I had the "up" words Z-D-L puzzle in January and RB handled his last crossword back at the start of May. Today our consistent constructor gives us a "redefinition" of what one's career might entail, but with a humorous twist (~?) - I have mixed feelings about this one; I found it Friday challenging, and therefore enjoyable, but as it's been said at The Corner in the past, the juice maybe not be worth the squeeze; YMMV. Another over-sized 15 x 16 grid, chunky 9-letter corners, several, and some obscure, names, twenty-two 3LWs, and ALOT of Twurds. The themers, followed by the centrally located reveal;
18. Photographer?: CHEESEMONGER - a one-word professional who selects, cares for, cuts and sells cheese; I linked a "How It's Made" episode on cheese making back in March
26. Police officer?: TICKET AGENT - I've never gotten a speeding ticket; I have, however, had two DUI arrests, one arrest & ticket for lapse of insurance, and two for operating a commercial vehicle in the HOV lane & illegally crossing the HOV buffer "line". Sheesh. This is what drinking cost me; once I stopped, so did the tickets - go figure . . .
I was never THAT drunk . . .
52. Carpenter?: FLOOR TRADER - in my carpentry work days of yore, I have done several ceramic tile floors, and a couple of Pergo ones - one could argue I "traded" the old linoleum for something better
Floor Cheese
63. Realtor?: STREET VENDOR - It's true, in a sense - David Cook, my Realtor here in CT, sold me a house while we were on the "street" I now call home . . .
The cheese on the street . . .
38. "That's someone else's problem," or an apt title for this puzzle - NOT MY JOB - As a retail manager in the home improvement industry, I heard employees say the reveal far too many times. For those who read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the clue is a different "thing" altogether . . .
But Wait - There's More Cheese~?
ACROSS:
1. Like some temples: MASONIC - Dah~! I wanted to fill this in, hesitated
8. Epiphany trio: MAGI - I do the Downs first, already had the "G" in place
12. Maker of Sticking Point press-on nails: OPI - Nailed it, but this is a crossword staple
15. Tennis period since 1968: OPEN ERA - my one mistake; I had openerS at first
16. Make smooth: IRON - ah, the verb - good one
17. NFL Hall of Famer Dawson: LEN - name #1, which I did actually know
20. Pester: IRK
21. Bandleader's command: HIT IT - It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses . . .
"Hit it."
22. Hosp. areas: ERs - Not ORs - that was yesterday
23. Dry Italian whites: SOAVES - filled via perps
Swah-vay
25. Object of adoration: IDOL - this one's protected by the Hovitos . . . if only you could speak Hovitos
31. Roasted entree that may be served with mint jelly: LEG OF LAMB - I knew this; once I had some crossings, the V-8 can flew
Leg of LamP
32. Kotero of "Purple Rain": APOLLONIA - I vaguely remember the movie, released in 1984 - before my HS days, and did not see - not a Prince fan back then - name #12, and a unique fill. The IMDb
nylons don't do well with those shoes
33. Letting off the hook: PARDONING - $2 word
34. SHO subsidiary: TMC - no clue, knew we needed a TV abbr - SHOwtime, The Movie Channel
35. __ contact: EYE - I am getting much better at this as I "mature"
39. Level: TIER
40. Fragrance: ODOR - IMHO, I don't think of a fragrance as an "odor"
41. Email covertly: BCC - Blind Carbon Copy
44. Collar named for an elite school: ETON - learned by doing crosswords
47. Erode: EAT INTO - Twurd #7
50. Active volcano in Eur.: Mt. ETNA - Iv'e had this "abbr full fill" once before
51. Warren who played Dick Tracy: BEATTY - knew it, still name #13
Jared Cappel has been constructing for several years now, and has
appeared in all the major publications including four times here.
Today's puzzle is brought to you by the letters U and R.
57. "Correct!," or a phonetic hint to 18-, 24-, 34-, and 52-Across: RIGHT YOU ARE. Rephrased as RIGHT UR, the revealer tips us off that all the theme answers end in UR on the RIGHT.
18. Malaysian capital: KUALA LUMPUR. KUALA LUMPUR's
modern skyline is dominated by the 1,483 foot-tall Petronas Towers, a
pair of glass-and-steel-clad skyscrapers with a sky-bridge between them
at the 41st floor.
24. Flying reptile of the Mesozoic Era: PTEROSAUR. PTEROSAURs were warm-blooded flying
reptiles and are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered
flight.
