AN AIM TO EFFACE
This is my second review of a Jeremy Venook construction; the first one is here, and like that first puzzle, I have a similar "meh" feeling about today's crossword. One could say it was a bit "LAME", and I don't mean the dress. The 'names' theme was disappointing - perhaps due to the fact that I did not recognize two of them, and that they're, well, names, associated with a characteristic of a face; YMMV. In addition, I found the crossings were of little help - I'm looking at you, 9D~! Standard grid, no outliers, no circles, half as many 3LWs as Five-letter ones, two Twurds, and plenty of proper nouns, since that was the "name" of the "game" - the themers and centered reveal;
17. *Two-time Oscar winner with a stoic bearing?: EMMA STONE - Stone Face, usually the more common phrase being stone faced, or having a Poker Face - take it, Lady Gaga~!
23. *Nursery rhyme lad with one eye closed?: WILLIE WINKIE - My parents were born & raised in England, yet I've never heard of "Wee Willie Winkie" or the Scottish folk song; in fact, 'winkie' meant the "one-eyed willie" - if you know what I mean. I guess this is the 'winkie face', which Google says should be "winky"
46. *Fictional spy sporting a big yellow button?: GEORGE SMILEY - A learning moment for me, this character appeaed when I was just 3yrs old - but I have heard of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", the 1974 novel from author John Le CarrΓ©, which became a TV series ( 1979 ) with Alec Guinness as the lead intelligence officer ( after he played Ben 'Obi-Wan' Kenobi in 1977, which I did see ); more here
36. Finally meet in person, or how to make the starred clues match their answers:
PUT A FACE TO A NAME
My dad insisted when I filled out a job application to "put a face to the name",
and speak to a manager instead of just walking out
But Wait - don't drop names -
There's More to make a face over π
ACROSS:
1. C in shop class?: CLAMP - this thing; as a woodworker, one can never have enough clamps
6. Blu-ray precursor: DVD
9. South Asian crepes: DOSAs - Ugh. Crossing another name, double UGH
14. Hispaniola nation: HAITI - this Geo name has appeared in all four of Jeremy's LA Times puzzles
15. Outdoor co-op with an "Uncommon Path" blog: REI - learned by doing crosswords
16. Loosen, as laces: UNTIE - Odd that this counts as Friday-level, considering the rest of the clues
19. Recline atop: LIE ON - Twurdish #1
20. Charge: FEE
21. Horn sound: TOOT
22. Briquettes: COALS
26. Talk into a bigger purchase: UPSELL
30. Protective trench: MOAT - I do love castles
31. Golfing goof: SLICE - FORE~!
33. Lid: CAP - AND - 57D. Lid: HAT
40. Grads-to-be: SRs
41. Sarge's superior: LOOIE - oof. Friday. Lieutenant. If it weren't for my voracious reading, I would not have gotten this one - also seen in novels as "LOO", "LOOT", "L-T", etc.
42. Hieroglyphic snakes: ASPs
43. Insider's argot: CANT - argot being the 'jargon', lingo and language of a small group, e.g. scientists
44. Check: ARREST
51. Partygoer who might stock up on glow sticks: RAVER - I grew up in the "mosh pit" era
52. Many a Yemeni: ARAB
53. Sweets: BAE - not candy, vague, and cringe, I can't stand this word - two of three Fridays now π
56. Carne __ burrito: ASADA
60. "Eddington" director Aster: ARI - I know none of his work - IMDb, name #3
61. Caused: LED TO - Twurdish #2
62. Utter, as thou might: SAYST - canceled my SAYTH, which needed to be SayEth anyway - until I checked with our new friend A I, and found this . . .
63. Pewter component: TIN - about 85-99%, according to Wiki
64. Eye sores: STYES
DOWN:
1. Many a cooking show host: CHEF
2. Fabric with metallic threads: LAMΓ - Some of this puzzle may be "lame", but not this dress . . . π
5. Flower part: PISTIL
6. Salivate: DROOL - Makes me think of Odie from Garfield
7. Starbucks order: VENTI
8. Drop to 0%: DIE - Ah. Like phone batteries
9. Woman of La Mancha?: DULCINEA - Crossing two themers, and name #4 - Don Quixote's imaginary girlfriend; Why stop at one~? I have a dozen imaginary girlfriends . . . π the Wiki
10. Mirepoix vegetables: ONIONS - Frawnche. no clue, filled via perps
11. Swordfish cut: STEAK - solid WAG on my part, but then again, I know salmon is sold as 'steaks'
12. Garlicky mayo: AIOLI - learned by doing crosswords
13. Intuit: SENSE
24. Paperless Post alternative: eVITE - Ugh. I tried eSite, thinking capitalized Post = newspaper, not the Postal, federal mail system , and a Tuesday dupe
