
54. Political alliance: BLOC
56. Conditional programming word: ELSE
57. "Only Murders in the Building" home:
HULU - Ah. Where
this show is to be streamed
60. Salchow kin:
AXEL - Friday cluing for this crossword
Olympics staple
There, that oughta clear things up . . .
61. Zealous: AVID
62. Asked too many questions, say: PRIED
63. Unwelcome visitor: PEST - there has been a preponderance of big black ants cruising my home this spring, even with a dozen traps in the usual corners . . .
Look closer . . .
64. Funeral rite pile: PYRE
65. Senators' staffers: AIDES - the #2 "other" Senators . . . 🙄 - see below
DOWN:
1. Instagram filter shade: SEPIA - good WAG to start my Downs
2. Models: WEARS - I went with the noun, tried TYPES
3. Met highlights:
ARIAS - "Met" = Metropolitan
Opera
4. Lacking resonance: TINNY
5. Gender-specific pronoun: HER - HIS, HIM, or SHE, take your pick
6. Relating to offspring: FILIAL - how kids behave in respect to parents
7. Actress Falco: EDIE - name #4, crossword staple
8. Wiggled body parts: TOES - I can spread my toes like a hand - I'll refrain from posting an image
9. ET from Melmac: ALF - from the 80's TV sitcom
10. Confidence-enabling stance: POWER POSE - Had me thinking "Captain Morgan"
11. __ college: ELECTORAL - nailed it
12. Security breach: LEAK - Dah~! I tried HACK, 50% correct
13. Jillions: TONS - oh no~! is it a Twurd~? ALOT, ATON~?
18. 2025 Pixar title character: ELIO - name #5 that caused me grief on my last themer fill
22. Muppet who lives in the basement of 123 Sesame Street: BERT - name #6; I tried ELMO
24. Blog feed letters:
RSS -
Really
Simple
Syndication - yes, really; more
here
25. Senators target: PUCK - Got me. Dammit. I was thinking baseball - but they're the Nationals these days - this is the Ottawa NHL team, and I am ashamed I missed it on the first pass . . . 😒😞
27. Navratilova rival: EVERT - Tennis greats, but SELES was the wrong decade and name, #7
28. Camera shot: PIC
29. Sandy sediment: SILT
30. Noshes: EATS
31. Nondescript town: BURG
32. Biblical twin: ESAU - the birthright brother
33. Events in retail parking lots: TENT SALES - huh - a unique crossword fill . . .
34. Thus: AS A RESULT - three-word fill for a Friday four-letter clue
37. Elite athlete: STAR
41. Extra charges: FEES
42. Cold case sample: DNA
44. Tristan's beloved: ISOLDE - crossword couple, name #8
45. Fairy tale start: ONCE - upon a time . . .
48. __ dish: PETRI
49. Flannel pattern: PLAID
50. Name in the makeup aisle: ESTÉE - Lauder, name #9
51. Monopoly stack: DEEDS - not MONEY
52. Bloke: CHAP - I tried GENT, 100% wrong
53. Quite posh: LUXE - the #3 "other" Posh
54. Quail group: BEVY - Right. That's the word I could not recall
55. Bear necessity?: LAIR - a 'barely' bearable punny clue . . .
58. Ice Spice genre: RAP - three-letter music genre~? Ektorp EMO or RAP
59. Ballston __, New York: SPA - geo name #10, but I had help - I lived in upstate NY for years, in Colonie, which is outside of Albany, not far from this place - and where Rusty Brain hails from
Click to see larger
Splynter
Grid Flow a LOW 16.1
Apparently, these are
ReplyDeleteall words in the various languages implied. I just “plugged in” the common two word phrase in each case and it worked.
However, I would be no means call this an “easy” puzzle.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteStruggled with this one...and ultimately failed with ELIa/SaLE PURPOSE. Bzzzzt. No fireworks for me. Took me a moment to suss the GUT REACTION. Was trying to figure out how GUT could be a newspaper. Thanx Jay and Splynter. (I'd heard that European story. The guy started out as Russian, and afterward he was Finnish. Oh, and Houdini could untie knots with his toes. You could'a been an escape artist.)
We're off to H-town today for an annual celebration. Not sure it's a good idea to go there on a holiday weekend when the World Cup is in town. We'll see.
I heard that story too, but a little more bawdy version about a house of ill repute. In that version, in addition to the Russian and Finish, we have Himalayan.
DeleteSurprise. (Probably not). The post at 5:31 was mine.
DeleteFIR, but space->SPECK, lush->LUXE, and covy->BEVY.
ReplyDeleteI thought the theme answers were clever, but was a bit put off by the need to have at least a smattering of French, German and Spanish to understand how the fills fit the clues. I only have a smattering of English, and not the kind of English that includes "Posh and BECKS."