34. Required by etiquette: DE RIGUEUR.
This is a French loanword meaning if you want to fit into a specific
crowd or event, doing certain things is mandatory, such as wearing a
fancy hat at the Kentucky Derby.
52. Frothy cocktail from Peru: PISCO SOUR. A PISCO SOUR is a frothy, tart South American cocktail made with pisco (a grape brandy).
It occurs to me that Jared started with the revealing phrase, then looked up a bunch of non sequitur words that fit the pattern. The thing they have most in common, for me anyway, is they're all hard to spell. Do you concur?
Let's scour the rest:
Across:
1. Command that might precede "paw": SIT. We say SHAKE, not PAW. Who's a good boy?
Buster doing his Wookiee impression
4. Response to "You awake?": I'M UP. Not quite the response I wanted. "I am now!" sounds more like it.
8. Home of the Zambezi: AFRICA.
14. Logical beginning?: ECO. ECOlogical.
15. Cosmic explosion: NOVA. Far out, man!
16. Racket: CLAMOR.
17. __ Speedwagon: REO. A rock band named after a car named after a person: Ransom Eli Olds.
Ransom Olds at the wheel of his 1905 Curved Dash Oldsmobile
18. [theme]
20. TV spot sellers: AD REPS. AD REPresentatives.
22. __ Dhabi: ABU.
23. Fragrant tree: PINE.
24. [theme]
26. Group people are smart to join?: MENSA. RightBrain is very sharp. She's a member of WOMENSA.
27. Approved of, on social media: HEARTED. If you double-tap on a picture someone sent you, it sends back a HEART emoji which is similar to a "like." ❤️ Unfortunately, I sometimes receive a serious work photo and accidentally double-tap it while trying to enlarge it. đŸ˜¬
28. "Brokeback Mountain" star Heath: LEDGER. The Australian actor
accomplished a lot in his 28 years. He was in 20 movies and won the
Best Supporting Actor Oscar posthumously for his iconic portrayal of the
Joker in the 2008 film The Dark Night.
29. Method of driving people to the mall?: SALE. Winner: Best Clue. Could've been UBER, LYFT or TAXI.
30. Pig __: LATIN. Ig-pay atin-lay.
33. Unlikely pair?: ELS. A letteral clue. There are two Ls in "unlikely."
34. [theme]
38. Includes on an email: CCS. Carbon CopieS. If you want to include someone on an email without other recipients knowing, you BCC them - Blind Carbon Copy.
41. Physical effort: LABOR.
42. Give off: EMIT.
46. Request from someone in need of cuddling: HOLD ME.
48. "Way to go!": NICE ONE.
51. Fields of study: AREAS. Here's a field of study:
52. [theme]
54. __ Kringle: KRIS. I liked how this crossed with SLEIGHS, even though it's the beginning of summer.
55. Journalist Rather: DAN. The Texas-born journalist anchored the CBS Evening News for
24 years. He often peppered his speech with folksy phrases like, "Don't
taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek."
56. Some dealmakers: AGENTS.
57. [theme]
60. "__ willikers!": GEE. Possibly said by DAN Rather when covering the Watergate Scandal.
61. Stick like glue: ADHERE.
62. Treat like a pariah: SHUN.
63. Surgery ctrs.: ORS. Operating RoomS.
64. Gives lip to: SASSES.
65. Jet stream direction: EAST. Jet streams are westerlies, which seems counterintuitive, but it just means they blow from
the west to the EAST. There are four primary jet streams globally: two
polar jets and two subtropical jets that affect everything from weather
to airline flights.
66. Ellipsis component: DOT. More to come...
Down:
1. Highest-order angels: SERAPHS. I know them as SERAPHIM.
2. Lipton beverage: ICED TEA.
3. Uncomfortably close to home: TOO REAL.
4. Place to dip a quill: INK POT. More commonly known as an ink well.
As I slooowly work on my great American novel, I joined a writing group
called Ink Well, a clever pun (with clever people in it, but they let
me join anyway).
5. Creamy chocolate dessert: MOUSSE.
6. Cavaliers sch.: UVA. When I attended the University of
Virginia in the 70s, they had a wild blowout in the spring called
Easters, ostensibly to shake off the winter doldrums. Thousands of East
Coast college students made the pilgrimage to Charlottesville to help
celebrate what Playboy called the "Best Party in the Country." My jeans
were never quite blue again.
Massive weekend parties and mud slides!
7. Country in Micronesia whose largest city is Koror: PALAU.
While Micronesia refers to a broad subregion of Oceania with over 600
islands in the western Pacific Ocean, PALAU is politically distinct from
the Federated States of Micronesia.
