26. Regulations for a big contest: TOURNAMENT RULES.
44. Gradually and reliably: SLOWLY BUT SURELY.
50. Ambiguous outcome, and what the circled letters literally contain: MIXED RESULTS.
Circled letters (in red above) are anagrams of RESULTS. Good morning everyone, Melissa here. A pretty typical Wednesday, I'd say - a handful of gimme's, and only a few (to me) unknowns.
Across:
1. Enthusiast: BUFF.
5. Embarrass: ABASH.
10. Member of an ancient religion that values nonviolence: JAIN. If I've seen this before I've forgotten. Jainism.
14. Like some exams: ORAL.
15. "__ Man": Village People hit: MACHO. The group's name refers to Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Where are they now?
16. High ponytail, e.g.: UPDO. I don't usually think of a ponytail as an updo - but it fits: a type of hairstyle that involves the hair being up and out of the face.
17. WNBA alum Barnes who coaches the Arizona Wildcats: ADIA.
18. Skateboard stunt: OLLIE.
19. Baby bird's home: NEST. Adult bird, too.
23. Bubble tea pearls: BOBA. I've never had this - any fans here?
24. Abu Dhabi's country: Abbr.: UAE. United Arab Emirates.
34. "Tomorrow" musical: ANNIE. Based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie.
35. Branch of Islam: SHIA. The second-largest branch of Islam.
40. Organ component: PIPE. Here is one of the organists from the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto, CA, that shows classic Hollywood movies. From Wikipedia: "Part of the restoration included installing an organ to replace the
original which had been sold as parts. The process took 2 years to
obtain and restore parts which included the 1926 console from Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the organ's 1928 pipes from Loew's Theatre." Their current schedule.
41. Note-taking aid: PAD. More paper.
42. Auth. unknown: ANON. Or commenter.
43. Ready to play, in a way: TUNED. Below, tuning a pipe organ.
48. Agree silently: NOD.
49. Units of resistance: OHMS.
57. Dreary and dull: DRAB. BO-ring.
60. Beyond mad: IRATE.
61. Ames's state: IOWA.
62. Coffee, in slang: JAVA.
63. Golf course halves: NINES.
64. Pre-calc math course: TRIG.
65. Petty quarrel: SPAT.
66. Grind, as molars: GNASH.
67. Creator of a Sonic boom?: SEGA
Down:
1. V-shaped sitting pose in yoga: BOAT.
2. Language spoken by Kamala Khan's family on "Ms. Marvel": URDU. Pakistani-American Super Hero.
7. Org. with a Reproductive Freedom Project: ACLU.
8. Knee-to-ankle area: SHIN.
9. Cleared weeds, say: HOED.
10. Capital of Alaska: JUNEAU.
11. Gorilla, e.g.: APE.
12. Cards with pics: IDS.
13. "__ all heroes wear capes": NOT. Sweet song.
21. Sole: LONE.
22. General vibe: AURA.
25. Olympic sprinter Thompson-Herah: ELAINE. Jamaican, six-time medalist, the first female sprinter in history, and the second sprinter after Usain Bolt, to win the "sprint double" at consecutive Olympics.
26. Waterproof covers: TARPS.
27. Oscar winner Tatum: O'NEAL.
28. Eel-and-rice dish: UNADON. Abbreviation for unagi donburi, "eel bowl," is a dish originating in Japan. It consists of a donburi type large bowl filled with steamed white rice, and topped with fillets of eel grilled in a style known as kabayaki, similar to teriyaki.
29. College sports channel: ESPNU. American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc, primarily dedicated to coverage of college athletics
30. Org. with the Blues and the Blue Jackets: NHL. Hockey.
31. Dead heat: TIE.
32. Toss out: EXPEL.
33. Run-down: SEEDY. From etymonline.com: The modern meaning "shabby, no longer fresh or new" is attested by 1739,
probably in reference to the appearance of a flowering plant that has
run to seed; compare figurative expressions go to seed (by 1817), etc., originally of plants, "to cease flowering as seeds develop."
38. "Press __ key to continue": ANY.
39. Crowd around: MOB.
40. Occupations: PURSUITS.
42. Grocery chain based in Germany: ALDI. Sadly, no locations in Oregon, where I am - I hear people love it.
52. "__ Brockovich": ERIN. Brockovich was instrumental in building a case against PG&E, alleging the company contaminated the town’s drinking water. In 1996, the case was settled for $333 million -- the largest ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit at the time.