25. Baylor University city: WACO - Geo name #5
26. Pros who work at home: UMPs - I think this clue needed an "?" - for home PLATE, that is . . .
27. Really come down: POUR - I tried HAIL, TEEM, PELT - Bzzzzt on all of them . . .
28. College Board exams: SATs
31. Many Highland Games participants: SCOTS - I had CELTS, so I was only 40% correct
32. Fragrant garland: LEI
33. Instance: CASE
34. Boxes in an arena?: AMPS - Boxes being the 3D noun, not the 'sparring' verb kind; I play guitar, and this is still too vague, even for a Friday . . .
35. Annoyance: PEST
37. Like a foul that might earn an automatic ejection: FLAGRANT - PERSONAL fit as well
38. Super-duper: A-ONE
39. Less than hardly, quaintly: NARY - I tried RARE, got me enough
43. Assertions of faith: CREDOS
44. Jai __: ALAI
45. Fights back: REBELS - the verb, not the noun
46. Snatches: GRABS - reminds me of this scene from Ocean's Eleven
47. GPA booster: EASY A
48. Egg-producing organ: OVARY
49. Language of a haka chant: MAORI - same language as the bug above π - name(ish)
50. Conservationist Bindi: IRWIN - No clue, WAG on the "I" crossing the theme name - turns out to be Steve Irwin's daughter - still, it's #6
53. Hair quality: BODY - sadly, my hair quality is "thin", my body, "thick" - I'd prefer the reverse . . .
54. Upfront stake: ANTE - poker [face], not poking
55. Obstacles to teamwork: EGOs
58. Permit: LET - the verb, not the noun
Splynter
Pretty tough puzzle,
ReplyDeleteas befits a Friday, but I got through it with no “red letters.”
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThis one seemed too easy for a Friday. Until I got to Texas, that is. IRWIN, ARI, and HOWIE LONG (Huey, yes, Howie, no) were unknown. Managed to perp 'em, though. Yay. Thanx, Jeremy and Splynter. (I often have enough CLAMPs, but never too many.)
FIR. This was quite a workout, which is to be expected on a Friday. Thank heavens for perps because there were more than a few complete unknowns for me.
ReplyDeleteI got the theme early on and that helped a lot. In fact I threw down the reveal without a moment's hesitation. I knew them all except for Howie Long. I'm not a big football fan.
Overall an OK puzzle .
Died on the D at 9 down and 9 across
ReplyDeleteFIW, missing my WAG @ WILLIE WoNKIE x DULCoNEA. But I guessed right at four other crosses, so I've got that goin' for me. Which is nice. Also, top->CAP, sayth->SAYST, amor->AMIE, and oily->BODY.
ReplyDeleteI won't bore you with my first thought for the clue "snatches." That thought had too many letters anyway.
For me, this one was like eating rice cakes - not very fulfilling. Way too many names / foreign words, some of them crossing. I had only heard of EMMA STONE and HOWIE LONG; enough to suss the theme, but not enough to resolve the other two.
Thanks to Splynter for the fun and candid review. Have fun dog sitting!
Unknown names in the south. HOWIE, MΔORI, as clued, IRWIN kept from a FIR.
ReplyDeleteI did like the NAME to FACE theme, too bad about HOWIE. Other unknown names REI, VANS, LOOIE, ARI, WETA. Those I got with perps.
Thank you Splynter for the fine review.
It always surprises me a bit when I come to the blog to check answers, and the write ups are so “spot on”. I can’t say I enjoyed this puzzle, and almost gave up on it a couple of times. I knew all of the names except for George Smart, and if you ask me in a couple of weeks, I probably won’t remember it then either. Made one error as I guessed Losas so overall, I guess I’m happy with myself as I often don’t finish Friday or Saturday puzzles.
ReplyDeleteWow - a stinky puzzle with a theme based on proper nouns with basically gibberish clues and answers. It seems right at home in the LAT though. I have a feeling that tomorrow could be brutally awful as well.