8. Org. with a People Power grassroots network: ACLU. The American Civil Liberties Union.
9. Winter bug: FLU.
10. Increased, with "up": RAMPED.
11. Encroach (on): IMPINGE.
12. Advice: COUNSEL. On advice of COUNSEL, I cannot confirm nor deny that I got pretty drunk on Easters Weekend.
13. Overdue debts: ARREARS.
19. Unlike the OED: ABR. The 20-volume set of the Oxford English Dictionary is about 40" wide, so obviously not ABRidged. You can look it up.
21. Messed up: ERRED.
25. Make up on the spot: AD-LIB. AD-LIB is short for the Latin ad libitum, meaning "at one's pleasure."
26. List that may be opened with a QR code: MENU. A QR (Quick Response) code is similar to a bar code, but it stores 10 times more data.
Kinda looks like a crossword puzzle!
28. Tell tales: LIE.
31. Before now: AGO.
32. Spoils: TURNS.
35. Stately trees: ELMS.
36. "Call Me Maybe" singer Carly __ Jepsen: RAE. Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actresswho first gained attention in 2007 as a third-place finisher on Canadian Idol.Her 2011 single “Call Me Maybe” became the 21st century's best-selling single by a female artist.
37. Angel who plays for Rose BC in the Unrivaled league: REESE. Unrivaled is a professional 3-on-3 women’s basketball league. It
gives top players a high-paying, domestic alternative to playing
overseas during the WNBA off-season. Men in the NBA are not allowed to
play anywhere in the off-season, but they don't need to as they earn 20
times as much.
Angel Reese of the Rose Basketball Club
38. Energy points in yoga: CHAKRAS.
39. Bullfight, in Spain: CORRIDA. Derived from the Spanish phrase CORRIDA de toros, "a running of the bulls."
40. Vehicles with runners: SLEIGHS. A famous red one is helmed by KRIS Kringle.
43. Lunar deity: MOON GOD. Virtually every ancient civilization
had a lunar deity. Back then, there was no TV so the moon was the only
thing to watch at night.
44. Prenatal: IN UTERO. IN UTERO is Latin for "in the womb."
45. Least loquacious: TERSEST. Yes.
47. Short races: DASHES. Not DOTS...which are ellipses.
49. Mythical figure who flew too close to the sun: ICARUS. He should've gone at night, but he was too busy watching MOON GOD reruns.
50. Convincing: COGENT. As in an argument stating a case.
52. Kung __ shrimp: PAO. Kung PAO Shrimp is a
classic Sichuan stir-fry that pairs shrimp with a savory, sweet, and
tangy sauce, toasted peanuts, and a spicy kick of dried chilies (which
add the POW).
53. Occupied: IN USE.
55. Salon stock: DYES.
58. Three, in Italian: TRE. Derived from the Latin "tres."
59. "I get it now!": AHA. We all had to wait until the end for our AHA moment.
Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a Wednesday puzzle by Sala Wanetick. Here is a link to an article published about Sala when she had her NY Times Crossword debut in 2024: Southfield Native Makes NYT Crossword Debut
For today's offering (and this is not her LAT debut) Sala shakes up seismic matters by turning faults into, well, faults. Let us start with the reveal:
56 Across: Fractured spots in the earth's crust, or what 17-, 23-, and 49-Across are: FAULT LINES.
As in earthquake faults. However, in this case FAULT LINES become what one might say when they are at fault as in being guilty of a misdeed or a mistake. All are self-explanatory. The mea culpas (culpae ?) appear at these three places within the grid:
17 Across: "I messed up": THAT'S MY BAD.
23 Across: First words in a confession booth, often: FORGIVE ME FATHER.
49 Across: "I totally did that, yep": GUILTY AS CHARGED.
Here is the completed grid:
... and below are the other clues and answers:
Across:
1. Measuring device: GAUGE. Apropos of 42 Across, what was Patrick Stewart's favorite scale of train? N-gauge.
6. Shred the __: crush a black diamond run, say: GNAR. Derived from "That's gnarly", dude."
10. Bikini tops: BRAS. We'll skip fleshing this one out.
14. Stoneworker: MASON. Apropos of nothing to do with stone work, Dave MASON left us last month.
15. Roof overhang: EAVE. These hang out frequently in our puzzles.
16. Sound off: RANT. After he went on a RANT about certain track and field events I asked my dad "Why don't you like the field events ?" He replied, "I don't want to discus it."
