Tuesday, May 28, 2024 ~ Barbara Lin

Hold On!

Blues Brothers Band covers Sam and Dave.

Today Barbara gives us four things one can hold. Only one you do for someone else...

20. Hard core exercise?: PLANK POSITION. It strengthens your "core."

27. Conference room activity: STAFF MEETING.

45. Portal to another level: ELEVATOR DOOR. Be nice; don't hit the close-door button.

53. Postgraduate pursuit: MASTERS DEGREE. One of my professors had this on his door:

Eldest just got her Masters on her way to a PhD.
//if the characters look familiar that's because
  Matt [Letterman] is also creator of The Simpsons.

58. "Not so fast!," or what one can do with 20-, 27-, 45-, and 53-Across: HOLD IT.

Across:
1. Make a splashy attempt: GO BIG or go home.

6. Cartoon cry of alarm: ACK.

IIRC, the last Cathy.

9. Beer ingredient: MALT.

13. Expert in resolving tense situations?: EDITOR. Ha! Verb tense.

15. __ favor: please, in Spanish: POR.

16. Conversely, briefly: OTOH. On The Other Hand.

17. Mark in the margin: NOTATE. Not doodle.

18. Polish brand at a nail salon: OPI.

Cajun Shrimp is the color (for Lucina :-))

19. Egg on: URGE.

20. [See: Theme]

23. Syst. of hand symbols: ASL. American Sign Language.

25. Photographer Goldin: NAN.

26. Beehive State resident: UTAHAN.

27. [See: Theme]

30. Tofu source: SOYA.

31. Right-angle bend: ELL.

32. Actress Sarandon: SUSAN.

36. Daredevil Knievel: EVEL. As a kid, I loved his stunts.

37. Angioplasty tube: STENT.

40. Land unit: ACRE.

41. Succinct: TERSE. I would say more, but it defeats the fill.

43. Neither here __ there: NOR.

44. Oblong tomato: ROMA. Love 'em for sauce.

45. [See: Theme]

49. Sneezer's need: TISSUE.

51. Feel bad about: RUE.

52. Best 5K times, e.g.: PRS. Google says it means "Personal Records."

53. [See: Theme]

56. Constellation bear: URSA.

57. Buckeye State sch.: OSU. Ohio State University (not to be confused with Oklahoma State University).

58. [See: Theme]

61. Tart-tasting: SOUR.

62. Writing tool: PEN.

63. To the max: SO MUCH.

64. 13-Across's override: STET.

65. Yellowstone ruminant: ELK.

66. Matter of debate: TOPIC.

Down:
1. __ Z: Zoomers: GEN.  My kids are.  Keeps me young (at least insofar as the modern-day vernacular).

2. Automotive prefix with meter: ODO. The odometer measures milage (or kms for C, Eh!).

3. Performer with a small role: BIT PLAYER.

4. Slanted type, for short: ITAL. Italics.

5. Failed, in a way: GOT AN F. Most of my spelling tests in grade school. Spellcheck makes me look smarter than I am #dyslexia!

6. Informal pricing words: A POP.

7. Flimsy excuse: COPOUT.

8. Figure skater Yamaguchi: KRISTI.

9. Device that protects teeth and gums: MOUTH GUARD.

10. Bright and airy areas of some malls: ATRIA.

11. Connect after entering credentials: LOGON.

12. "And __ what happened?": THEN.

14. Gives a new handle to, as a rescue pet: RENAMES.

21. Prepared to propose, possibly: KNELT.

22. Writers McEwan and Fleming: IANS.

23. Money in the bank, say: ASSET.

24. Hot appliance: STOVE.

28. Sprinter's before-the-gun error: FALSE START.

Football False Starts

29. Kagan of the Supreme Court: ELENA. When she was 8yrs old, Youngest listened to Sotomayor's hearings on NPR in the back seat on the way to school. About a week later, she announced she was going to be a Supreme Court Justice. She's studying for the LSAT as I type.