Thanks to Jay for the mostly-fun Friday challenge, and to Splynter for 'splainin' it all.
I enjoyed this Friday very much, both the puzzle from Jay and the exposition by Splynter. As sub-g said you really did need the linguistic smorgasbord but it was fun. My grandfather spoke 9 languages so I have always liked all kinds of words. The unknowns weren’t bad for a Friday so I too am happy. Have a safe and joyous 4th and let the pros do the fireworks 💥
ReplyDeletePretty easy for a Friday, and my last letter was the same as our illustrious contributor's.
ReplyDeleteI don't follow celebrity tabloids, so I didn't know Posh and BECKS. Any relation to bangers and mash?
Congrats on the workout, Splynter. Looking good my man!
FIR. This was a workout, but of course it is Friday and to be expected.
ReplyDeleteMy only stumbling block was "sole purpose". I did not know Elio, so I took a WAG and sole looked like it might work. I knew the French, German, and Spanish words, but Italian is not my strong suit.
So overall an enjoyable puzzle.
I got the theme at PAIN RELIEF and looked forward to the rest. Then lo and behold, I goofed on the German entry because I confidently entered BURb for the down clue, so I could not figure out the BUT word. I’m afraid I left it like that so FIW.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise pretty easy puzzle for a Friday. I didn’t know ELIO and PUCK but perps took care of them. The same for salchow, spell check didn’t like that word, but AXEL appeared anyway.
I don’t think of OLEO as a cooking spread, but more of a butter sub to spread on toast. BTW, we had ELIO and OLEO.
Thank you Splynter for a fine review. Looking good at the gym.
I completed the puzzle, but had 3 errors. 2 in the long answers, and one in the ancient country that included Iran. A lot of guessing throughout for me, especially with the foreign words and the blog clue.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis was a fresh idea and not too difficult to solve. I think Pain Relief was the best and most relative to the clue; the others were a little forced, IMO. Elio was the only unknown but I question the obtuse cluing for Spa. I knew it, of course, but it still seemed a little unfair to most solvers, although the perps were fair.
Thanks, Jay, and thanks, Splynter, for explaining the theme and for the chatty narrative.
Stay cool, everyone.
As a rule don’t like foreign language thrown in as filler but this was fun and punny. ASARESULT an unusually quick and rare Friday FIR
ReplyDeleteInkovers: place/SPACE, nail/TOES,
Splynter I can splay my toes too but only on my left foot for some reason. (Can also wiggle my ears together or independently)
Almost put Bird for the “Quail group” 🤭
“Only Murders … home” Arcadia wouldn’t fit.
ELIO is an Italian name but comes from the Greek word “Helios” meaning sun so another SOLE (soh-LEH) in the puzzle
Had a colleague during residency in Rochester from “Balston” SPA. (15 mi from Saratoga SPA.)I Not many of us Upstate NYers would know it
At camp for the long weekend. Even a scorcher here in the Adirondacks which is happening more often each season. (Once a retreat from the city heat)
Keep your 🆒
Musings
ReplyDelete-I had a similar experience as Splynter but it was at SOLE.. for various reasons but “got ‘er done”
-Nice summary!
-I too used the English word to check the completion of the phrases
-Momma birds are WEANING a lot of youngsters at our house here in early summer
-A remembrance from my childhood: Joy to the world, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs EMPLOY
-Work it out, Splynter!
-A former friend/bully kept making a “joke” about my last name in a group. I SNAPPED. Did I mention he was a former friend?
-Speaking of odd words in lyrics, Jim Morrison clearly, made peeps look up the word PYRE
-ELIO is one of many recent Disney movies that have lost money. Disney doesn't make 'em like they used to.
-Those old MLB Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers in 1971
-My first collection of quail thought was a COVEY
Is it Wednesday again? Very rare for me to finish a Friday puzzle in under 10 minutes, as was the case today. Lots of too-easy fill.
ReplyDeleteMy sports-oriented mind immediately went to Ottawa Senators but is the puck really the "target" in a hockey game? Would the ball be the "target" of the 49ers or Warriors?
That's my only quibble.
I started out thinking it was Saturday (stock market not open) so went directly online and turned on red-letter help. Overall a very good CW. 14 names, DNK 8, but they managed to pretty much perp into place. The "O" at the "SOLE" and "ELIO" cross was a WAG but "SOLEPURPOSE" sounded better than "SALEPURPOSE" so I avoided a red-letter there.
ReplyDeleteSELES/EVERT took some thought and looking at the perps to avoid the red-letters. LUSH/LUXE did take a red-letter to set me straight.
