google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday

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Showing posts with label Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friday. Show all posts

Nov 17, 2017

Friday, November 17, 2017, Alex Eaton-Salners

TITLE:  THE GREAT ESCAPE




Husker Gary in the cockpit for one more Friday. Alex's puzzle today has the word GREAT escaping the puzzle on all sides! Alex has taken ten phrases that start with the word GREAT and has put them on the perimeter of the gird sans that leading word. I have decided to try to show both ideas with the grid below where I have chosen a graphic that illustrates the entire phrase and placed it so that it abuts (a fav word here) the word that would follow GREAT.


Here are Alex's GREAT themers starting in the NW and going clockwise.

1. "Holy cow!" : SCOTT - SCOTT had to be correct but the implied GREAT didn't hit me until the next fill. I sometimes confuse Doc Brown's phrase with what Clark Kent's boss used to say on TV.


6. "Atta girl!" : JOB and 13. Considerable achievement : SUCCESS - Both remind me of our lovely blogmistress C.C.!

9. Like thinkers : MINDS - The GREAT ones here often do think alike and then there's yours truly

49. Scotland's island : BRITAIN - Scotland's division with Britain is the Cheviot Hills seen here and not Hadrian's Wall as I thought


74. Wheeler Peak's national park : BASIN - Defined as being a contiguous watershed between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas and Cascades with no outlet to the sea as you can see in the yellow part of the map above

73. Bonobo, for one : APE - A word I appreciate greatly as a noun and not as a verb

72. Dogs in the AKC's Working Group : DANES - GREAT is a pretty good adjective here

42. Oldest of the Seven Wonders : PYRAMID - Using cosmic rays, scientists have recently discovered evidence of a hidden chamber in the GREAT PYRAMID where Khufu is 53. Lay to rest : ENTOMBed


1. Blue Ridge range : SMOKIES - Our only trip through the beautiful GREAT SMOKIES range was in a driving rain storm.

and the reveal


39. Landmark that, in a way, is a border feature of this puzzle and a hint to what's missing from 10 answers : GREAT WALL - Finally we see our word escapee that is forming an implied WALL around the grid! 



The FLOTUS touring the GREAT WALL last week
...and now for Alex's other, uh, GREAT clues!

Across

14. Group that bestows a "Select" distinction on five board games annually : MENSA - The 2017 winners

15. Barnyard mother : EWE - Not so much on HEN, COW or SOW

16. Paris parting : ADIEU

17. Arkansas' __ National Forest : OZARK - Kind of a gimme doncha' ya think?


18. X, maybe : TEN 

19. Something to talk about : TOPIC

20. Kit__ bar : KAT

21. Ones responsible for paper cuts, briefly? : ED.S -  Clever!

23. Comedian Rogan : JOE - I've never seen him work

25. 39-Acr. locale : PRC - Of course that wall in the reveal is located in the Peoples Republic of China!

26. Like Vivaldi's "Spring" : IN E - In the puzzle I blogged last Friday, I showed Ray Charles's great Mean Woman Blues also written IN the key of E

27. More diverse : MOTLIER - This is one Shakespearean word that has stuck with me



29. Suffix with brom- : IDE

30. "Bambi" doe : ENA - ENA and her daughter Faline are on the right. ENA is Bambi's aunt and becomes his mother-in-law



31. Jane of fiction : EYRE

32. __ Island: NYC prison site : RIKERS - A destination for many a bad guy on Law And Order

34. Blood fluids : SERA - Plural for serum. Getting diptheria SERA/antitoxin to Nome in 1925 was done by dogsled in a heroic effort 



36. Director Riefenstahl : LENI - Adolph's favorite filmmaker

38. Buenos __ : AIRES

42. Gumby's pony : POKEY

45. Othello, for one : MOOR - Olivier and Dame Maggie Smith as Othello and Desdemona 



46. Workers' rights org. : NLRB - National Labor Relations Board - a 1935 board established by FDR

50. "... through __ window breaks?" : YONDER - Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes as Romeo and Juliet




52. Together, in Toulon : UNIE - Notre famille a besoin d'ĂȘtre unie (Our family needs to be united)

54. Back to front? : IER - You can put IER on the back of front to get FRONTIER

55. Line score initials : RHE - Baseball fans will recognize this 1956 line score as perhaps the most famous in baseball history



56. Taken (with) : SMITTEN 

58. Egg: Pref. : OVI



59. In the manner of : A LA - Next Friday's blog should be A LA Lemon

60. P.O. box item : ENV

61. Short order? : BLT -BLT and mayo started out as diner lingo but are now mainstream

62. Badminton need : NET



63. Familia member : MADRE

65. Tuna variety : AHI

67. Tippett's "King Priam," for one : OPERA and 69. "King Priam" is based on it : ILIAD - Nice juxtaposition 

70. "Kidding!" : NOT

71. Argentine soccer superstar : MESSI - Lionel MESSI plays for FC Spain for $42,000,000/ year





Down

2. "The Card Players" artist : CEZANNE - What does it say about a Qatari family who can spend $250,000,000 for this painting? 