33. Grabbed with both hands: SCOOPED UP.

34. Knight's suit: ARMOR.

35. Comes close: NEARS.

38. "The Hunchback of __ Dame": NOTRE.

Youngest was in Paris a few weeks back and snapped this.

39. Slop holders on a farm: TROUGHS.

42. Otherwise: ELSE.

46. Liechtenstein's continent: EUROPE.

47. Boat or gravy boat: VESSEL.

48. Propagate anew: REROOT. The girls & I repotted our cacti yesterday. We rooted the "arms" of Bullwinkle that broke off in our effort.

49. Divination deck with 78 cards: TAROT.

50. Matter of debate: ISSUE.

53. Dishevel, with "up": MUSS.

54. Action with a basketball or a cookie: DUNK. Eldest bought Pepperidge Farm's London Fog w/ Earl Grey. They were delicious w/ milk. //so I got two more packages :-)

55. Ticklish Muppet: ELMO.

59. Here, in Quebec: ICI. I'm assuming that's French.

60. CBD-like compound in some edibles: THC. Can's miss the seemingly hundreds of CBD stores that have popped-up in the last few years. They're at every strip-center (along with a liquor store, a massage parlor, and a kids' learning center(?!?)). Tetrahydrocannabinol - the part of "the devil's lettuce" that makes one high.

The Grid:

The Grid

The skinny:
WOs: N/A
ESPs: PRS, NAN, ICI
Fav: I'll go with ROMAs from ITALy :-)

Cheers, -T

Monday December 25, 2023 Barbara Lin

 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

sumdaze here. I wish you all joy, peace, & love today and always -- but especially today!  

I was hoping for a holiday-themed puzzle. My thanks to constructor Barbara Lin and the LA Times Crossword Puzzle editorial staff. You did not disappoint!

Today's puzzle has five themers, including a fun grid-spanner across the equator. Each is an in-the-language phrase that is repurposed to complete a sentence telling the story of Santa's activities on Christmas Eve. I like that the activities appear in chronological order -- not an easy feat. Well done!

Let's take a look:

17 Across. Santa and his reindeer landed __: ON THE HOUSE.  the customer does not have to pay for the goods/services

We've recently had this idiomatic phrase last Monday at 61-Across and the Friday before last at 5-Across.

27 Across. Before heading down the chimney, Santa __: GOT THE SACK.  to be fired from a job 

It's OK kiddos. Santa was not fired.

33 Across. Stepping out of the fireplace, Santa left a __: CARBON FOOTPRINT.  a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by a particular person, group, etc.

(This one was my favorite because Santa's boots get ash (a carbon compound) on them when he comes down the chimney. Very clever!)

42 Across. After filling the last one, Santa hung the __: STOCKING UP. to amass extra amounts of something for future use  

58 Across. All in all, Santa had a very busy __!: PRESENT DAY.  current

Let's see what else Barbara left under the tree for us:

Across:
1. Saudi Arabia neighbor: OMAN.   

5. Protractor's measure: ANGLE.  

Gotta love an clue with a math ANGLE to it! 😜

10. Caustic chemical: ACID.

14. Forbidding word: DON'T.  OK, I won't.

15. President between Harrison and Polk: TYLER.  John Tyler was the 10th president of the U.S. What I remember from 10th grade U.S. History class is that President Harrison wanted everyone to see his fancy clothes at his inauguration so he refused to wear a coat even though Washington, D.C. is cold in January on a normal year -- and that was a really cold year. So #9 got sick and died just 31 days after his swearing in and TYLER took over as #10...or something like that.

Click to expand.

16. Writer Jaffe: RONA.  (1931-2005)  bio

19. Territory near the Mariana Trench: GUAM.  (Hi D-Otto!)

20. Actress/writer Issa: RAE.

21. Many Christmas trees: PINES. 🎄     and     53 Across. Editorialize: OPINE.

So when we sing O Christmas Tree around a PINE tree, do we O PINE?  

