Thursday, December 22, 2022, Freddie Cheng & Caroline Sommers

 

HEDGE HUNTERS

Today's puzzle teams veteran Freddie Cheng with media writer and producer Caroline Sommers, who appears to be making her LA Times debut.

Their puzzle invites us to do a little landscape gardening with 3 themers that keep the bushes from getting out of control:

20A. *Strawberry's field, once: SHEA STADIUM.  A clever reference to Darryl Strawberry, the fearsome slugger who played in Shea Stadium for the NY Mets during his heyday.  The clue could also be taken as misdirection to lead us to Strawberry Fields in Central Park, a 5 acre section that memorializes John Lennon, who of course co-wrote and did the lead vocals on this song :
 

38A. *"Listen, I can explain":HEAR ME OUT. A phrase that often pops out of the mouths of perps  when they're being grilled under bright lights in detective shows.

48A. *Warning that could come with a "Shush!": EARS ARE FLAPPING.

ears are flapping

Someone is listening, or trying to listen, to the details of a private conversation: "Let's finish this conversation in the meeting room in case people's ears are flapping nearby ...". 

The Free Dictionary suggests that this is British slang  and it wouldn't be complete without one my favorite Brit idioms:  "... and we can have a chin wag".

 And the reveal:

57A. Hedge trimmer's tool, which seems to have been used on the starts of the answers to the starred clues?: PRUNING SHEARS. These are standard tools for the gardeners who have to maintain the shrubbery at Ladew Topiary Gardens in Jarretsville, MD.  Here they have to keep the hunter (upper left) and the hounds trim, if they're to have any hope of catching the wily fox in the foreground:

Topiary Fox Hunt
Ladew Gardens.

Across:

1. Auto industry pioneer: OLDS.  Ransom Eli Olds (June 3, 1864 – August 26, 1950) was a pioneer of the American automotive industry, after whom the Oldsmobile and REO brands were named. From whence of course we get the eponymous rock band, REO Speedwagon.  Here's their Keep on Loving You ...

5. Couches: SOFAS. 

10. Enthusiastic: KEEN.

14. Christopher Robin's friend: POOH.  Winnie-the-Pooh, is a fictional teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner (1928), and then many others  The stories have been translated in many languages and Winnie Ille Pu has the distinction of being the only book in Latin on the New York Times best seller list.  But eventually Christopher Robin grows up and has to go to school, and the two friends must part.  Here's Winnie-the-Pooh - Final Scene (trigger warning: it's a bit of tear jerker) ...

15. Novelist Desai: ANITA.  Anita Desai, neé Anita Mazumdar (born 24 June 1937) is an English-language Indian novelist, short-story writer and children's author,  She was born in 1937 in Mussoorie, India. She was educated at Delhi University.and is the Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (a CSO to Picard).  Her novels include Fire on the Mountain (1977), which won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize, and Clear Light of Day (1980), In Custody (1984) and Fasting, Feasting (1999), each of which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the English equivalent of the Pulitzer.  In Custody was made into a film by Merchant Ivory productions. Her children's book The Village by the Sea (1982), won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award.

Anita Desai

16. Toll unit: AXLE.

17. Draped Roman garment: TOGA.

18. "Can't you get someone else?": MUST I.

19. Used Google Wallet, say: PAID.

23. 2020 and 2022 WNBA MVP A'ja: WILSON.  A'ja Riyadh Wilson (born August 8, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Stats and kudos.

A'ja Wilson in flight

25. Longtime local: NATIVE.

28. Resource in Catan and Minecraft: ORE.  You might have dug out this 3 letter nugget of crosswordese even if you had never of heard of the games Catan or Minecraft.

29. Rodeo hat: STETSON.  A CSO to all the Texas cowboys and cowgirls on the Corner, who probably already know all this stuff.  This is for all you greenhorns.

Stetson Hat

33. A Bobbsey twin: NAN.  She was one of four.  This is how to keep them straight.

34. "De __": "Gracias" response: NADA.  Today's Spanish lesson:  "No problem".  Maybe this is why  Gen-Xers have no problem with "No Problem":  they must all be bilingual!