SHE/HER/HIM/HIS also needed perps but EERIE settled that W/O red-letters.
I DNK "SALCHOW", sounds like a food, but perps set me straight once again.
It's curious how a word like PELT came have entirely different meanings.
I'm embarrassed to say I struggled to remember VICTORIA and needed a few perps before the V-8 can hit. (Sorry, CanadianEH!).
Overall an enjoyable CW, thanx for the fun, JS, and the several clever clues: ELECTORAL and PUCK clues among them.
Thanx too to Splynter for the very nice write-up. And congrats on your physical fitness. I'm about to head to the gym myself, but I will never have, and have never had, a body like yours. Right now I'm doing bare minimum exercises because of a rotator cuff injury to my very painful left shoulder. I'm trying to strengthen the muscles around the injury, but the exercises that do that are pretty painful.
Hoping a great 4th for everyone, if you can, in this heat.
Fun puzzle with a clever and cute theme. Maybe I just had a great day, but I definitely didn’t feel like this was a Friday puzzle, more of a Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this clever puzzle and FIR. Thanks, Jay! PAIN RELIEF set me up well to understand what to expect in the rest of the themers. Like others, I struggled with SOLE PURPOSE because of the perpendicular RSS and ELIO; the S and O in SOLE were the last spots I filled.
ReplyDeleteGood job at the gym, Splynter! Spreading your toes is good for your fitness as well; flexible feet help with balance, especially as we get older.
Thanks for the excellent blog post, and for guiding us to look closely at those plumber ants. Cute!
Hi there~!
DeleteI'm so glad someone caught those "plumber" ants~!
GUTen Morgen. There was no PAIN completing the puzzle today, but the SOLE PURPOSE was all perps, with SOLE for sun in Italiano not known by me. PAIN was in a recent puzzle or it would have been another stumper.
ReplyDeletePosh and BECK? No idea about that couple. Ditto for Ballston SPA.
,
PUCK- I wanted GOAL before the perps took over.
DELTS & PECS- I keep 5lb, 10ln, & 15lb dumbbells on the back porch in plain sight (out of sight; out of mind) so I can do what Splynter does- but not on my knees 3 or 4 times weekly.
Big Easy above.
DeleteI forgot a CSO to CanadianEh! for VICTORIA. Over the years I’ve been twice to this lovely city.
ReplyDeleteTook 6:00 today to translate this one.
ReplyDeleteNot my favorite puzzle, as I could not avoid the foreign language lessons.
R-O-S read my mind with "Arconia."
Yeah another slip up .. its Arconia not Arcadia!
DeleteHola! What a good Friday puzzle. Thank you, Jay Silverman! I sashayed right along and finished in good time. I don't have HULU, but I see the commercials for that program.
ReplyDeletei have visited VICTORIA and loved it. CSO to Canadian Eh.
ELIO is totally unknown to me, and I had to ask ALEXA.
School uniforms are almost always PLAID for some reason.
It has been many, many years since Chris EVERT was in the spotlight.
I hope all is well with everyone here and preparing for a great holiday weekend.
Thank you, Jay and Splynter.
ReplyDeleteNo issues. I too would have went with COVY of quail but I already had BLOC.
When I commuted to downtown Chicago in the late 80s and early 90s, there was an Au Bon Pain on the walk from the train station to the office. It was a favorite stop.
Here's how it is pronounced. Au Bon Pain
I mispronounced it for months, having only read it and having never heard it.
Interesting Friday puzzle, many thanks, Jay and Splynter. The beginning felt a bit uncomfortable, with some EERIE person maybe planning to PELT someone, hopefully not an IDOL, and hopefully not causing someone to require PAIN RELIEF. This could all cause some unpleasant GUT REACTIONS.
DeleteWell, I'd better just go off to CLASS and work on teaching kids how to take care of PETS, hopefully with the help of an AIDE. That would make a better morning for everyone, wouldn't it.
Have a happy and healthy weekend coming up, everybody.
My atlas sez that Vancouver is the capital. Anyone? Anyone?
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was Vancouver which didn’t fit . Plus BC existed before Victoria was Queen so I looked it up. The original capital was called New Westminster, changed in 1868.
DeleteVICTORIA is the capital of BC.
DeleteEdward in Los Angeles: Is it Friday? Wayyyy too easy.
ReplyDeleteI liked this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteDW and I have been to VICTORIA twice also. While there, we also drove up to Butchart Gardens and spent a lovely day there. DW put her fingers into the nostrils of that bronze pig :)
Good reading all your comments.
Sheesh, that was Jayce @ 2:04PM. And this is me now. Double sheesh.
ReplyDeleteTriple sheesh.
Delete