Monday November 3, 2025 Ajay Bhargava

  

Whassup Cornerites! sumdaze here. Our theme is:            

Today we run up against four themed clues:

17 Across. Lunch combo component, perhaps: CUP OF SOUP.  This was my favorite themer today because it was the least rhyme-y.

25 Across. Out of this world: SUPER-DUPER.

36 Across. Classic Connie Francis song with the line "I'd like to clip your wings so you can't fly": STUPID CUPID.  

50 Across. Spanish candy brand whose logo was designed by Salvador Dal : CHUPA CHUPS.  Did anyone know this one without perps?

Next up, the unifier:

59 Across. Forming couples, or a feature of 17-, 25-, 36-, and 50- Across: PAIRING UP.

UP does not point to a vertical grid feature (as it sometimes does). Instead we have PAIRs of UPs in each themed answer.

It would have been fun to see the gimmick applied to the reveal. By changing the reveal clue to "Forming pairs ....," we could have had the reveal COUPLING UP. (Making 17-Across plural would have preserved the grid symmetry.)

Let's see what else Ajay has gotten UP to....

Across:

1. Baseball hat: CAP.

4. Ran a towel over: WIPED.

9. Inter Miami star Lionel: MESSI.  People say he is the most famous active footballer in the world.  

14. Post-OR area: ICU.  Operating Room and Intensive Care Unit

15. Baghdad resident, e.g.: IRAQI.

16. Sean of "Rudy": ASTIN.  [b. February 25, 1971] He was also Mikey from The Goonies and a hobbit (not The Hobbit) in TLOTR.

Here is Sean Astin when he appeared in this 1993 movie.  

19. Media mogul Winfrey: OPRAH.  [b. January 29, 1954]

20. Enough: AMPLE.

21. Brewpub letters: IPA.

23. April or May: NAME.  "June", too

24. Monopoly card: DEED.  

28. Picnic invader: ANT.

29. Gerund ending: -ING.  Learning about language is fun!

Click to enlarge.

30. Camping gear retailer: REI.     and     7-Down. Supply with gear: EQUIP.

REI stands for Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

31. Air pump fig.: PSI.  "Figure" is abbreviated, so is "Pounds per Square Inch".

32. Like figure skaters: AGILE.

34. Toga costume, in a pinch: SHEET.  

39. Rapper/actor __ Jackson Jr.: O'SHEA.  [b. Feb. 24, 1991] He is Ice Cube's oldest son.

41. Old Testament figure who is instructed by a burning bush: MOSES.     and     46-Across. Filmmaker Brooks: MEL.  [b. June 28, 1926]  

Notice that MOSES sits above MEL in the grid. Nice one, Ajay!

Mel Brooks played Moses in this 1:10 min. scene from

  History of the World: Part 1  (1981).

42. Piglet pal: ROO.  

Pooh, Roo, and Piglet

43. Peacock network: NBC.  

Can you see the peacock in its logo?

47. Wet dirt: MUD.

53. Crunch target: CORE.

54. Loathe: HATE.

55. Pic taker: CAM.  Picture and CAMera

56. Not improving: WORSE.  

57. Off-white hue: IVORY.

62. Tennis tie: DEUCE.  Here's a song for the car lovers on The Corner:  

The Beach Boys     ~     Little Deuce Coupe     ~     1963

This video includes some scenes from American Graffiti (1973).

63. Write to online: EMAIL.     and     44-Down. Secretly 63-Across: BCC.

64. Every bit of: ALL.

65. Browser history list: SITES.

66. Swiss chocolatier: LINDT.  If you are unfamiliar with this brand, consider yourself lucky. Knowing Lindt is eating too much Lindt.  

67. Anti vote: NAY.

Down:

1. Noisy insect: CICADA.  This 1-min. video says they are the loudest insects on Earth.

2. Mental sharpness: ACUMEN.  My first guess was ACUity.  

3. Sock __: PUPPET.

4. Marital partner, perhaps: WIFE.

5. Return-processing org.: IRS.  Oh, those types of returns. The IRS processes tax returns.

6. Kung __ chicken: PAO.

8. Big or Little formation in the night sky: DIPPER.     and     48 Down. "Earthsea" series writer __ K. Le Guin: URSULA.  