19. Writer Wiesel: ELIE. Perhaps best known for the book Night, which was based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during the Holocaust.
20. Half-inning trio: OUTS. A baseball reference.
21. Go by: ELAPSE.
28. Electric kettle part: SPOUT.
29. Oft-pickled taco topper: RADISH. I had never come across this until about ten days ago when the accomplished-chef son of a friend served this at his mother's birthday dinner.
30. "Fiddler on the Roof" milkman: TEVYE.
31. Kylo of "Star Wars": REN. This time, the clue let's us know up front that it's a Star Wars reference.
32. Flows back: EBBS.
36. Mined find: ORE.
37. Piper Cub, e.g.: PLANE.
39. Gloss target: LIP.
40. Pasta topper, for short: PARM. Parmesan cheese.
Photo by MM
42. "Star Trek" captain Jean-__ Picard: LUC.
43. "Alfie" star Michael: CAINE. What's it all about?
45. Poses such as happy baby and humble warrior: ASANAS. Stances frequently assumed in our puzzles.
48. Hardware not found on a sliding door: HINGE.
53. Historic Harlem theater: APOLLO.
54. Put an end to: HALT.
55. Muscle quality: TONE.
62. Currently working the problem: ON IT.
63. Military flute: FIFE.
64. __-bouche: bite-size freebie: AMUSE. A complimentary, bite-sized portion of food served before a meal or between courses in a restaurant
1. Clock-setting std.: GMT. Abbreviated clue (std for standard) . . . . abbreviated answer. Greenwich Mean Time
2. Relaxing sound?: AAH. "Why the question mark?", I hear you ask. A sound you might make when relaxing as opposed to a sound that you find relaxing.
3. Olympic ice hockey gold medalists: Abbr.: USA. 1960, 1980 and 2026. Here, because nothing in the clue is abbreviated Sala alerts us the the answer will be an abbreviation.
4. Right-hand man: GO TO GUY.
5. Like a Jack and Jill bathroom: EN SUITE. An EN SUITE is a bathroom that can only be accessed from within the bedroom. A Jack and Jill bathroom is a bathroom with two doors, usually accessible from two bedrooms. There is no door to the hallway.
6. Old Faithful, e.g.: GEYSER.
7. Scoop up: NAB.
8. Director DuVernay: AVA. A frequent visitor.
9. Change the meaning of: REDEFINE.
10. Get some air?: BREATHE. A clue to be taken literally (despite the ?) " 11. Actor Fiennes: RALPH. He is known for his roles in Schindler's List, The English Patient, Harry Potter, James Bond, and more.
12. Sambuca flavor: ANISE. Sambuca is an ANISE-flavored liqueur.
13. Turn a corner, perhaps: STEER.
18. "RuPaul's Drag Race" network: MTV.
A Real Drag Racer
22. __ Vegas Aces: LAS. A WNBA reference.
23. Camera setting that affects depth: F-STOP. All you might wish to know: F-STOP Explained
24. Rossini work: OPERA.
25. App that connects pet sitters and pet owners: ROVER.
26. Musical rattles: MARACAS.
27. Old Testament garden: EDEN.
33. Flashy accessories: BLING.
34. Watch episode after episode of: BINGE.
35. Floor it: SPEED. A reference to pressing an automobile's gas pedal to the floor
37. Some postseason games: PLAYOFFS.
38. Moon goddess: LUNA. In the future, will LUNA be clued with something along these lines:
41. Whac-a-Mole whackers: MALLETS.
43. Rosh Hashanah bread: CHALLAH. It's not just for Rosh Hashanah.
44. Broadcast slot: AIRTIME.
46. Letters on a Cardinal: STL. Not a religious prelate reference. A baseball reference.
47. Inconvenient trip: SCHLEP. Today's Yiddish lesson. Used here as a noun although it is also employed as a verb.
49. Croc kin: GATOR.
50. Holding a small lead: UP ONE.
51. Like some chemical bonds: IONIC.
52. Lid: HAT. Slang.
57. Feel crummy: AIL.
58. Blurry craft in tabloid pics: UFO. Now "re-branded" as UAP - Unidentified aerial Phenomena.
59. Religious sister: NUN. A member of an order. Not your sister, Hannah, who keeps kosher.
60. Corner PC key: ESC.
61. Match, in poker: SEE. When a poker player says “I’ll SEE your bet”, they are choosing to match the current wager and stay in the hand rather than fold or raise.
_________________________________
Well, that will wrap things up for today. Any errors or omissions were definitely my fault.