3. Winning steadily : ON A TEAR

4. Train syst. across Russia : TSR - Trans Siberian Railway - Dr. Zhivago inspired great interest in this railway but the train scenes were actually shot in Finland

5. "I wanna go too!" : TAKE ME


6. LAX-to-JFK flight shortener : JET STREAM - LA to NY takes about 40 min. less



7. Be shy : OWE

8. Dog star : BENJI

9. Stand-up's need : MATERIAL

10. Words often heard after "shall live?" : I DO - "...as long as we both shall live" (or decide  we can't do this anymore)

11. Colder : NIPPIER


12. Tragic heroine of Irish legend : DEIRDRE - New to me but I like the painting

22. Watson's creator : DOYLE - No, I am not going to say "Elementary..."

24. Anthem preposition : OER - It is sung five notes before the real test of hitting the note for "FREE" without going into falsetto 

28. Offered free use of, as a library book : LENT OUT - They LENT OUT every Hardy Boy Mystery to me in my ute!

33. Pottery oven : KILN

35. Treated like wine : AGED

37. "You're safe with me" : I WON'T BITE - Unless...

40. Some field starters : RYE SEEDS - RYE is used as a winter cover crop here

41. Red-headed Disney princess : ARIEL 



43. "TrĂšs chic!" : OOH LA LA 

44. Add, as raisins to bread dough : KNEAD IN - As this cute little kitty is learning to do



47. Elsa or Nala : LIONESS

48. Game with two-toned discs : REVERSI - When I played this game, it was known as 45 Across

51. Watergate pres. : RMN - It's usually the coverup that gets 'em

57. Donald Jr.'s mom : IVANA

64. Singer Carly __ Jepsen : RAE 

66. Hip follower : HOP - The rhythms are infectious but some of the "lyrics" are so offensive 

68. Green sphere : PEA




As Tony the Tiger would say, we are ready for your GRRRRREAT comments:

Nov 10, 2017

Friday, November 10, 2017, Jeffrey Wechsler

TITLE: MAKEUP GAME

Greetings from the Great Plains on my lovely wife's birthday! I think it's her twin sister's as well. 😜

This is not a meatless Friday but it is "Lemonless" again with me, Husker Gary, serving as his, uh, boy Friday again. 


Having a Jeff Wex on Friday is a true delight and his fun puzzle uses terminology one might hear in this star-studded Beauty Shop 
(How many can you name? - Answer below the grid) scene in Steel Magnolias




In each "themer" Jeff has employed a cosmetology term that also serves as a word in a common two or three-word phrase. I hope I am granted some leeway considering my lack of expertise in this area. Here are Jeff's theme entries:


17. Cosmetologist's choices at happy hour? : BLUSH WINES 



Applying BLUSH on a wan cheek and several Rose' or BLUSH WINEs

29. Cosmetologist's preferred vacation venue? : OCEAN LINER


7 Seas Explorer OCEAN LINER and LINER that accents some lovely eyes

34. Cosmetologist's expression for hastily exiting? : TAKE A POWDER


Please leave while he and I talk or what a difference POWDER makes

41. Cosmetologist's favorite capital? : BATON ROUGE


The city named for a red stick or my childhood memory of ROUGE on a character
57. Cosmetologist's wall covering? : GLOSS PAINT


Alternating Matte and GLOSS wall covering and GLOSSY and Matte Lipstick

Now let's see the beauty of the remainder of Jeff's Friday clues:



Across


1. Bills, say : CASH - Like many other areas of our lives, even Monopoly® is going CASHLESS

5. Alfredo may be associated with it : PASTA

10. Ways of viewing the world : ISMS

14. First name in folk : ARLO

15. Yale of Yale fame : ELIHU - A former slave trader who endowed a New Haven school with enough money to get the school name changed to his. Can protests be far behind?

16. "Fillet of a fenny snake / In the cauldron __ and bake": "Macbeth" : BOIL - Okay, Steve, what wine would you suggest with this concoction? Like C.C., I missed him yesterday and hope he is okay.