Aretha Franklin sings O Christmas Tree (1992)

22. Oklahoma city on the Arkansas River: TULSA.

23. Correcting myopia, maybe: LASING.  LASIK eye surgery

25. Stockholm citizens: SWEDES.

26. Small snack: BITE.  

30. App reviewers: USERS.

32. Length of TV's "60 Minutes": HOUR.  I hesitated, asking myself, "Is this a trick question?"

40. Quarter or pound: COIN.  

As of this writing, one U.S. quarter equals about 0.20 Pound sterling.

41. Like some garden lights: SOLAR.  CSO to unclefred!

48. "Children of Blood and Bone" writer Adeyemi: TOMI.  Goodreads link

49. On the up and up: KOSHER.  This adjective has a specific definition in Jewish law but is often used informally to mean "genuine and legitimate".

50. Homegrown: NATIVE.  This word comes to us from the Latin word nativus, as does another word often heard this time of year -- nativity.

52. Broad necktie: ASCOT.

55. Flight takeoff approximation: Abbr.: ETD.  Estimated Time of Departure

57. Old Russian leader: TSAR.

60. French 101 verb: ETRE.  to be

61. __ tot: TATER.

62. Like a red Red Delicious: RIPE.  

63. Diana of the Supremes: ROSS.  

Diana Ross sings The Christmas Song (1994)

64. Speaker of the house?: ALEXA.  Fun clue!  ALEXA is Amazon's virtual assistant technology accessed through a Wi-Fi bug, erm, I mean "speaker" in your house.

65. Beehive State people: UTES.  

If you've driven through Utah, you've seen their beehive signs.

Down:
1. Fragrance: ODOR.

2. Da Vinci portrait in the Louvre: MONA LISA.  

This famous painting is smaller than you might think.
It is 30 in. x 21 in. (77 cm. x 53 cm.)

3. Long-tongued insectivore: ANTEATER.  Did you know that a baby ANTEATER is called a pup?  Check out this 1 min. video of an ANTEATER pup at the Nyíregyháza Zoo in Hungary.  

4. Utmost degree: NTH.  Basically, the nth term is a mathematical expression that enables us to find the value of any term in a sequence. The 'n' stands for the term number. So if I have 5+n and if n=1 then it would be 5+1 = 6. Likewise, if n=2, it would be 5+2=7. And so on. Since there are an infinite amount of values we can give to n, the sequence can go on to infinity. That idea of "going to infinity" has given us the idiom "nth degree", meaning "as much as possible" or "extremely".

5. "I haven't __ to wear!": A THING.  I knew this one right away but I am not sure why. 

6. "Black Panther" star Lupita: NYONG'O.  Lupita is a Mexican-Kenyan actress born March 1, 1983 in Mexico City. In 2014 she won an Oscar for her work in 12 Years a Slave. Here she is in her Nakia role from Black Panther.

7. Sticky stuff: GLUE.  

8. More or __: LESS.  

9. "I heard him exclaim, __ he drove out of sight ... ": 'ERE.  🎄

This famous poem, originally titled A Visit or A Visit From St. Nicholas, was first published anonymously on December 23, 1823, in a Troy, New York (another Cornerite CSO!) newspaper called The Sentinel.  article from "The Parade"

10. Bickers: ARGUES.

11. May've: COULDA.  Woulda, coulda, shoulda  -- all three are colloquialisms that replace the verb "have" with "a". Likewise, the clue replaces "have" via the use of an apostrophe.  

another CSO

12. "Almost ready!": IN A SEC.

13. Fabric named for Syria's capital: DAMASK.  This fabric is named for Damascus, which is where this textile product originated. Known for its intricate and reversible patterns, DAMASK fabric is prized for its ornateness. These days, however, it is easy to make incredibly complex damask patterns with modern textile machines.  Read more here.

18. Prefix with center: EPI-.  Earthquakes come to mind. (Hi Jayce!)

22. Whippersnappers: TWERPS.

24. Croat's neighbor: SERB.  

25. Tightly closed: SHUT.

26. Tampa Bay NFLer: BUC.  

28. Havaianas shoe, e.g.: THONG.  

Click to expand.