53. "The X-Files" agent Scully: DANA.
54. Shared stories: LORE. A body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed from person to person by word of mouth.
55. Item needed to play Poohsticks: TWIG. All about Poohsticks. Big fan of Winnie, but somehow I didn't know (or remember) this.
56. Story that might take hours to tell: SAGA. I looked up Michener's Centennial - the audio book is 50 hours and 13 minutes.
57. Playlist overseers, for short: DJS.
58. Knock sharply: RAP.
59. Director DuVernay: AVA. Talented filmmaker, known for 13th, Selma, and When They See Us. Wikipedia.
Puzzling thoughts: This is the LA Times solo debut for today's constructor, but Brooke Husic is no stranger to Crossword puzzles, nor the LAT. We saw her this past Saturday, if you recall. She is a computational chemist who creates crosswords for The New Yorker, The New York Times, USA TODAY, and a variety of “indie” platforms. She edits puzzles at Inkubator Crosswords and The American Values Club and co-hosts the Crossnerds podcast. She and Natan Last also host a "Creating Crossword Puzzles" workshop. See the example of the puzzle they created in their May workshop
Despite her reputation in the Crossword community, this may be the first of hers that I've solved, as I was unable to look at the one that Gary recapped.
Hope she stops by to either read the comments and/or offer some of her own
As the "theme" suggests, today's puzzle deletes the letter "C" from the entry, and is solved through a series of starred, wordplay clues. For example:
21-across. *What an eager newlywed requests from a wedding photographer?: (C) ALL THE SHOTS. Of the four entries this one (for me) was the weakest
28-across. *Poem dedicated to a computer chip?: BINARY (C) ODE.
43-across. *Band gear only used in the warmest months?: SUMMER (C) AMP.
50-across. *Reason for roadwork?: (C) OLD SHOULDER. This was my favorite of the four
Brooke even left some room for the reveal (in the bottom right corner): 66-across. Show the door, and a phonetic hint for the answers to the starred clues: SEE (C) OUT. As an editor herself, I wonder how she, Patti, and Christina got along as this one evolved from concept to publication?
Here's the grid and the rest of the clues/entries:
Across:
1. Jesmyn Ward's "Men We Reaped," for one: MEMOIR. Not familiar with the author nor the book/MEMOIR; neither was my partner, Margaret. But there was help from the perpendiculars ... And soon after, 16-across showed up, clued as "American Street" author __ Zoboi: IBI. [See my comment for 1-across]
7. Kraków native: POLE. Moe-ku/haiku/Senryu:
The burlesque star is From Kraków. She is a true, Home-grown POLE dancer
11. Soccer star Hamm: MIA. Remember several blogs ago when I thought that MIA Hamm was the one who showed off her sports bra in the Summer Olympics?
15. Verb in a risotto recipe: STIR. The risotto reference lead me to thinking about what the Italian word for STIR is? It's mescolare
17. Form a queue: LINE UP. When I first read the clue, I was thinking, "Draw a circle and add a little hook to the bottom edge??" [Q]
Moe-'lick/Limerick:
What prevails among TSA views Are those actions you carefully choose. You don't want to attract More attention; just act Like adult. Mind your peace and our QUEUEs
18. Buckwheat noodle: SOBA. Margaret is a "nouveau vegan" and knew of SOBA. Thanks, sweetie!
19. Zoomer's parent, maybe: X'ER. Does Zoomer mean "one who uses Zoom"? Not hip to that phrase. But if so, I have used Zoom and my Mom is certainly NOT a Gen X'er. Or, maybe I missed the gist of this clue entirely
20. "Mudbound" director Rees: DEE. I would've added this to 1 and 16-across; I need to get out more
26. Chapati flour: ATTA. [From bbc.co.uk/food] "Pale-brown in colour and gritty in texture, chapati flour is finely milled wholewheat flour, also known as 'atta'.' Chapatis. by Manju Malhi. Chapatis can be reheated but they're best cooked fresh. You could also spread your favourite pickle or chutney over them and roll them into tortilla shapes."
OK, Margaret didn't know this one, so I couldn't give her an "ATTA girl"
33. "Vice" Oscar nominee: ADAMS. Whatever happened to clues like, "Get Smart" actor, Don?
34. Complete collections: SETS. They're valuable, I've been told. Rumor has it that our Monday blogger Boomer has several SETS of baseball cards ...