19. Local govt. bond : MUNI - They've been used for many projects



20. Inspired : LED TO - The learned group who participate here certainly know to what event this was a precursor 




21. RR stop : STA

23. Janitor's tool, briefly : VAC - We had the kids put their chairs up on the table to accommodate the custodians VAC job

24. Marx collaborator : ENGELS - Together they authored a little page-turner called The Communist Manifesto


26. Collapse, with "over" : KEEL - Don't lock your knees too long especially in front of the boss.

27. Previous to, poetically : ERE

28. Nursery supply : SEED - These catalogs and spring training are harbingers of spring

32. "Art is __ that makes us realize truth": Picasso : A LIE

33. Knots and yards : UNITS

38. "Just like me" : AS AM I

40. Shrek, e.g. : OGRE

44. Take shots of : FILM - With FILM, we had to wait a week to see how lousy our shots were

48. Mark on the Oregon Trail : RUT - Some are here in Nebraska. 

49. Like crab apples : TART - C.C. and Jayce have put me onto a regimen of TART cherry juice for some issues I am having. "I'll get by with a little from my friends" 

50. Leonine savior's domain : NARNIA - The savior of NARNIA is Aslan who takes the form of a lion

52. Enzyme suffix : ASE - AmylASE, cellulASE, lactASE, ...

53. Romantic ideal, with "the" : ONE 

54. Dieter's breakfast : MELON

55. "__ Trigger": Bugs Bunny cartoon : HARE - Yeah, I think I could have figured out the star of this cartoon!



61. Like much cheese : AGED

62. Final ordeal, perhaps : ESSAY - A true pen-to-paper ordeal for me!

63. Low joint : KNEE

64. Rx contents : MEDS

65. Does another tour : REUPS

66. Attention-getter : YELL - A YELL leader at Andover who was a future POTUS




Down


1. Brooklyn Bridge array : CABLES - The contrast of the comparatively light CABLES with the massive towers remains a very striking visual

2. Garfield's girlfriend : ARLENE - You're either a comic aficionado or you're not

3. Oozy stuff : SLUDGE - Not good when this is your motor oil

4. Threw a party : HOSTED

5. Place to pray : PEW

6. Memorable fighter : ALI

7. Pride, for example : SIN



8. Annabel Lee's kingdom was by it : THE SEA - This woman had the first verse of Poe's poem tattooed on her back to honor her grandmother Annabel Lee



9. Writer who created the Dashwood sisters : AUSTEN - From Sense and Sensibility

10. Watson's home : IBM

11. Snow globe, perhaps : SOUVENIR

12. Muezzin's tower : MINARET where neither 18. Dec. 25 or Jan. 1 : HOL are observed

13. Deli equipment : SLICERS

22. Intimate, with "to" : ALLUDE - To whom did Carly Simon ALLUDE in You're So Vain: Warren Beatty, James Taylor or Mick Jagger?

25. Food fish : SOLE

26. "Private property" sign warning : KEEP OUT with maybe 43. Threatening phrase : OR ELSE

30. Mike Pompeo's org. : CIA - Its current director

31. Having four sharps : IN E - A great Ray Charles tune IN E



32. A lot like : AKIN TO

34. Like neglected clothing : TATTERED - The House That Jack Built featured this line: "This is the man all TATTERED and torn, who kissed the maiden all forlorn" 

35. Latin lover's word : AMO

36. Steven of "The Walking Dead" : OGG - If Jeff says so

37. Small songbird : WREN

38. Biblical patriarch : ABRAHAM

39. Breakfast side : SAUSAGE - A distant second to bacon here!

42. National park figure : RANGER 

44. Weird : FREAKY

45. How theme park visitors often stand : IN LINE (the queue) - Here are some IN LINE at Space Mountain at the 60-minute wait point




46. Long time maker of O gauge track : LIONEL - I'm sure my brother and I got a better Christmas present than this but none come to mind.

47. Place for trophies : MANTEL


51. Rock concert sight : AMP

56. Newspaper VIPs : EDS

58. Buckeyes' sch. : OSU - They received a huge slice of humble pie playing Iowa last weekend

59. Sucker : SAP - Here's a combination of these words


A Yellow-bellied SAP SUCKER (in the woodpecker genus)
60. Part of CBS: Abbr. : SYS


DA GRID:




STEEL MAGNOLIAS ANSWER




Feel free to MAKEUP any comments that you feel are necessary

Note from C.C.:

Happy birthday to Husker Gary's wife Joann & her twin sister! I stole this picture from Gary's Facebook when they attended a going away party for their niece Emma. I've met Joann and have had a few email exchanges with her over the years. She's always so thoughtful and warm. I'll never forget her strength during Gary's hospital stay.