Saturday, April 12, 2025, Hoang-Kim Vu

  Saturday Themeless by Hoang-Kim Vu

 Posted in 2021: Hoang-Kim Vu works on a global malaria research project in Washington, D.C. His crosswords have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. When he's not solving or constructing, Kim enjoys collecting passport stamps, spending too much money on pet nats, and trying his best to raise a one-year-old daughter and a pitbull with bad knees with his wife/co-constructor/forever editor Jess.

The left half of the puzzle went very quickly and then I made the right side more difficult by misreading some clues and entering incorrect alternate fills. I really enjoyed the solve and to quote my friend Irish Miss: "The juice was worth the squeeze!"

Across:

1. Having the wrong profile, in a way: CATFISHING - Catfishing means someone is using a fake identity to trick you into believing you’re in a real online friendship or romance with them. 

11. Dark cloud: PALL - Omen looked good for a long time.

15. "Grateful that you'd think of me!": IT'S AN HONOR.

16. __ vera: ALOE - Don't you hate when you see versa and put in VICE? 🤨

17. Class of talking heads and pundits: CHATTERATI - I had never heard of it but I liked it and it became pretty obvi obvious.

18. A principal deity of Hinduism: SIVA.

19. __ Lingus: AER.

20. Like some hygiene: ORAL.

21. Where one might let sleeping dogs lie: PET BED - Sleep over!

23. Ideal location for speakers: DAIS.

25. Word in a Samin Nosrat title: ACID.

27. Hibachi part: GRATE - Not GRILL

28. Lucie who was an executive producer on the film "Being the Ricardos": ARNAZ - Lucie said she was glad that Nicole Kidman was not a doppelgänger for her mother as it would have too emotional for her.

Lucie ARNAZ     Nicole Kidman

30. Racer's boost: ENERGY BAR.

32. Warded (off): STAVED - I have managed to STAVE off maturity for quite a while

34. Spanish pronoun: ESA - "ESA casa es muy grande" I'll bet you can translate this by yourself but if you can't see it below *

35. Lids: CAPS.

36. Use a red pen, say: EDIT.

38. Kin kin: KITH - Origin

Friends                           Family

40. Assessment for many jrs.: PSAT.

43. Only defenseman to lead the NHL in points: ORR - Bobby first did this in 1969. His Bruins also won the The Stanley Cup that year and Bobby celebrated with his famous leap which is immortalized in this statue.

45. One cutting back: DIETER 😀

49. In transit: ON THE ROAD - How 'bout a sing-a-long...

52. Earlier, in the past: AFORE.

Afore the Storm

The sun, a weary, fading gold,

Afore the storm, the story's told.

The wind begins to softly sigh,

Afore the rain, the clouds roll nigh.

The world holds breath, a silent plea,

Afore the storm, wild and free.

53. Sauna amenity: TOWEL.

54. Just so cute: TWEE - I remember first seeing this word on the bottom line of a Sunday LA Puzzle many years ago.

56. Lend, as money: SPOT - "I'll SPOT you some money to get started"

57. Ma Rainey's "Louisiana __ Blues": HOO DOO.

59. Place for multiple outlets: MALL  😀

61. Stage name of South Korean rapper Park Jae-sang: PSY - His Gangnam Style made him fabulously wealthy. For what it's worth, Gangnam is a very stylish, hip part of Seoul. 

62. Staple of southern cuisine: OKRA.

63. Feature of some Gothic facades?: PIERCED LIP - Uh, not Gothic buildings.

66. "__ we forget": LEST.

67. First mates?: ADAM AND EVE 😀

68. Art Deco designer: ERTE - The Fashion illustrator Erté was originally named Roman Petrovich Tyrtov but went by Romain de Tirtoff in France. Erté was his pseudonym, the French phonetic spelling of his initials, R.T.

69. Parts of overdue explanations?: LATE PASSES - I've looked at thousands of these over my career.

Down:

1. Insects whose broods emerge at regular 13- or 17-year intervals: CICADAS.

2. Fundamentally: AT HEART.

3. Catherine the Great, e.g.: TSARINA.

4. Word in a Samin Nosrat title: FAT.

5. Getting a kick out of: INTO.

6. Cartoondom's "Princess of Power": SHE-RA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

7. "Carmen Saeculare" poet: HORACE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

8. Standing together: IN A LINE.

9. "__ for me": NOT.