Speaking of Hawaii, here is Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters with a Hawaiian Christmas song:  

Mele Kalikimaka (1950)

29. Additionally: TOO.

31. Lightbulb's place: SOCKET.  Did someone say that it's Sock It To Me Time?  

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967-73)

How many faces do you recognize?

34. Gritty film genre: NOIR.

35. Classic Cadillac feature: FIN.

36. Round flatbread: ROTI.

37. "Five stars!": I LOVED IT.  Answer to, "What did I think of today's puzzle?"

38. Personalized iron-on: NAME TAPE.  The "NAME" part filled quickly. Some solvers might not be familiar with the "TAPE" part. In the military, a NAME TAPE is a rectangle-shaped piece of fabric with one's surname stitched into it then permanently sewn onto one's uniform. It stays on through the laundry and the life of that uniform; whereas, a name tag is a metal pin that is attached when wearing the uniform and removed when laundering the uniform. Do other professions share this lexicon? Perhaps some of those professions use an iron-on variety. 

39. Bi- plus one: TRI.

42. Adam Rippon, for one: SKATER.  

43. Play catch with: TOSS TO.

44. Hollywood awards: OSCARS.

45. Washing dishes, doing laundry, etc.: CHORES.

46. Not gender-specific: UNISEX.  

47. Bacon Turkey Bravo sandwich chain: PANERA.

51. Number of digits in a billion: TEN.  1,000,000,000

53. __ hygiene: ORAL.

54. Folk icon Seeger: PETE.  

Pete Seeger (1919-2014) sings The First Noel (1967)

56. Changes color, perhaps: DYES.

58. Org. that may support a school board: PTA.  "Organization" is abbreviated, so is Parent Teacher Association.

59. Hilton brand: TRU.  TRU by Hilton is an American chain of hotels owned by Hilton Worldwide.

Time to wrap things up. Here's the grid:

I hope you enjoyed today's puzzle, the CSO's, and the holiday music. I'm going to leave you with one more tune. It's an extraordinary version of The 12 Day of Christmas by the acapella group Straight No Chaser. It might not be what you are expecting so don't give up on it too early.  

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy birthday to dear Kathy (Yellowrocks). So glad you're back on the blog again.

 

Kathy (Yellowrocks), Dec 10, 2020

2) Happy Birthday to Lorraine (Fermatprime) also. Her good friend Malcolm reads our blog regularly and emailed me this: "She is still living in her house in the San Fernando Valley,  playing a Word Solitaire game, which she consistently gets the highest score of all other players, but every so often she gets  an even higher score before any other player.  Her feistiness and the peculiar rules of the game allow her to get the extra two points before any other player of the game does."

Saturday, October, 28, 2023, Barbara Lin

 Saturday Themeless by Barbra Lin

After many years of enjoying crosswords and other word puzzles, Barb began constructing crossword puzzles in 2019. Her puzzles have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Universal, Los Angeles Times, Fireball, and Boswords Themeless League. Barb lives with her husband in their empty nest in suburban Philadelphia and works as an engineer.

I was able to waltz through Barbara's excellent puzzle in 25 minutes. I know many of you will notice and appreciate that used only five 3-letter words: EPA, FRI, KIA, OHM and RAD.

Across:

1. Subject of the Caldecott Honor book "The Right Word": ROGET - This took longer than it should have. I wonder if ROGET has a synonym for "Duh!"

6. Lines of praise: ODES.

10. "The __ Tour": record-setting 2023-24 concert series: ERAS - Daughter and two granddaughters attended this concert in this venue. Taylor returned here in October to watch her KC Chiefs' beau Travis Kelce play at Arrowhead. 

14. Butterfly's stage: IMAGO - A familiar stage in crossword biology 

15. Stroke of luck?: HOLE-IN-ONE - Yup, that's yours truly! A nice easy swing with a 9 Iron on a 115 yd hole.

17. City between Bismarck and Minneapolis on I-94: FARGO.

18. __ store: MOM AND POP - They are becoming extinct partly because of 30. Net income?: E-TAIL.