ReplyDeleteKindly perps made for a fairly easy solve as I FIR in the early week time of 12:24. WILLIE WINKIE (face) was my only unknown themer. I’ve yet to instill DOSA in my memory bank but I know we’ve seen it before and surely will again. Surprised we don’t see the French AIME as much in CWs as the Spanish and Italian versions. There is still a MOAT around the Tower of London, but these days it’s dry. I DNK what ‘mirepoix’ is but a few perps got me ONIONS. I don’t think there is an English word for the same common mix of those veggies. A SLICE is not necessarily a golfing goof if one knows how to do it, it may get you around trees or a dogleg. When my 2 boys were early teens I took them to the Warped Tour three years in a row, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Barrie, Ontario. Not my kind of ‘music’ as it was mostly loud indiscernible Punk, but I did see Joan Jett and one other band I enjoyed. There were half a dozen or so stages set up in different locations on the grounds, simultaneously blasting away. They also offered an ‘Adult Day Care’ a big tent away from the noise as a respite for people like me π. I also currently wear a pair of VANS my son gave to me, for reasons unknown to me I’ve had more compliments on those shoes than any I’ve ever worn π€·♂️. Thank you Jeremy for the puzzle and to Splynter for your excellent review!
ReplyDeleteFLN - Jayce ~ sounds like you had a MOST excellent b/day yesterday, happy for you for that!
was not a huge fan of this one, the theme was just kind of uhhhh lame lol. The names weren't too bad for me overall -- I knew GEORGE SMILEY from the 2011 movie starring the great Gary Oldman. VANS Warped Tour was like The Thing when I was in high school in the mid aughts so that one was easy enough. Knew what mirepoix was but could only think of the carrots and celery so not really helpful lol. Similarly baffled by WILLIE WINKIE. Not a horror movie guy personally but my best friend and his wife swear by ARI Aster's first movie Hereditary. Not an awful puzzle by any means but just kind of bizarrely put together.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteI liked the theme and the clever reveal, but some of the cluing and fill left much to be desired: Dosas, Raver, Bae, Sayst, Ari, Weta, Nary, etc. I always thought the correct name was Wee Willie Winkle. Overall, I think it was a Friday level difficulty except for the theme itself which was pretty obvious from the reveal clue.
Thanks, Jeremy, and thanks, Splynter, for the honest and spot-on analysis. Enjoy your weekend with Cooper!
Why do I have to sign in each time I want to post? This is a new requirement and a very annoying one at that. Any advice would be appreciated.
Have a great day.
Sorry I can't give you any advice because sometimes I have to sign in and sometimes I don't, and I don't really understand why. For the past week I haven't needed to sign in at all (knock on wood). For the week before that I needed to sign in almost every day.
DeleteCrossEyedDave, thank you for the cake yesterday.
ReplyDeleteA lumbering and clunky offering from Jeremy Venook on this rainy Friday morning.
ReplyDeleteThe theme was unexciting. IMO
I do enjoy Dosa’s and they are all the fad here. Many Indian restaurants are now focusing on Dosa Masalas. A spicy πΆ️ and tasty indulgence.
It was nice to see Bindi Irwin make a cameo appearance. Time magazine names her as Australia’s most influential young female.
She is making her late father ( Steve Irwin) proud.
Thanks Splynter for the recap.
Another mediocre offering with a lame gimmick. I would offer bonus points for including Emma Stone and Easy A (her first movie where she played the lead) in the same puzzle, but I’m not sure the constructor was even aware of the connection.
ReplyDeleteFearsome Friday. Thanks for the workout Jeremy, and the fun, Splynter.
ReplyDeleteI got the FACE theme without recognizing 3 of the 4 themers. Perhaps I had Canadian/British advantage with Willie Winkie (nursery rhyme calls him Wee).
I remembered the D in DOSA correctly but had no idea of the N in that Natick cross of VANS and DULCINEA. (That VANS clue is probably not Jeremy’s fault)
I was debating between TOP and HAT at 33A, but eventually needed both with 57 D.
FLAGRANT is such a great-sounding word!
I was nearly duped the other evening by a supposed Paperless Post invite. When I clicked on the email, it asked me to sign in with my email account. Everything looked very legitimate except the website had spelling as paperles. I had not signed in, but I changed my email password anyway. One of my friends had been hacked.
The legitimate invitation websites DO NOT require you to login to see your invitation.