36. Bank job: HEIST.

37. Pop in the mail: SEND.  POP also stands for Post Office Protocol, an Internet standard for handling email SENT from your desktop.

41. Mid-Mar. honoree: ST PAT.  St. Patrick (Feast Day March 17) is popular not only with Catholics, but some Protestants, and anyone who likes  green beer.  His story is chronicled in a notable book by historian Thomas Cahill called How the Irish Saved Civilization (not a spoof!).    The 5th century Roman Patricius was kidnapped at age 16, taken to Ireland as a slave, and pressed into service as a shepherd.  Six years later he escaped back to Britain, eventually converted to Christianity, was ordained a priest, and returned to Ireland as a missionary.  He was instrumental in the conversion of pagan Ireland at a time when the Irish were still practicing human sacrifice.  Also during this time the Roman Empire was dissolving and much of it's great classical literature was in danger of being lost.  The Irish monks on the Isle of Skellig Michael were instrumental in transcribing and preserving many of these works, and literally "saved civilization".

Saint Patrick

44. Flick: MOVIE.

54. Rumpus: ADO.

55. Late-March sign: ARIES.  A fire sign:

56. Label: TAG.

62. Lose one's cool completely: GO APE.

63. Ingest: EAT.

64. Minor interruptions: BLIPS.

66. Choir section: ALTOS.  As 'tis the season to give praise, here's the part for the ALTO choir in the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah.

67. Mexican Mrs.: SRA.   Short for SENORA. Spanish lesson number 2.

68. Hit just past the infield: BLOOP.  This is usually called a BLOOPER, but I guess this was the constructor's (or editor's) call.

69. Isn't straight: LEANS.

70. Tater __: TOT.

71. Like the ocean: SALTY.  Or old sailors.  A CSO to Jinx.

Down:

1. Withdraw, with "out": OPT.

2. British lav: LOO.

3. Arctic transport: DOG SLED.

4. Bravo's "__ of Sunset": SHAHS.  Shahs of Sunset was an American reality television series that aired on Bravo. The series debuted on March 11, 2012. The series follows a group of Persian Americans living in Beverly Hills (and the greater area known as "Tehrangeles"), who are trying to juggle their active social lives and up-and-coming careers while balancing the demands of their families and traditions.

5. Kim's "Sex and the City" role: SAMANTHA.  Samantha Jones seemed to have it all — except a happy ending.

Kim Cattrall

6. Burden: ONUS.

7. Rock, in a choosing game: FIST.

8. Flour for roti: ATTA.  The new crosswordese you can make at home.

Roll your own Roti

9. Turned down: SAID NO TO.  This is hard to do sometimes, especially to grandchildren.

10. Shot: KAPUT.

ka·put

/kəˈpo͝ot,käˈpo͝ot/

adjective

informal

adjective: kaput 

 

broken and useless; no longer working or effective."the water pump's broken, kaput, malfunctioning" - etymology.

11. Check carefully: EXAMINE.

12. Country's __ Young Band: ELI. The Eli Young Band is an American country music band composed of members who met while students at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas: Mike Eli (lead vocals, guitar), James Young (guitar), Jon Jones (bass guitar), and Chris Thompson (drums). Here's their 2011 hit Crazy Girl:

13. Actor Beatty: NED.  Ned Thomas Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) was an American actor and comedian . In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 films. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest actor in Hollywood". His film appearances included Deliverance (1972), White Lightning (1973), All the President's Men (1976), Network (1976), Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), Back to School (1986), Rudy (1993), Shooter (2007), and Toy Story 3 (2010).

Ned Beatty

21. Canon SLR camera: EOS.  [Product review] The Canon EOS Rebel T7 / EOS 2000D offers very good image quality, with little graininess present in images at high ISO levels, and feels decently comfortable to use. Unfortunately, it's not a good fit for video work due to its limited selection of frame rate options, lack of support for 4k recording, and a small spread of inputs and outputs.
 

Canon EOS Rebel

22. Ziering of the "Sharknado" films: IAN.  Sharknado is a series of six American made-for-television science fiction action comedy horror disaster films released by Syfy between 2013 and 2018. It has since been expanded into video games and comics, including a spin-off film, Sharknado: Heart of Sharkness, that was released in 2015. The first two films received mixed to positive reviews from critics, while the others received negative reviews.