9. Card game with unspoken rules: MAO.  This game is new to me. From what I can tell, it is sort of a hybrid of Crazy Eights and Uno but new players are not told the rules. Here is a 2-min. video from wikiHow:  

10. Broadcaster of some NCAA games: ESPN U.

11. Low on funds, say: STRAPPED.  The idiom STRAPPED for cash means to be without money, especially temporarily.

12. Cat breed with blue eyes: SIAMESE.  I have been fortunate to have been the human for two SIAMESE cats. If you have ever been around a SIAMESE cat, you know that they have very special and distinct personalities.

H-Gary's cat Lily (l.) and my cat (r.) who has since crossed the Rainbow Bridge

13. Acquire from a will: INHERIT.

18. Like a nonagenarian: OLD.  Ninety-nine-year-OLD Mel Brooks is a nonagenarian.

22. "__ you serious?": ARE.  

25. Scissors sound: SNIP.  "While scissors go “snip” in English, the noise translates into “su-su” in Chinese, “cri-cri” in Italian, “riqui-riqui,” in Spanish, and “katr-katr,” in Hindi."  more foreign language onomatopoeias

26. Hybrid tangelo: UGLI.

27. Put to rest, as rumors: DISPEL.

29. Lizard with a spiny crest: IGUANA.  

I took this photo of a gorgeous IGUANA in Costa Rica.

32. Munched: ATE.

33. Genre at a rave: EDM.  Electronic Dance Music

35. That guy's: HIS.

36. Public message of appreciation: SHOUT-OUT.  Example:  I just want to give a SHOUT-OUT to C.C. for keeping this blog going since 2008.  

Here is another example from last week's news.

37. Provide for free: COMP.  COMPlimentary

38. Puts to work: USES.

39. Prom flowers: ORCHIDS.  

I learned so much about ORCHIDs from this book.

40. "Me too!": SO HAVE I.

45. Place for prayer: CHAPEL.  

The Dixie Cups     ~     Chapel of Love     ~     1964

47. Freeman of "Glory": MORGAN.  [b. June 1, 1937] Here is some trivia:  Morgan Freeman was not nominated for his role in Glory; however, he was nominated that same year for Best Actor for his work in Driving Miss Daisy. Denzel Washington won best supporting actor for playing Pvt. Silas Trip in Glory and Daniel Day-Lewis took home the Best Actor award.

Here is Morgan Freeman when he appeared in this 1989 movie.
Denzel Washington is standing behind him.

49. From the bottom of one's heart: DEEPLY.

51. Nez __ tribe: PERCE.

52. Savory taste: UMAMI.

53. Fool: CON.  Both are verbs here.

56. Droop: WILT.

58. "Absolutely!": YES.  a more formal version of yup

60. Bond novelist Fleming: IAN.  [1908-1964]

61. Free (of): RID.  

If you use this product, you will be free of lice.

The grid:  

That about sums up today's puzzle. If you have questions, we have an amazing SUPPORT GROUP here on The Corner to help you out.

Monday September 2, 2024 Ajay Bhargava

  

sumdaze here. I believe congratulations are in order for our constructor, Ajay Bhargava, for his LA Times debut! I am 99% sure this is A.B. and this is his puzzle, published in UC Berkeley's newspaper this past July. It looks like he is off to a running start!

Theme:                  Pace Yourself  

The three themed clues are:

20 Across. Exciting end to a baseball game: WALK-OFF HOMER. This is a home run that ends the game. For this to happen, it must be the bottom of the final inning and the home run puts enough points on the scoreboard to beat the other team, who, at that point, will not have another opportunity to score runs of their own.  Fun Walk-Off Home Run Stats  

Here's one for The Corner's biggest Mets fan (1:06 min.):  

Also, in case you missed it, a WALK-OFF bunt recently made the news. Little League World Series Final  

33 Across. Review class notes, e.g.: JOG ONE'S MEMORY.  

43 Across. Grammatical flaw that may be fixed with a semicolon: RUN ON SENTENCE.  

And the reveal:

59 Across. Welcome break in one's routine, or the progression found at the starts of 20-, 33-, and 43-Across: CHANGE OF PACE.

