CATWALK-ING
Superstitious~? The Quadruple Whammy
THIS is what a real crossword looks and solves like - with gratitude from my heart to our constructor, whose last appearance for the LA Times was here. The puzzle has a standard 15 x 15 grid, no gimmicks, no circles, a level of difficulty hinting at what's to come with the Saturday themeless ( I'm looking at you, 11D. ). Just six names, maybe a few too many abbrs ( and a high 3LW count ), with with two pairs of nines in the Downs, and enough vagueness/deception to make me have to think about the answers. The themers, "add-ING" to common phrases, are all unique, and such that if a solver can get a hold on one, they can go back and get some assistance for the others; no contrived reveal or 'forced' fill, either. I give it Four Moe ⭐ stars~! The themers;
19. Reservation with impeccable timing?: THE GOOD BOOKING - The Good Book, better known as The Bible; add ING, and you get the last room available at Comic Con - I so want to dress up and go~!
27. Task for a pet store with too many cats?: KITTY HAWKING - I thought this might be an outlier, with Kittyhawk being one word, but no - the town in North Carolina is Kitty Hawk - more here
A kitty hawking "real estate"
54. Night when one leaves the closet?: COME OUT EVENING - Gaming, gambling, etc., where one "buys in" and leaves at the end with the same 'investment'; I have had many a poker night where I was glad to have "come out even"
But Waiting, There's Moreing
ACROSS:
1. Elevator choice: FLOOR - Ah. Clever; I was thinking brand name, then "LOCAL", as opposed to express; overthinkING it, so my NW was messy
6. Tech giant headquartered in Armonk, N.Y.: IBM - I did not know the home office was residING in my old state; name(ish)
9. Mixes in: ADDS - no mixing, just tackING on ING
13. Future family member: FIANCÉ - Ah. The groom side of the equation; fiancée is the lass
14. Cal. neighbor: ARIzona
15. Sniffed item in some tastings: CORK - I pondered "NOSE" - more here - the aroma ( not odor ) of a wine at a tasting; cork sniffer has a negative connotation these days
16. Intelligence, sense of humor, etc.: ASSETS
17. Aunt's sis: MOM - my step-grandfather married my grandmother and his brother married her daughter, my mother's sister - figure that one out 😜
18. Like half of an MLB team's games: AWAY - not just baseball, most team sports have half their season played at another team's arena, not on/at their home field
22. Med. nation: SYR - I had the "Y" in place from doing the Downs first; Mediterranean / Syria
23. WNBA player: PRO - clever deception; NBA players are PROfessionals, too - I was overthinkING again, that the "W" factored into the answer
24. Forensic drama franchise: CSI - totally misread this clue, put in NSA 😝
25. "Christopher Robin" hopper: ROO - from Winnie The Pooh, name #1
30. "Frozen" character with antlers: SVEN - The reindeer in the Disney animated film; name #2
33. "Told you!": "SEE~!"
34. One metal in bimetallism: SILVER - LearnING moment for me; I thought bimetallism referred to the two metals, typically brass and steel, that make an old thermostat work - more on the financial "standard" here
35. Peninsula between the Gulf of Thailand and the Strait of Malacca: MALAY - geo name #3
37. Fuel additive brand: STP - crossword staple
39. Prolonged battle: SIEGE
40. Polar mass: ICE CAP
42. Facial twitch: TIC
44. Indoor rowers: ERGS - I knew this because my brother has one in his basement
48. Sinus specialist, briefly: ENT - Ears, Nose, Throat - crossword staple
49. Not well: ILL
50. "Or so __ heard": "I'VE"
51. Soccer great Hamm: MIA - name #4, but a frequent visitor to crosswords
58. Drive: FIRE - Friday cluING; drive has several definitions; cars, golf, passion, etc
59. Ironman competition, for short: TRIathlon; SwimmING, CyclING, RunnING
60. Brainstorm: IDEATE - $2 word
61. Light up: BEAM - think facially, like 'happy' tics
62. Crew blade: OAR - Crüe Axe
Mick Mars - Mötley Crüe - I have a similar BC Rich "axe"
63. Tickled pink: ELATED - This one cost me two minutes trying to find my error; I went with "S" at the end, not "D", never noticed the "tense" of either crossing