Ian Ziering

23. Hit a walk-off homer, say: WON.  More baseball.  A walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. For a home run to end a game, it must be hit in the bottom of the final inning of the game and generate enough runs to exceed the opponent's score. Because the opponent will not have an opportunity to score any more runs, there is no need to finish the inning and the teams can walk off the field immediately.

24. 401(k) kin: IRA.

26. Airport shuttle, often: VAN.

27. Tip: END.

30. Alway: EER.  The clue is archaic for ALWAYS; the fill is poetic for FOREVER.

31. Director Burton: TIM.  Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and artist. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), etc. etc. etc.  I think Edward would have no problem getting a gig at the Ladew Topiary Gardens.

32. Compass pt.: SSE.

35. Cries of discovery: AHAS.

37. "Quit it!": STOP.

39. Uber driver's guess: ETA. The last time we visited New York City, we guessed that it would be faster to take the subway than to wait for an Uber stuck in NYC's 7x24 rush hour.

40. Diamond authority: UMP.

41. Mermaid's realm: SEA.

42. Pond youngster: TADPOLE.  But like all critters, they don't stay youngsters forever ...

The Lifecycle of the Frog

43. Equitably divided: PRO RATA.  What it means and how to calculate it.

45. Scathing criticism: VITRIOL.  Nasty stuff.

46. Stuck: IN A SPOT.

47. Shakshouka ingredient: EGG.  Here's a recipe.

Shakshouka

49. Hindi cinema star Aishwarya __ Bachchan: RAI.  Vidwan we miss you!  Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (née Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil films. The winner of the Miss World 1994 pageant, she has established herself as one of the most popular celebrities in India.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

50. Actor Borgnine: ERNEST.  Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades beginning in 1951, and included roles in From Here to Eternity (1953), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), and The Wild Bunch (1969).  He also played the unconventional lead in many films, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1956, for Marty (1955).  Borgnine achieved continuing success in the sitcom McHale's Navy (1962–1966), in which he played the title character.  Here's a clip from Marty, who's mother is trying to get him to go a dance at the Stardust Ballroom and perhaps meet a nice girl (you might need your hankies for this one too):

51. Mozart's "The Marriage of __": FIGARO.   Mozart's Marriage of Figaro is considered to be one of the greatest operas ever written.  While usually thought of as a comedy, it has dark undertones, as it was critical of the aristocratic patriarchy of the time, and was even banned in some cities.  This darkness is embodied in the role of one of the main characters: Count Almaviva.  A key element of the plot is the notion of le droit du seigneur – a Count's "right" to bed any servant girl on her wedding night, in this case Figaro's bride to be Susanna!  You may remember Figaro as the happy go lucky Barber of Seville from last Thursday's puzzle.  Figaro, Susanna, and the Count's wife (Countess Rosina Almaviva) spend the better part of the opera thwarting the Count's efforts and all is well in the end, with the repentant Count begging his wife's forgiveness.  Here is the overture, a masterpiece of orchestral writing, conducted by Claudio Abbado:

52. "Interview With the Vampire" vampire: LESTAT.  Interview with the Vampire is a 1994 American gothic horror vampire film directed by Neil Jordan, based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name, and starring Tom Cruise,  Brad Pitt, and Kirsten Dunst.

53. Volcanic debris: ASH.

58. Versed in: UPON.

59. Urquhart Castle's loch: NESS.  There's more to this loch then  the legendary NESSIE.

60. Flows back: EBBS.

61. Penne __ vodka: ALLA.  Here's a recipe.

62. Gadot of "Wonder Woman": GAL.  Gal Gadot is an Israeli actress, singer, martial artist, and model. She was born in Rosh Ha'ayin, Israel. Her parents are Irit, a teacher, and Michael, an engineer. She served in the IDF for two years, and won the Miss Israel title in 2004.

Gal Gadot

65. Undercover agent: SPY.  Who would suspect them?
 

Cheers,
Bill

As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism. 

waseeley

Freddie Cheng and Caroline Sommers,  you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below.  We'd love to hear from you.  And welcome back!