Wishing you all a great day.
CanadianEh! I’ve had two of those invites in the last three months. Both were supposedly from people i hadn’t talked to in years.
DeleteI'm surprised that some commenters actually liked this CW, as I found very little to like. 16 names, 12 DNKs among them. I only finished the CW by going online, using red-letter help, and even then needing several alpha runs. Took 18 minutes to fill all the cells correctly, but that was no happy-feeling moment, because I HATED this CW.
ReplyDeleteFAR too many names. Also DNK the word "CANT". And "BAE" I still have not heard a single person say this word. It seems to exist ONLY in CWs. The "D" at 9A/D was the last to fill and needed a short alpha run.
Best part of today was Splynter's terrific write-up, complete with more than one pic of shapely legs. Thanx Splynter for salvaging something positive from this disaster of a CW.
π π π π faces, clever theme
ReplyDeleteEasy Friday but oh so many Naticks, yikes
Inkovers : lay/LIE ON, had FACE and NAME reversed
“Mirepoix”? LOOIE? WETA? DOSAS?
GEORGE π?
Been to the surgeon’s office twice today. Plenty of time to do the puzzle in the waiting room. Wound vac needed to prevent skin graft failure on my left leg keeps shutting down.
Luckily this isn’t the Civil war era πͺ π³
I did not particularly like this puzzle; I thought it was weird.
ReplyDeleteFLAGRANT is a cool word. LOOIE is not; it is disrespectful and it is not equivalent to "Sarge" which is a nickname by which the Sergeant is commonly referred. No soldier has ever said, "Yes, Looie."
EZINE-->EVITE.
Mirepoix is sometimes called the "Holy Trinity." In Cajun cuisine they use green bell pepper instead of carrots.
Good reading all your comments.
I really didn't enjoy this one much, for many of the same reasons as most of the previous comments. Also, like some others, the D at 9 got me. I never read the novel, nor have I had the Asian crepe.
ReplyDeleteI do come here almost daily though, to gain context for when a known perp gets me an unknown word. I always enjoy the write-up!
Hola! I'm with others who did not enjoy this puzzle. I like word play, but this was trickery and not fun. However, I recalled DULCINEA from Spanish lit class. My mother used to read nursery rhymes to us and WEE WILLIE WINKIE was one of them.
ReplyDeleteNot knowing the meaning of MIREPOIX did not help, either. Thank you for the explanation and yes, I know them as "the holy trinity."
Bindi IRWIN is familiar to me from the Saturday afternoon broadcasts of natural wonders.
GEORGE SMILEY, however, is unknown to me.
Lord BYRON, though, is familiar. Recently on Jeopardy! his daughter, Ada Lovelace, was mentioned.
Thank you, Jeremy Venook and splynter. Have a great day, everyone!
The French pronunciation of "aime" is "em".
ReplyDelete"I love you" can be expressed formally as "Je vous aime" or familiarly as "Je t(u)'aime".
"Je vous aime" is pronounced "Je voo sem".
"Je t'aime" is pronounced "Je tem".
Let me add, "je" is more accurately pronounced "zjuh".
ReplyDeleteAlso “voo zem”
DeleteThis was an odd mix of easy fill and hard names, but Splynter saved this one from going completely off the rails.
ReplyDeleteSCOTS poet William Miller wrote Wee WILLIE WINKIE.
VANS is known for it's flat-bottomed shoes that grip a skateboard.
Argot = CANT? Can't argue with that, I guess.
Whatsa WETA?
In reference to Splynter's review for 17A themer, cue Lady Gaga's "Poker Face", reminded me of Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox's reinterpritation of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" into a vintage 1920's Gatsby jazz style. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCTOpdlZJ8U&list=RDVCTOpdlZJ8U&start_radio=1
ReplyDeleteThose not familiar with Postmodern Jukebox, they take contemporary songs and reorchestrate them in another musical style, e.g. doo wop, country, motown, Beach Boy-style, various jazz styles, Marilyn Monroe (Happy Birthday to JFK)...
Musings
ReplyDelete-We were in Omaha to see my doctor for a persistent and annoying issue and am starting on his third strategy. We met his fabulous nurse who we have talked to many times on the phone and she said, “It’s so nice to put a face to a name.”
-I don’t know any of BYRON’S poems but know his daughter Ada Lovelace, who he never met, who was the earliest computer programmer
-Me too, Irish!