35. "Well, gosh!": GEE. An easy clue. "Well, gosh!"
36. Petty gripes: NITS. What we Crossword Corner-ites have expressed, occasionally, about the puzzles and/or clues we encounter
37. All-out brawl: MELEE.
39. Tzatziki herb: DILL.
40. Simple top: TEE.
41. Ramírez who plays Che on "And Just Like That ... ": SARA. Why not "Frozen dessert maker, Lee?" Because, we have to learn all of the new actors and authors and so on ...
42. Uses a microfiber cloth: DUSTS. A handkerchief works for me
46. Blues guitarist Baker: ETTA. Has she accompanied blues singer James?
47. Info on a political rival: OPPO. Crossword Tracker's history of this word:
48. Jittery: EDGY. What we bloggers might get if we wait until the last minute to do our recaps
54. Psychic ability: ESP. Or alternately clued: "What helped me solve 1-across and 16-across, according to the acronyms used at the Crossword Corner?" Every Single Perpendicular
57. Zendaya's "Euphoria" role: RUE. [per Wikipedia] "Euphoria is an American teen drama television series created and principally written by Sam Levinson for HBO and based on the Israeli miniseries of the same name created by Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin."
Well that alone made it an unknown for me, as I don't subscribe to HBO nor am a fan of teen drama TV. But I am attaching the trailer for those interested in seeing what it's about
58. Not fooled by: ONTO. Hey editors: We are ONTO your tactics of taking simple word entries and making them difficult to solve, by associating their clues with a proper name. You'll RUE the day you decided to do this, LOL!!
59. Lithuania neighbor: LATVIA. I think POLAND is the only other 6-letter country that borders Lithuania
61. Snack __: BAR.
62. Bring up: REAR. It's a lot different REARing a child in today's world ...
63. Hits the books and rings a bell: IDIOMS. Not my work, but a couple of jokes that use IDIOMS for their punchline:
A church's bell ringer passed away. So they posted the position and a man came in with no arms wanting the job. The clergy weren't sure he could do it, but he convinced them to let him try it. They climbed the bell tower and the guy ran toward the bell and hit it with his head. They gave him the job. The next day he went to ring the bell, tripped, bounced off the bell and fell to the sidewalk below. Two guys were walking past. One asked, "Do you know this guy?" The second guy responded, "No, but his face rings a bell."
The next day, the deceased bell ringer's twin brother comes in for the again vacant bell ringer position. He also has no arms. They lead him up to the bell tower, he runs at the bell, trips and falls to the sidewalk below. The same two guys walk by. The first asks, "Do you know him?" The second guy responds, "No, but he's a dead ringer for the guy we saw yesterday."
64. One rising at dawn: SUN. MOE fits! And I do (rise at dawn, that is)
65. Condition underdiagnosed in girls: Abbr.: ADHD. A-D/HD stands for: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. [from Verywell Mind dot com]: "ADHD symptoms in girls are often viewed as character traits rather than symptoms of a condition. For example, a girl might be described as spacey, forgetful, or chatty. Later in life, a woman might reach out for help for her symptoms, only to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety instead"
Down:
1. Shaping aid: MOLD. Anybody recall these?
2. Pelee Island's lake: ERIE. Pelee Island is on the Canadian side of Lake ERIE, for those unaware. And speaking of Canada, and Canadian wineries, here's a question: What is Canada's largest winery? Why, at over 700 acres of vineyards, Pelee Island Winery is the largest private estate winery in Canada. Fun Fact #1