19. Swiss cheese?: FRANCS - Cheese is another euphemism for money

21. Camp site: MESS TENT - Can you find it?

22. Being of Jewish folklore: GOLEM - an artificial human being in Hebrew folklore endowed with life. Yeah, I knew that. 😙

24. Unleavened flatbread: ROTI.

25. Band whose work is featured in the musical "Head Over Heels": THE GO-GOS.

28. Go on and on: NATTER.

32. Cool kin: RAD. 

33. Relish: SAVOR.

35. Cheek muscle, for short: GLUTE - 😀

36. Acrobat's company: ADOBE.

38. AQI monitor: EPA.

39. Played again: RERAN.

40. Brown ermine: STOAT.

41. "__ Baby": 2020 film set during a Jewish ritual: SHIVA - Rotten Tomatoes

43. Soul provider: KIA - Names for car models are common on the cwd lot

44. Shirley Jackson's genre: HORROR - I read The Haunting Of Hill House as a teenager in one of mom's condensed collection

46. Biological building block: STEM CELL.

48. Emotional wound: SCAR 

50. Assortment: ARRAY.

51. Threat to some colonists: ANTEATER  😀

55. Seuss reptile: YERTLE - Was I the only one who first put turtle?

58. Barrier visited by tourists: CORAL REEF - My first thought was the Berlin Wall

The Great Barrier Reef

60. Hawkeye missile: ARROW 😀

61. One who doesn't like to just veg?: MEAT LOVER - MEAT EATER? Not so much.

62. Two-terminal device: DIODE.

63. Trees with oval leaves: ELMS.

64. Sub contractor?: DELI 😀

65. Elusive Himalayans: YETIS.

Down:

1. Jazz motif: RIFF - Some RIFFS are improvised.

2. Ilhan who was the first person to wear a hijab on the House floor: OMAR.

3. Remote target: GARAGE DOOR 😀

4. Holiday concoction: EGGNOG.

5. Extremely tight: TOO CLOSE TO CALL.

6. Omega, in physics: OHM 

7. Bad lot: DOOM - Not my lot in life

8. Bull in a product name: ELMER - It held the table I made in 9th grade shop together over 60 years ago.

9. Salt, say: SEASON 😀

10. Theme that plays over the closing credits: END TITLE - Final scene of Breakfast Club, END TITLE and credits. Bonus: What 1968 film used Strauss' Blue Danube for the END TITLE? (*answer at bottom)

11. Hitchcock's first film in color: ROPE.

12. Soon, long ago: ANON 😀

13. Third-qtr. month: SEPT.

16. Photogenic: INSTAGRAM READY - Whether the subject is ready or not

20. Beneficiary of a Sonic boom?: SEGA.

23. Shifts: MOVES.

25. Refuse: TRASH - ree FYUZ or REH fyus?

26. Was compelled: HAD TO.

27. Some campus returnees: SOPHS 😀

29. Ragtime dance: TURKEY TROT - More than you'd ever want to know (2:42)

31. Nephric: RENAL - RENAL: Of or relating to the kidneys

34. Yogurt-based condiment served with 24-Across: RAITA - A creamy Indian yogurt sauce with cucumber, mint and cilantro. 

37. Counter points?: BAR SEATS 😀

42. Über: VERY.

45. Souped-up junker: RAT ROD.

47. Nation known for temperance: CARRIE 😀

49. "The Canterbury Tales" pilgrim: REEVE - A lot of ribaldry in this one

51. Peak: ACME - ACME/APEX is always a coin flip

52. Time for some wrap parties: NOEL 😀

53. Zurich transport: TRAM - A 24-hour pass costs 8.80 Swiss francs (₣8.80) or $9.77 

54. Stagger: REEL.

56. California wine town near Stockton: LODI - CCR laments being stuck in LODI (with lyrics):

57. Short-horned bighorns: EWES.

59. Calendar abbr.: FRI.

* Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey used The Blue Danube for this beautiful END TITLE.