The starts of the three themed clues are each a PACE. Furthermore the PACE quickens from a WALK to a JOG to a RUN. In other words, the PACE CHANGEs.

I especially like the way Ajay used phrases that transform the meanings of WALK, JOG, and RUN. Well done! and BRAVO, Ajay!

Let's trot on ahead to the remaining clues....

Across:

1. "Well done!": BRAVO.  Early in The Phantom of the Opera, Christine sings Think of Me. Raoul recognizes her as his childhood friend. He stands up and yells, "BRAVO!" at 2:19.  

6. Album insert, briefly: PIC.  I had to change my thinking from "record album" to "photo album".

9. Amazon or Adidas: BRAND.  While I do appreciate alliteration, vocalic or otherwise, I did not care for the categorical mismatch in this clue. Perhaps Asics and Adidas would be a better fit.  

14. Discussion theme: TOPIC.

15. Tumult: ADO.  

16. Like some Hitchcock scenes: EERIE.  Here is the Bell Tower scene from Vertigo (1958), starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak (2:23 min.). The scene was filmed at Mission San Juan Bautista, about 45 miles (72 km.) south of San Jose, CA.  

17. Like the taste of 23- and 25-Down: SWEET.  The answers to those clues are PBJS and SUGAR, respectively.

18. Hoop edge: RIM.   

19. Lacking company: ALONE.

23. Collect $200 in Monopoly: PASS GO.  

26. Radial, to a Brit: TYRE.  TYRE is the British spelling of "tire".  

27. "What __ the odds?": ARE.  

Barenaked Ladies  ~  Odds Are  ~  (2013)

28. __-ray: video format: BLU.

29. Valuable mineral: ORE.

31. "Descendants: The Rise of Red" star Rita: ORA.  She plays the villain in this 2024 film available on Disney+.

38. Devoted fan, in slang: STAN.  I think most of us now know this term for a superfan/stalker fan. If not, please see my blog from last Monday #25-D.

39. Settle the bill: PAY.

40. Follow closely behind: TAIL.  Def. (verb) to follow for purposes of surveillance.

Inspector Clouseau was a master at disguise while conducting surveillance of unsuspecting criminals. (2 min.)  

48. Underwater vessel: SUB.  SUBmarine

49. __ Paulo, Brazil: SAO.

50. Barbie's bae: KEN.  The Barbie movie portrayed Ken not so much as her bae but more as a forever #2 to Barbie. He had to work though an inferiority complex.  

I am KENough.

51. Rep for NY-14: AOC.  a lot of abbreviations for Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

54. Top Olympic prize: GOLD.

57. Wallet holders: PURSES.  

Hand up if you are a DH who fearlessly holds your DW's purse.

62. 1950s FLOTUS: MAMIE.  Mamie Eisenhower [1896 - 1979] was the First Lady Of The United States from 1953 to 1961. She met future POTUS #34 Dwight D. Eisenhower in Colorado in 1915. They were married the following year. more about Mamie

63. Actor Mahershala: ALI.  He has won two Oscars:  Moonlight (2016) and Green Book (2018).

64. URL letters next to a padlock icon: HTTPS.  Chrome replaced the padlock with the Tune icon.  more about the change

 

68. Put up, as a skyscraper: ERECT.  

69. __ Geo Wild: NAT.  

70. Use the back end of a pencil: ERASE.

Johnny drew a monster.

The monster chased him.

Just in time,

Johnny erased him.

