Monday October 7, 2024 Ilana Levene

  

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here. Congratulations are in order for today's constructor on her LA Times debut! Way to go, Ilana Levene!!

Theme:  

20 Across. Chicago's Italian beef, for one: STEAKSANDWICH.  more info.  

Did anyone else think "vendetta"?

34 Across. Pronouns on a towel set, in some families: HIS AND HERS.  

41 Across. La Jolla sch. with a top-ranked surf team: UC SAN DIEGO.

University of California, San Diego is one of ten campuses in the UC system. The other nine locations are Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. Berkeley was founded in 1868, making it the oldest on the list. Merced is the youngest (2005). 

Next the reveal:

55 Across. Metaphor for constant, unpredictable change, or the pattern made by this puzzle's circles: SHIFTING SANDS.

Looking at the grid, we see that the word SAND  SHIFTs from top-center to right-of-center to left-of-center to more-right-of-center. One can imagine sand flowing downward through the grid.

I like how the letters S, A, N, and D span across two words in two of Ilana's themers.

Across:

1. Feature of most debit cards: CHIP.  I needed a perp or two to narrow this one down.  

5. Missing sections: GAPS.  

9. Flower in a chain: DAISY.  There are four dogs in my neighborhood named DAISY -- a Bichon, a Jack Russel, a Basset Hound, and a mix.  

Left: a flower DAISY chain
Center:  The line of blue straps on the backpack is also called a "DAISY chain".
Right:  Backpack DAISY chains are good for attaching carabiners.

14. Sitarist Shankar: RAVI.  RAVI is one of four crossword regulars in today's puzzle. We also have:

• 16 Across. Heroic knight of medieval Spain: EL CID.  Read about him here.
• 27 Across. New Yorker who's the youngest woman to serve in Congress, familiarly: AOC.
• 31 Across. Human rights lawyer Clooney: AMAL.
  

15. Norwegian capital: OSLO.  

17. Newspaper opinion piece: EDITORIAL.

19. Appearances: MIENS.  MIEN is a somewhat literary term that refers to a person's appearance and behavior toward others. It shares its etymology with the word demeanor.

22. Distress call: SOS.  

23. Staple __: upholsterer's tool: GUN.

24. Timeworn: AGE-OLD.  Def:  having existed for ages; ancient.  

28. Curly coif: AFRO.

30. __ Mahal: TAJ.  Sometimes we need to know that the Taj Mahal is located in Agra, India.

37. "Can't you get anyone else?": MUST I.     and     18 Down. "Take it away!": OK GO.     and     35 Down. "Sign me up!": I'M IN.

39. Early web portal: MSN.  Microsoft Network was launched in 1995.

40. Figure out: SOLVE.  

44. Exam for jrs.: PSAT.  Basically, it is a 'practice' version of the SAT for high school juniors.

45. Feminine pronoun: SHE.

46. Penny: CENT.

47. Driver's one-eighty: U-IE.  informal for U-turn 

49. West Coast nabe known for Chicano culture: EAST LA.  This yale.edu website is about the Chicano culture.

51. Addams cousin: ITT.  

52. Informal promise of payment: IOU.  

59. Sing a lullaby, perhaps: CROON.  

Jack Johnson with Matt Costa sing Lullaby.

Curious George soundtrack (2006)

61. House key that can be memorized: ENTRY CODE.  

These are pretty handy ... and easy to install.

62. Language of runes: NORSE.  

63. Land unit: ACRE.

64. Ballpark level: TIER.

65. "Rudolph the Red-__ Reindeer": NOSED.  A couple of weeks ago waseeley gave us Burl Ives singing Riders in the Sky. Today Burl CROONs his signature song...plus a cute cartoon.  

66. Demonstrate: SHOW.  

"Evince" is a later-in-the-week clue.

67. Some 35mm cameras: SLRS.  I know this from doing crosswords.

Down:

1. Easy-to-grow herb in the mustard family: CRESS.  

It is peppery tasting. Try it in a 4-Down with hummus.

2. "You __ be there": HAD TO.  

3. Wall-climbing vines: IVIES.  

4. Bread often cut into triangles: PITA.  

5. Neil who has been a Supreme Court justice since 2017: GORSUCH.  He was born in Denver, CO in 1967.

6. From Japan, e.g.: ASIAN.  There are 48 countries and three territories in Asia.

7. Think ahead: PLAN.  

8. Gavel banger's word: SOLD.

9. Beings who are part deity, part human: DEMIGODS.  Def. a mythological being with more power than a mortal but less than a god.

10. Jazz great Coltrane: ALICE.  (1937-2007) Alice Coltrane was an American Jazz musician. She was an accomplished pianist and harpist. This is Alice playing harp in Lovely Sky Boat on her first solo album, A Monastic Trio, released in 1968.  

11. Businesses that face liquidation every year?: ICE HOTELS.  If the ICE melts it will liquify. (har, har, har)

12. Transgression: SIN.

13. Gridiron distances: Abbr.: YDS.  "Gridiron" is a nickname for a football field.  

the backstory

21. Caution: WARN.  "Caution" is a verb here.

25. Butterfly stage: LARVA.  

Monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweed plants.
People can help by planting them in their yards.  more info. on what to plant

26. Dance party mix: DJ SET.  I doubt any DJ SET ever included Jack Johnson, Burl Ives, and Alice Coltrane.

27. Utah ski resort: ALTA.  

28. Valuable item: ASSET.  In business, ASSETs can be tangible, e.g., land, equipment, and buildings or intangible, e.g., reputation, goodwill, and brand awareness.

29. Rattlesnake tooth: FANG.

31. Entertain: AMUSE.

32. Very, in Spanish: MUCHA.  MUCHA is used to modify singular, feminine words.  

33. Property tax calculators: ASSESSORS.  A local tax ASSESSOR's primary responsibility is to annually determine the proper taxable value for each property so the owner is assured of paying the correct amount of property tax for the support of local government. In some places this position is call the 'county appraiser'. Their selection process varies by state with some officials elected by the public and other officials appointed by county government.

36. Optimistic feeling: HOPE.

38. In the mood: INCLINED.  

42. Like many Gallaudet students: DEAF.  Gallaudet University is a private, federally chartered university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children.

43. Got too big for: OUTGREW.

48. "The __-bitsy spider ... ": ITSY.  It is basically a nursery rhyme version of the myth of Sisyphus.

50. The ones over there: THOSE.

51. Opening words: INTRO.  I wanted it to be "sesame".

INTRO can be a noun that means "introduction" or it can be a prefix.

52. How smoked oysters may be packed: IN OIL.  

53. More weird: ODDER.

54. Operators: USERS.  Think "computers".

56. Bigelow products: TEAS.

57. Fraction of a foot: INCH.

58. Plays a role: ACTS.  This one is a theater clue. I miss Ol' Man Keith and his diagonals.

59. "This Morning With Kasie Hunt" channel: CNN.  

She was born Kasie Sue Hunt in Dearborn, MI in 1985.

60. Joey of kid-lit: ROO.  A joey is a baby kangaroo. This clue makes use of the capitalize-the-first-letter convention to misdirect us towards a possible human character from children's literature.  

Winnie, Roo, and Tigger, too!

Alas, all the SAND has run out of the hourglass. Have a great week, everyone!