64. Spot in the sea: ISLE - this corrected my other messy corner; I had "ATF" for 63D.
65. Bill addressing climate change?: NYE - filled via perps, but "Bill Nye, the Science Guy" is also a regular visitor to crosswords; name #5
66. Flower part: SEPAL
1. Suspicious: FISHY - Ah. I was thinkING human perspective, went with LEERY - this is somethING generally soundING questionable - but not my "Y"
2. Hair-removal option: LASER - HOT WAX did not fit. Ouch.
3. Thou: ONE G - the slang for a thousand, one Grand, not the Biblical thou / thee / thine
4. Army creatures?: OCTOPI - Clever, but perhaps this is better clued as Arm-y~? I did get it
5. Vacation spots: RESORTS
6. Foot that's part of a meter: IAMB - poetry, e.g.
7. Jewelry box item: BROOCH - Earring, Necklace, Bracelet were too expensive in terms of letters
8. Brunch cocktails: MIMOSAS
9. Nutrient-rich berry: ACAI
10. With the current: DOWNRIVER - Dictionary says it's one word
11. Unhatched prize in Naomi Novik's "Temeraire" series: DRAGON EGG - name(ish), complete unknown, but I had enough crossings to figure it out; here's the Wiki
I'm going to try out this read
12. Much of a sunset photo: SKY - Dah~! I went with "RED"
Surreal - and a contest winner - more here
13. Jazz legend Waller: FATS - name #6, no clue. We are in Feb, Black History Month; more here
20. Lavishes affection (on): DOTES
21. Auckland residents, informally: KIWIS - Aussies are too fat to fit
26. Big brutes: OGRES - unless you're Shrek
27. Special skill: KNACK - I have a knack for complicatING simple things
29. Big name in bright lights: KLIEG - this one I knew, from working on movies - more here
30. Dispatch, biblically: SMITE - lots of Bible today
31. Openings: VACANCIES
32. __ college: ELECTORAL
36. New Haven undergrad: YALIE - Ah. Eli didn't make the grade . . .
38. Short cut: PIXIE - Haircut - I call my Pruis C 2 "Pixie"
Short cut - Short car - both cute
41. Pack of cyclists in a race: PELOTON - Tour de Frawnche taught me this word
Now that there's a piece of equipment called Peloton, it's
all that comes up on a Google search 😜
43. Out-of-uniform garb: CIVVIES - Ha~! Nailed it, the rare double "v" spelling and all; civilian attire
46. DVD alternative: BLU-RAY - I have a Blu-Ray player and a few movies
47. Pine leaf: NEEDLE - Yup, that's what the needles are - leafs; they're Leafs in Canada, Eh~?
51. Mazda roadster: MIATA - One of the employees of the pipe organ company has a 2005 model - he let me drive it to get coffee; no power steerING, and manual shiftING - a true drivING experience~!
I'll have the 2026 - in blue, with the fold-away hard top - Vroom-Vroom~!
52. Recon acquisition: INTEL - GatherING whilst spyING
53. Like wine and cheese: AGED - PAIRED didn't work - DUET~?
55. Eager volunteer's cry: "ME~! ME~!" - not the internet meme
56. Lose steam: TIRE - It's Friday, I pondered "FLAG"
57. Semimonthly tide: NEAP
58. DOJ arm: FBI - Department of Justice, and "Fart, Barf & Itch" ( from the Dave Robicheaux series books ). Also possible were ATF and DEA; not fitting in were the Bueau of Prisons and the US Marshals
** Thanks to all at the Corner for the B-day comments, and I truly appreciate "Eh!" who had me down for five years younger 😁 I am surprised at the number of folks who said that "double nickel" was in the rearview mirror for them - keep on solving crosswords~! I do miss the pipe organ job - such a cool place to work, and I am still planning on getting my very own Cooper - loved the links and pics; my brother's card said "I can't drive 55~!" **
** Thanks to all at the Corner for the B-day comments, and I truly appreciate "Eh!" who had me down for five years younger 😁 I am surprised at the number of folks who said that "double nickel" was in the rearview mirror for them - keep on solving crosswords~! I do miss the pipe organ job - such a cool place to work, and I am still planning on getting my very own Cooper - loved the links and pics; my brother's card said "I can't drive 55~!" **
Grid Flow a low 23.7