10. Strong hold: GRIP.

11. Those who can provide the latest dish?: PASTRY CHEFS - Yes, a PASTRY is usually the last (latest) dish served. 😀

12. Chinese e-commerce giant: ALIBABA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

13. Little bump: LOVE TAP.

14. Up-front people: LEADERS.

22. Key ingredient in pastel de nata: EGG ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

24. Card with pre-assembly information: SAVE THE DATE - 😀 If you are going to tell people when they are to requested to assemble, you must tell them the date 

26. Computer platform?: DESK 😀

29. Feature of the London Zoo: ZED - In London zebra starts with the letter Z which they pronounce ZED and not ZEE. Also, in the London Zoo zebra is pronounced zeb ruh not zee buh.

31. Debugging agent?: RAID.

33. Designer Christian: DIOR.

37. Equestrian gait: TROT.

39. Spanish aunt: TIA.

40. Cause of some misalignment: POTHOLE 😀 

41. Hoodwink: SNOOKER - He SNOOKERED a lot of 'em

42. Under the poorest conditions: AT WORST.

44. Hot pot fodder: RAW MEAT.

46. Comes crashing down: TOPPLES.

47. Marked by decay: EROSIVE - Very visible from your gondola in Venice

48. Enters once more: RETYPES.

50. Jeff Lynne's gp.: ELO - A frequent visitor to the cwd bandstand 

51. "Oh my stars!": DEAR ME.

55. "Free Solo" locale, familiarly: EL CAP - EL CAPitan is in Yosemite 

58. Pearlescent shade: OPAL.

OPAL Craft Beads

60. Writer/producer Waithe: LENA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

64. Journalist Tarbell: IDA.

65. Canine care deg.: DDS - A veterinarian with a DVM might work on the canine teeth of an animal but a dentist with a DDS degree works on human canine teeth

*Translation - That house is very big

FWIW - Did anyone else catch that fact that PALL and MALL were in the same puzzle? The cigarettes were named for a famous street in London.

Wednesday, Feb 12th, 2025 ~ Hoang-Kim Vu

 STRANGE DAYS

1995 Movie starring Ralph Fiennes - the Wiki

I was attempting to find another movie/TV show with seconds, days, weeks or months in the title, and some obvious ones came to mind - e.g., 9-1/2 weeks, Gone in Sixty Seconds, but I wanted to keep with the "half of the theme answer" concept.  I liked Strange Days, saw it when it came out 30 years ago.  Mr. Vu is a prolific constructor with several LA Times puzzles alone.  Today we have no circles, 24 4LWs, and very few names, but I still got done in by one - see the red square in the solution at the bottom - all in a standard 15 x 15 grid.  The themers;

20. Olsen twins teen comedy set in the Big Apple: NEW YORK MINUTE -  The reveal is "half" of the themer, and New York is "one" thing, but it is "two" words, IMHO.  Just sayin'.

35. Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker buddy cop film with two sequels: RUSH HOUR - I have sat through a couple of these movies; Jackie Chan is just amazing, did most of his own stunts; Chris Tucker is just annoying.

42. Amy Adams rom-com about a February 29 tradition: LEAP YEAR - I know nothing about this one, so here's the IMDb

58. Highlights of many bowl games, and an apt description of 20-, 35-, and 42-Across?: HALF-TIME SHOWS - Here is the Wiki on all the halftime performances at the Super Bowl; none of these artists made me want to sit through what was most likely a lip-sync show; I DO know that C.C. was probably most pleased 10 years ago when Bruno Mars was the headliner; and let us not forget the "wardrobe malfunction" 20 years ago . . . .half-time is a rhythmic feel with the beat on 2 and 4; if you want to be more confused, check this drummer's YouTube video.  Here's a song with the half-time feel at the end of the chorus;

The Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive - twice in one week~!

And Away We go~!

ACROSS:

1. Random __ of kindness: ACTS

5. Range for a yodeler: ALPS - not fooled by the mountain range vs. pitch range

9. Instrument in Hindi cinema: SITAR - I like the "sitar-style" solo in the song below - there's a less "sitar-ish" solo in the live performance on YouTube; the only reason I bring it up is that the show aired on my 2nd Birthday - 52 years and three days ago

Steely Dan - Do It Again

14. Engage in costumed gaming, slangily: LARP - Live-Action Role Playing - sort of like this....

My short-lived marriage started with a Medieval Wedding

15. The Big Easy, for short: NOLA - New Orleans, LouisianA - Caesar's Super Dome just hosted the LIX Super Bowl

16. Start with a clean slate?: ERASE

17. Omnia vincit __: AMOR - Love Conquers All - Latin

18. Morose: DOUR

19. Solemn recitations: OATHS

23. Wrath: IRE - AND - 10D. Apoplectic: IRATE - FLW: Lucina, I cashed in my "trial" IRA that I never actually funded - its net worth dropped since it was opened, down to a mere $696.  The one I have with the Pipe Organ company has a 5% match, so that's rocking right now.  And I feel your pain - my mother's bank accounts are proving to be a nightmare to close because they, too, changed ownership right when she died, and NYS is now requiring I "prove" how I distributed the money - why~?  What if I said I built a deck with the money~?  Will they deny me this last account~?  Feel my IRE, I am IRATE

