Saturday, February 16, 2019, Christopher Adams

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Christopher Adams


World Whale Day was started in 1980 on Maui. It reminds us of the challenges faced in our oceans across the globe. Observed annually on the third Sunday in February, World Whale Day celebrates these noble sea mammals.

My experience is limited to seeing Killer Whales in Sea World shows. The theme park has not obtained orcas from the wild for decades and now has also stopped breeding programs and theatrical shows with "Shamus" as well but will care for the ones remaining in their tanks as long as they live.  Sea World and Orcas

Christopher Adams

Today's constructor is Christopher Adams who appears to making his debut in LA Times. He is a Math/Physics guy and if you scroll down one screen here, you will find a nice bio of him 

The one odd take I have on Christopher's fun puzzle is that so many long fills were easy and helped with the shorter ones which he clued is some very unorthodox ways. I stared down the barrel of what seemed to be a Natick at AISH_/C_LDER but I correctly guessed the vowel that made the most sense. BTW, I will not say this was a whale of a puzzle and you can't make me.

Across:

1. High-tech accessory that may pose privacy issues: WEBCAM - Using these to communicate with our granddaughter during her semester in Grenoble was amazing to me! BTW, if you think you are not ever on a camera at any time... 

7. Not quite aligned: OFFSET - A definite possibility on California's Hayward Fault

13. No-nonsense marker: SHARPIE

14. Runs off, in a way: XEROXES - Every teacher's best friend to make worksheets

16. Leader of New Netherland before it was renamed New York: PETER STUYVESANT - The first very doable long fill

18. Caltech, e.g.: Abbr.: INST - A famous though fictional employee

19. The __ Man: Major Arcana card: HANGED - New learning for me. Major Arcana are the "picture cards" in a Tarot deck. All you need to know about the HANGED MAN

20. "Nixon in China" tenor role: MAO - Tenor John Duykers as MAO feels a song coming on 

21. Multiple of LXVII: CCI - CCI is a multiple of LXVII because III x LXVII = CCI (67 x 3 = 201)

22. Mobile maker: CALDER - I wonder what Alexander would charge for this tiny one he is holding

23. Flirtatious bat: WINK - Christopher! Here we see WINKING or flirtatious eye batting!

24. 1983 Streisand film: YENTL.

26. Spy novelist Deighton: LEN - A frequent crossword author/fill

27. "Clerks" clerk: DANTE - A 1994 film. A slightly less literate cluing for DANTE

28. Gandhi family notable: RAJIV - India's 6th Prime Minister who took office after his mother Indira Ghandi was assassinated in 1984

30. Exposes: BARES.

31. "The Card Players" artist: PAUL CEZANNE - Another easy long fill. Hmmm... I thought it might be dogs on velvet

33. Positive: CAN DO - As in CAN DO spirit

34. Contract with a flat fee?: LEASE like 12. What letters need: TENANTS - Clever again! This is what an apartment LETTER in S.F. is charging a LETTEE (TENANT) for a studio apt.

35. Sweetly, in suites: DOLCE- dolce here means play this sweetly. 

36. Dizzy genre: BOP - Trumpet player Dizzy Gillespies' genre

37. Secret targets?: ODORS - Another fun deception 

41. Old senate setting: ROME - A senate scene in ROME on the Ides Of March, 44 A.D.

42. Japan, to natives: NIPPON - A derisive name for Japanese in WWII was Nips

44. Roof, e.g.: TOP 

45. PC space bar neighbor: ALT - Every Windows user knows the Ctrl + ALT + Delete mantra 

46. Homer, in baseball lingo: GO DEEP -  To homer is to GO DEEP. Homer is a verb here

47. Pieces for one: SOLI - I have sung many a SOLI

48. Historical role played by Sally Field in 2012: MARY TODD LINCOLN - "Uh, Mrs. Lincoln we need to talk about your spending..."