                                                        author unknown

71. Department with quotas, maybe: SALES.

72. Farm pen: STY.  

73. __ boom: SONIC.  The X-1, piloted by Captain Chuck Yeager, was the first plane to fly faster than the speed of sound, thereby creating the first SONIC boom, on October 14, 1947.

"Put the spurs to her, Chuck."

The Right Stuff  ~ Sam Shepard  ~  (1983)

Down:

1. "Mic Drop" K-pop septet: BTS.  This song was released in 2018. Here is the video.

Note:  ATLGranny (I miss her) taught me this memory trick:  Boys That Sing. This is the first time I've watched one of their videos. Now I think they are BTSAD (Boys That Sing And Dance).

2. One of 15 in a typical daily crossword: ROW.  This was my favorite clue today! Most Mon.-Sat. grids are 15 X 15.

3. Donkey Kong, for one: APE.  The first Donkey Kong video game was released in 1981 by Nintendo. The story is that designer Shigeru Miyamoto thought "Kong" meant gorilla in English. He wanted to use "Kong" as the last name and came up with "Donkey" as the first name, which he thought meant "stupid" in English. 

Mario (left) was a protagonist in the original Donkey Kong game.

4. YouTube units: VIEWS.  The BTS video I embedded for 1-Down had 1.4 billion VIEWS. Holy mackerel!!

5. Stop sign shape: OCTAGON.

6. The "P" of PRNDL: PARK.  This one felt familiar but took a while to place...probably because I drive a stick.

7. "D'oh! Why did I do that!?": IDIOT.

8. Snug: COMFY.  

9. Save the day: BE A HERO.  I am happy to share this story from my local news about a 13-year-old boy who recently saved a 7-year-old boy from drowning.  

10. Transfer to a new city, casually: RELO.  RELOcate. In the military it is called a PCS (Permanent Change of Station).

11. Cologne feature: AROMA.

12. SF NFLer: NINER.     and     37 Down. Bronx team, familiarly: YANKS.     and     44 Down. Denver NBA team: NUGGETS.

football, baseball (Yankees), and basketball

13. John __ tractors: DEERE.

21. Legends and such: LORE.

22. Flight booking word: FROM.  

23. Sammies with two spreads: PBJS.  "Sandwiches" is shortened, cluing the initialism for "Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches".

24. So, so much: A LOT.

25. Icing ingredient: SUGAR.  Get ready to dance because here are The Archies with  Sugar, Sugar (1969):  

30. Network that airs Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest: ESPN.  

Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, 39, won the 2024 Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest by stuffing down 58 hot dogs (and buns!) in 10 minutes. Patrick also won the first-ever world poutine eating competition in Toronto.

32. Museo display: ARTE.  "Museo" is a clue that the answer will be a foreign spelling for "art".

34. Heavy burden: ONUS.

35. More, in Spanish: MAS.  "In Spanish" is a clue that the answer will be a foreign spelling for "more". 😜😜

36. Spots on potatoes: EYES.  I liked the clever play on the word spots.  

41. Drink whose logo has frosted letters: ICEE.  

42. Microscope piece: LENS.

45. Woodwind section member: OBOE.

46. California wine valley: NAPA.

47. Deeply moves: TOUCHES.

51. Topmost points: ACMES.

52. "The Parent Trap" actress Maureen: O'HARA.  [1920 - 2015] She played the mom.

My last box was to change O'HARe to O'HARA to make 71-Across work. BTW, O'Hare is the airport in Chicago (ORD).

53. Caravan creature: CAMEL.  Japanese artist Ikua Hirayama [1930 - 2009] created many CAMEL caravan paintings as part of his Silkroad collection.  more

55. Transactions with interest: LOANS.

56. C sharp equivalent: D-FLAT.  

58. In style again: RETRO.

60. Pleasant: NICE.

61. "Bummer": PITY.

65. Sunbather's goal: TAN.  

66. Pitchfork-shaped Greek letter: PSI.  

Upper case (left) and Lower case PSI

67. "Just gimme a __!": SEC.

Here is the completed grid:  

That's all for today. Time to skip on outta here! Have a safe holiday, everyone!