24. Apply crudely: DAUB

25. Some phone notifications: ALERTS

28. Common part of a lunch combo: SALAD - I usually get the SOUP

30. Inca Trail to Machu Picchu locale: PERU - I did not see the word "locale" when I was solving the puzzle, so I thought we were looking for the NAME of the trail|

South America - I could go for a tour of the place

  32. Cal. column: THUrsday

33. Grab a chair: SIT

38. Ice hockey gear: SKATES

41. Absolute gems: BEAUTS

44. Syst. in which "A" is a closed fist: ASL - American Sign Language

45. Ga. capital: ATLanta

46. Has a debt: OWES

48. Hard __ to break: HABIT - Also the title of this Chicago song

Smoking, drinking and sexual overtones; ah, the 80's

52. "Just suppose ... ": "WHAT IF..." - What if I went with "Ten Seconds to Love" for the blog title~?

55. Attention to detail: CARE

57. Single: ONE

61. Animal also called the zebra giraffe: OKAPI

63. Resting on: ATOP

64. Word said while pointing: THAT 👈

65. Concur: AGREE

66. Astronauts' org.: NASA

67. Additional: MORE

68. "Fun, Fun, Fun" car: T-BIRD - The Beach Boys are not normally my musical thing, but I listened and it's "Chuck Berry blues" - the link here - and anything guitar I can learn from is a good thing; I like the Ford Thunderbird - I had one just like the picture, ridiculously quick, but had to let it go because it had some bizarre Teves Swedish ABS system that failed, $1400 plus labor to replace 😟

1986 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe; I paid $1200 for it in 1998

69. Kill it on the runway, say: SLAY - I would not know - I have never attended a fashion show - oh wait - are we talking about a plane crash runway~?

Tenerife, Canary Islands, 1977 - most fatal airplane accident - Air Disasters

70. Ore deposit: LODE


DOWN:

1. "Jagged Little Pill" singer Morissette: ALANIS - this being her third album, it was a huge success, including the single "You Outta Know" - NSFW

2. Kodak innovation: CAMERA - I was today years old when I learned that Kodak is not Polaroid

3. Garden tool: TROWEL - for those 'heavy makeup days'

4. Agile: SPRY

5. "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" Oscar nominee Day: ANDRA - my last crossing, as one can see in the solution below - I had an "E" for the last letter, not knowing who Andra Day is - the WIki

6. "It's right above your head!": "LOOK UP~!" - I started "UP THERE", but it didn't fit

7. Expert at handling snakes?: PLUMBER - ah, yes, the plumber's snake

There's the drill type and the full-on power ones, as well

8. Dress in Hindi cinema: SARI

9. South Korean capital: SEOUL - twice this week

11. Curly fry alternative: TATER TOT

12. Some barbecue remains: ASH

13. Low-__: RES - we had "Hi _" on Monday

21. Quirky thing: ODDITY

22. Queasy feeling: NAUSEA - Quirky & Queasy - but no Q in the fill . . . .

And now there is~! Star Trek: TNG

26. Ergo: THUS

27. __ La Table: cookware retailer: SUR - I have never shopped here

29. "Now!" letters: ASAP - here we go; NOW means STAT, not "as soon as possible"

31. Massage: RUB

34. Begin a round of golf: TEE OFF - also the polite way to say one is "irate"

36. Figures (out): HASHES - I tried SUSSES - that's 50% correct

37. Polynesian dance: HULA

38. MacFarlane of "Family Guy": SETH - I happen to like his creations, not just Family Guy and American Dad~!, but his Star Trek homage "The Orville" was a great show, too

39. Desert that covers much of Botswana: KALAHARI 

40. Adage: SAW

42. Murphy's __: LAW - rhyming sequential answers

43. Solo performance: RECITAL

47. Appetizer before a curry, maybe: SAMOSA - filled via perps; a recipe here

49. "Cry me a river!": "BOO-HOO~!"

50. To the middle: INWARD

51. Proctor's charge: TESTEE - 😝 a test taker

53. Dwindle (down): TAPER

54. "OK, that was untrue": "I LIED."

56. Settle a debt: REPAY 

59. Basks in the sun: TANS - does an iguana "tan"~?

60. Webpage medium: HTML - filled via perps; HyperText Markup Language

61. Muesli morsel: OAT

62. Old CIA foe: KGB - The new Russian intelligence agencies are here

Thank you all for the B-day comments~!

Splynter