51. Coral relative: ANEMONE - Coral and ANEMONE are both animals of the the group called  cnidaria (from Greek knidē ‘nettle) and are found on and form reefs

52. Dr. Scholl's products: INSOLES.

53. Promo: TEASER - Some TEASERS for bad movies have the one, single funny scene in them

54. More adroit: NEATER - Adroit people can do much NEATER work


Down:

1. Word of origin: WHENCE - We love to travel but are always happy to return to the place from WHENCE we came

2. Dirties the dishes: EATS IN.

3. Poison frontman Michaels: BRET - If you're a fan, you know which one below is BRET

4. Bit of EMT expertise: CPR 

5. "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" host Tyler: AISHA - Here she is

6. Like gong sounds: METALLIC.

7. Space shuttle gas: OXYGEN - The -300˚F Liquid OXYGEN was at the top of the orange External Tank when upright on the launch pad

8. Contagious enthusiasm: FEVER - Husker FEVER has already generated a sellout of 90,000 people for the Spring Game/Scrimmage in April

9. Couples of golf: FRED -  Clever cluing for Freddie Couples

10. "Help wanted" sign?: SOS - I'll use any excuse to offer an ABBA song

11. Test taker: EXAMINEE - I was an Examiner for decades

13. Hot: SPICY.

15. Fuel: STOKE.

17. Like film in a camera: UNDEVELOPED - What? They still make film? 😏

22. Composer Debussy: CLAUDE - Claude provided spectacular music for the last scene of Ocean's 11

23. Put on notice: WARNED.

25. Blank state: TRANCE.

27. Ted of "The Good Place": DANSON - I suppose, but the only sitcom this physics teacher has watched in the last decade has been Big Bang Theory. 

29. Eponymous 2001 pop album: JLO - Jennifer Lopez

30. Barnyard sound: BAA.

31. Coconut source: PALM TREE - The difference between PALM TREES and coconut trees

32. Early transatlantic flier: ZEPPELIN - Here is the LZ 129 Hindenburg (Luftschiff Zeppelin #129) whose fate we all know

33. Nuclear reactor need: COOLANT.

35. Golden Globes genre: DRAMA.

36. Potential stock buyer: BIDDER - Here are some potential BIDDERS for stock 

38. 1962 Lawrence portrayer: O'TOOLE - Peter portrayed T.E. Lawrence 

39. Painting supply: ROLLER.

40. Pleasant rides: SPINS - Convertibles are built to take out for SPINS

42. 2007 #1 hit for Alicia Keys: NO ONE - Here ya go

43. Put in one's two cents: OPINE - What we bloggers do here according to C.C.'s rules

46. Classic muscle cars: GTOS.

47. Andy Murray, by birth: SCOT  - A proud son of Glasgow

49. Soprano Sumac: YMA - A stalwart songbird in the crossword choir

50. "The Puzzle Palace" org.: NSA

Comment at will

Thursday, June 28 2018 Christopher Adams

Theme: The wheels on the bus ... Round and Round
.
17A. Generous nature: HEART OF GOLD. The Infinite Improbability Drive powered the space ship "Heart of Gold" in Douglas Adams' quite wonderful "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".

28A. Exercising control over one's own affairs: SELF-GOVERNING

44A. 1945 Physics Nobelist who discovered the exclusion principle: WOLFGANG PAULI

"The best that most of us can hope to achieve in physics is simply to misunderstand at a deeper level."

58A. Eighteen holes ... and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters: ROUND OF GOLF. The 18th hole at St. Andrews. Don't hit into the Royal & Ancient clubhouse or the High Street.

A thoroughly entertaining puzzle from Christopher. I think this is a debut for him in the LAT, although I've seen a couple of his puzzles over at the Fireball site where he's known for his puzzles with a hidden super-theme, or "meta".

The theme letters really are a true "round" as they progress through FGOL, LFGO, OFLG and finally landing on GOLF. Nicely done.

I looked for a hidden twist, and eventually satisfied myself by convincing said self that the 18 "holes" are represented by 18 "O"s in the puzzle. Pure fluke, I'm sure, but I found the search entertaining.

Super construction too, those stacked 8's in the downs are not easy to pull off and not force anything to make it happen. Let's see what else jumps out.

Across

1. Barfly: SOT

4. Covered with new grass: SODDED

10. Quick snooze: NAP

13. "Fortunate Son" band, briefly: CCR. Credence  Clearwater Revival's unofficial "Most American Song Ever".

14. Imagines: IDEATES. Lovely, vocabulary-expanding word.

16. "Science Friday" host Flatow: IRA. Thank you, crosses.

19. S&L offerings: CDS. I like the quirk in English where the plural of an abbreviation puts the "s" at the end, but the full phrase is pluralized differently - here "Certificates of Deposit".

20. Fortified Portuguese wine: MADEIRA. Fascinating wine-making process. The island of Madeira was the often the last port of call for ships sailing to the West Indies or the New World and fortified wine was able to stand up to the rigors of a long sea voyage.

21. Lingering traces: ECHOES

23. Eternally: ON END

24. Org. Edward Snowden worked for: NSA

27. Cigna rival: AETNA. Originally the Aetna (Fire) Insurance Company of Hartford, CT; the name was meant to evoke thoughts of fire-spewing Mt. Etna.