3. Pride of lions: MANE. Wordplay alert!! This one actually came to me right away. Helps to be a punster, sometimes
4. Single: ONE. Dual meaning: A single could mean just ONE person; or it could mean a ONE dollar bill
5. Rainforest lizards: IGUANAS. Another simple clue for a Friday. What else could fit?
6. Get back (to): REPLY. You should've seen the email thread when Anonymous T was welcomed into our blogger fraternity. There were over 20 REPLYs [sic]
7. Quiet "Over here": "PSST". I said this to Margaret recently (when I entered a room and she didn't see or hear me). Scared the bejeezus out of her
8. Short "And yet ... ": OTOH. Short, meaning an abbreviation
9. Set free: LIBERATE. Another easy Friday fill
10. Pencil toppers: ERASERS. They recently started adding these to the small pencils you get at a golf course. Never trust a golf scorecard with erasures
11. Person with a spiritual calling?: MIXOLOGIST. Now we're talking! Right up my alley! I was a MIXOLOGIST (aka, bartender) for one of my last part time jobs. I knew how and where to use Grand Marnier
12. "Wow, no doubt": I BET. If you drew quads (4 of a kind) in Texas Hold 'em poker, you'd certainly BET. This is a 20 minute+ video, but the first clip in the QUEUE is pretty insane
13. Runs on TV: AIRS. Easy
22. Chem class: LAB. Easy
23. Bale contents: HAY. Very easy. Is this a Friday puzzle??
24. Places for taking notes?: ATMS. Excellent wordplay clue. This threw me off at first
26. "Farewell": ADIEU. ADIEU was/is a word that many players use to begin their guesses at WORDLE as it uses 4 of the 5 vowels
27. Art gallery on the Thames: TATE MODERN. Learning experience for me; [tate.org.uk] "Tate is a family of four art galleries in London, Liverpool and Cornwall known as Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives"
29. Imam's faith: ISLAM. Easy
30. Born: NEE. Easy
31. Faucet brand: DELTA. Moe-ku/haiku/senryu #3
Faucet replacement Caused grief, at first. They cried! "Don't Moen, it's DELTA!
32. Long fish: EELS.
33. Farm insects: ANTS. Odd clue, but it fits
37. Stranded: MAROONED. Moe-ku/haiku/senryu #4
Stranded artist found It ironic when she was MAROONED with maroon
38. Time piece: ERA. WATCH, CLOCK, SUNDIAL - none of these fit
39. Obligation: DUTY.
41. Chain with a Beauty Insider rewards program: SEPHORA. This
42. Break down chemically: DEGRADE. "RUST" was too short
45. Disposable sock: PED. Does anyone actually use these when trying on shoes?
49. Where to get counter offers?: DELIS. More wordplay in the clue. DELIS are known to have a counter (for ordering cold cuts, etc), and I guess the clerks there can provide you with an offer or two
50. Spheres: ORBS. Another easy clue
51. Tropical party: LUAU. And yet, another easy clue
52. Park City's state: UTAH. Seems the easy clues come in threes, today
53. Noble title: LORD. EARL also fits
54. Cruet filler: Abbr.: EVOO. I tried WINE at first and then saw the perps
55. Liu who plays the superhero Shang-Chi: SIMU. Total unknown. LUCY was my first guess
56. Kind of tense: PAST. Present and future are two others
60. Hair __: TIE. CUT fit, but was incorrect
Overall, a good puzzle, but not Friday worthy, IMO. But I doubt this will be the last puzzle we see from Brooke Husic. I'm looking forward to your comments...
Saturday Themeless by Brooke Husic and Michael Lieberman
Today we continue our run of brilliant young constructors. It is Brooke's initial appearance here and Michael's third after Monday and Sunday solo appearances.
Brooke Husic is from Glastonbury, CT and is currently doing post doc work in Berlin computational chemistry and machine learning work on molecular kinetics.
Mike Lieberman is a litigation partner in Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focuses on Supreme Court and appellate litigation.
I had my usual Saturday experience as I came upon some fun fill where the bedeviling cluing first gave me fits but then generated a very satisfying shout of, Voila! The NE corner seemed to be rife with subtle clues. Decoding that Silver was actually Long John Silver led to my conquering of that area.
I will address the clues where I had similar experiences in the write-up as they are numerous. I enjoyed the puzzle but would not want to work something this complex all day as indicated in the graphic below:
Across:
1. "That ... can't be right": WAIT REALLY - More like, "WAIT, REALLY?"
11. Kitty: POT - Usually the amount in play in a poker game. Did you ever play Monopoly where all fines were put in a "kitty" on the Free Parking square where the next person to land there got the money?
14. Cuisine that may be served on banana leaves: INDIAN FOOD.
15. Shawarma bread: PITA - If you're ever in Omaha...
16. Nickname for fans of Instagram's most-followed musician: SELENATORS - The 1940's might have had a band of SINATRATORS.
17. Orsk river: URAL - The Ural flows through Orsk and then down to the Caspian Sea
18. Shepherd's charge: EWE and 34. 18-Across call: BAA.
19. Revise: AMEND.
20. Responsibility: BLAME and 35. Accepts responsibility for: OWNS.
21. Michelangelo's milieu: SEWER - In my deepest memory I dredged up that this was a Mutant Ninja Turtle and I guess he surfs in the SEWER. Anyone else think of STONE (marble) for that "other" Michelangelo?