31. Ultrasound goo: GEL

32. One who minds his manor: LORD. Nice clue.

33. Bridal bio word: NÉE

34. Speak (up): PIPE

37. Arabian Peninsula resident: OMANI

39. Admit, with "up": 'FESS

40. World Cup chant: OLÉ. There's been plenty of those in this World Cup. The group stages wrap up today. Some low-odds favorites are already going home - Spain, Poland and, amazingly, Germany among them.

41. Persian Gulf republic: IRAN. Another World Cup country eliminated in the group stages this week.

42. CBS forensic series: CSI. One of the few shows I actually watched. The original series based in Las Vegas was excellent.

48. Bottled water brand: EVIAN

49. "__ out!": YER. An opportunity for an umpire at the plate to get all theatrical on themselves.

50. Minor dents: DINGS

53. Church official: RECTOR

55. "Just watch me!": I CAN TOO!

57. Programming pioneer Lovelace: ADA

61. Hubbub: DIN

62. Blinking diner sign: EAT HERE. I should hang one of these on my front door!

63. Asian New Year: TET

64. "District 9" extras: E.T.S Sci-Fi horror flick. I probably won't watch it. Horror movies scare the bejasus out of me and I don't sleep well. "The Exorcist" had me sleeping with the light on for a month, and I've never played Side 2 of "Tubular Bells" since.

65. Blended: MELDED

66. Texter's "No way!": OMG!

Down:

1. Loser: SCHMO

2. Indian, for one: OCEAN. Because neither "cuisine" nor "motorcycle" fit, amongst many others.

3. Baseball deals: TRADES

4. Go unused: SIT IDLE. If you're a baseball player, that usually means an impending 3D.

5. Musk, e.g.: ODOR

6. Neutralize, as a snake: DEFANG

7. Peace Nobelist Hammarskjöld: DAG. Sadly, a posthumous Nobel prize. The Secretary-General of the UN died when his plane was apparently shot down on the way to peace negotiations in the Congo.

8. WWII zone: ETO. European Theater of Operations.

9. Take-out order?: DELE. World Cup fans would clue "DELE" as an English national team midfielder!

10. Ingredient in therapeutic gum: NICOTINE

11. Battle of the Bulge region: ARDENNES

12. Excerpts: PASSAGES

15. Microchip found in cameras, briefly: SD CARD. Bzzzzz! Microchip? No, it's not. It's a removable storage medium. I just bought one for my Canon Eos camera.

18. Go back on a promise: RENEGE

22. One with nest eggs: HEN. 

25. One-named "A Seat at the Table" singer: SOLANGE

26. HarperCollins romance imprint: AVON. Thank you, crosses. I only know of the cosmetics direct-to-consumer company.

29. Native plants: FLORA. Compare and contrast with FAUNA

30. CNN correspondent Hill: ERICA

34. Coca-Cola sports drink: POWERADE

35. "Two thumbs up!": I LOVED IT!

36. New Orleans NBA team: PELICANS. One of the less-threatening US sports franchise names. Unless you're a fish. Golden State Herrings anyone?

38. Quite a few: MANY

39. Clerk's chore: FILING. My first office job. I was an underwriter's clerk at a London marine insurance company. Thank heavens computers arrived and I punched my (punch card) ticket out of policy-filing hell. I did learn "specie" back in those days though, that's come in handy in recent crosswords.

41. Deliberately overlook: IGNORE

43. Decongestant brand: SUDAFED

45. Blubber: FAT. This filled itself in. I might have been tempted by "CRY" though.

46. Rated (oneself) highly: PRIDED. "I prided myself on well-filed claims forms when I was an underwriter's clerk". Actually no, but I did pride myself on the mirror-finish of the floors I polished in the wee hours at the county hospital prior to my first office job

47. All things considered: IN TOTO

51. Clay being of Jewish folklore: GOLEM

52. Introduction to geometry?: SOFT G. These "soft" answers always stump me until the "ahhhh" moment.

54. Ramble: ROAM

56. Essence: CORE

59. 4 x 4, for short: UTE. "What's a 'ute'?" My Cousin Vinny.

60. Art Ross Trophy org.: NHL "Awarded to the player who leads the league in points at the end of the regular season". Currently held by the splendidly-named Connor McDavid. No doubt about his provenance.

And .. here's the grid. Four World Cup football matches today and I get a day off watching tomorrow, the first rest day in two weeks. It's a tough life!

Steve