23. Nap: SIESTA.
25. __ Ocho: Little Havana's main drag: CALLE - I knew Ocho is eight and CALLE is street, so...
27. Snack puff: CHEETO.
29. Needle: ANNOY - How Don Rickles made. his living. He'd be out of work today.
32. Hit a bunch of keys?: ISLAND HOP - Island keys finally occurred to me after struggling with computer, piano and door keys!
35. At a high frequency: OFTEN.
36. Farm critter: ANT - 28. Goes (for): OPTS gave me the last letter of T, so, this was not a cow, pig or hen.
37. Provide real-time commentary on social media: LIVE TWEET - All you need to know
40. "__ Dragon": PETE'S - Original movie was released in 1977
42. Only two-digit number spelled without the letter "T": ELEVEN - This math major learned this today!
43. 49-Down choice: ESSIE - and 30. Digital service provider: NAIL SALON and 49. 30-Down treatment, for short: PEDI. Not in my vocabulary but it filled itself in
45. Most artful: SLIEST.
47. Dull and dirty: DINGY.
49. Divides: PARTS.
50. Swiftly: APACE - Work on the bypass that will take 10 minutes off our drive to Lincoln continues APACE
56. Real or faux expression of gratitude: THANKS A LOT.
58. Opposite of doffs: DONS - We will soon be told to "Deck the halls and DON our gay apparel"
59. Goofy-sounding person?: VOICE ACTOR - Nobody did it better or more OFTEN
60. Gerund ending: ING.
61. Symbolic centerpiece at Passover: SEDER PLATE.
Down:
1. Well-suited to be a mentor: WISE.
2. From scratch: ANEW - "Come on baby, let's start ANEW, Cause Breaking Up Is Hard To Do"
3. Remains neutral?: IDLES.
4. Deuce, e.g.: TIE - Part of tennis's screwy unique scoring system
5. Took off: RAN AWAY - A recurring issue at Boy's Town
6. Crown topper: ENAMEL - Oh, that crown
7. Realm of the "Divine Comedy": AFTER LIFE - Not exactly for reading at the beach
8. Diving bird: LOON - The TERN also dives but not today
9. Time __: fictional alien race: LORDS.
10. Units for Newton: Abbr.: YDS - Oh, that Newton! Fiendish indeed.
11. Silver adornment?: PIRATE HAT - Oh, Long John Silver. Fiendish too.
12. Electronic synthesizer whose name comes from the Japanese for "tadpole": OTAMATONE - Here's this weird looking, sounding instrument playing a song (1:12). New to me.
13. Account: TALE.
15. Had rhythm: PULSED - My rhythm is around 52 beats/minute
20. Restoration playwright Aphra __: BEHN - The first English woman to make living by being an author. I had no idea of who, what, when, why or where.
22. Friendly introduction?: ECO.
24. Words from the willing: I CAN.
26. Name on many a foundation: ESTEE - Oh, makeup foundation.
29. An end to reason?: ABLE - That seems to be, uh, REASONABLE
31. Center piece?: NAVEL RING.
33. 1983 album with the hits "China Girl" and "Modern Love": LET'S DANCE - Had to be
38. Internet company solicitations?: E-VITES - This completely works for me
39. Basic tops: TEES.
40. Conifer goo: PINE SAP.
41. Sleep lab test: Abbr.: EEG - My test showed I was having 33 apnea events/hr. CPAP has that down to an average of 4/hr.
44. Feeling worse: SICKER.
46. Lake whose name means "the lake" in Washo: TAHOE - The Washo people lived on the border of CA and NV mainly around what is now Lake TAHOE
48. "Big Three" summit site where Chekhov wrote "Three Sisters": YALTA - A 1900 picture of Chekov's dacha in YALTA, the town where FDR, Stalin and Churchill met in 1945.
112 Kirova St., Yalta, Crimea
51. No longer due: PAID.
53. Ginger or ginseng: ROOT.
54. Peut-__: French "perhaps": ETRE - Il était peut-ÈTRE malade (He may have been ill).
56. Sharp products: TV'S.
57. Knee part studied in an MRI: ACL - Tearing an Anterior Cruciate Ligament has ended many an athletic career.
