Let's Party!
This marks the 12th appearance on the Corner for constructor
Hoang-Kim Vu. For a bio-bit on Vu I refer you to Husker's
March 18th 2023 review. His collaborator Jasper Davidoff is making his LAT debut but
he has had at least one other puzzle published in
Universal Crosswords
on June 25, 2021.
Today they invite us to
three different types of celebrations and they've eavesdropped on the
types of conversations we're likely to hear at each, as revealed by
...
59A. Political platforms, and an apt title for this puzzle?:
PARTY LINES.
... the clue"political platforms" has nothing to do with politics, --
rather it's a metaphor for the theme clues, each of which describe 2
snippets of conversation, which are then filled by a type of PARTY and typical LINES that you might hear at each:
17A. "Pour the tea!" and "Let's pick a new topic of conversation!"?:
SOCIAL CUES. An informal gathering, with the first snippet being slang
for "let's gossip!" and a second snippet perhaps resulting from getting
"too much information" in response to the first!
27A. "Would you pin on my corsage?" and "May I have this dance?":
FORMAL REQUESTS. Two requests made nervously at a prom or a high school
dance. Satisfying the first requires a steady hand!
46A. "They're going to make such good parents!" and "What a cute onesie!"?:
SHOWER THOUGHTS. Comments one is likely to hear at a wedding or baby shower.
This
topic also suggests the celebrations that we Cornerites participate in
immediately following each puzzle review, beginning early in the morning and
often lasting until late at night. We call these comment fests the
AFTER PARTY and we hear strange snippets like
"FIR", "FIW", "DNF" and "GRR ...!" -- kudos to
the constructor, kudos to the reviewer, (grumbles about the editor!), how we
did, what went wrong, what we liked, and what we didn't like.
On a personal note: I've been involved with social media, both as a
participant and as
an implementer, since the early 1980's, and I find the fact that
this celebration of words has been going on
for over 15 years to be truly remarkable! In my experience most social media experiments come and go, lasting at
most a few years. I attribute the longevity of this particular celebration to
the good will of all our word lovers: the solvers, the constructors, (the
editor!), the reviewers, but most especially to our kind and fearless leader
C.C. Burnikel!
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Emails discreetly: BCCS.
5. __ Villa: Premier League team: ASTON. Aston Villa Football Club, commonly referred to as Villa, is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Here's their website.
Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American comic science fiction film directed by Tim Burton. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Jack Nicholson (in a dual role), Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, and lots and lots of little green men.
Arrival OTOH, is a more serious 2016 American science fiction drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve (of Dune fame). The film stars Amy Adams as Louise Banks, a linguist enlisted by the United States Army to discover how to communicate with the very different kinds of extra-terrestrials who have arrived on Earth before tensions lead to war.
14. MLB family name: ALOU. The Rojas family, more commonly known in English-speaking America by their matronym, ALOU, is a prominent Major League Baseball family from the Dominican Republic.
15. __ firma: TERRA. This term has a lot of meanings.
16. Brand with a swoosh: NIKE.
19. Gadget news site: CNET. If you have a problem, they've got a solution.
21. Dresses up for a fan convention, say: COSPLAYS. COSPLAY, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character.
|
| Cosplayers at Yukicon 2014, a fan convention in Finland |
23. Risotto need: STOCK. There are at least 21 ways to make this dish. If you've only got time for one ...
|
|
Baked Shrimp Risotto |
26. Asia's vanishing __ Sea: ARAL. It's still vanishing. I wonder if constructors will still clue it after it's completely gone?
27. [Theme clue]
32. Willie who broke the NHL's color barrier: OREE. Willie O’Ree (William O’Ree), (born October 15, 1935, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada), the first Black hockey player to play in a National Hockey League (NHL) game. He debuted with the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens at the Montreal Forum on January 18, 1958.
|
|
Willie O'Ree |
33. Spiritual mentor: GURU. Guru is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. Or in the IT field, what the sales rep calls all the techies he's trying to place in consulting gigs (they're GURUS in anything and everything!).
34. Parking places: SPOTS.
36. 2010 health law, for short: ACA. Affordable Care Act.
37. Groovetastic: RAD. Last week it was "Cool, man". Now which is it!?
38. "__ a trap!": ITS.
40. Country where Etihad Airways is HQ'd: UAE. Etihad Airways is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates and one of the country's two major airlines (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, near Abu Dhabi International Airport. Etihad commenced operations in November 2003. It is the second-largest airline in the UAE after Emirates. The name Etihad is Arabic for 'Union'.
41. Quick way to Excel?: MACRO. Here's a quick start to creating macros in Excel. Begin Rant: Excel is a very powerful tool. It can be used to create very complex information systems, upon which organizations can become very dependent. Professional developers document the requirements, designs, and detailed specifications for the systems they write, order to make them maintainable by others when they leave. In my experience Excel developers rarely do this (their systems are "one man shows"). When they leave the organization, the system leaves with them. Here's a link suggesting some ways to document spreadsheets. :End Rant.
43. A pop: EACH.
45. Farmer's unit: ACRE.
46. [Theme clue]
49. Citation abbr.: ET AL.
50. Slower than adagio, on scores: LENTO. How do musicians know how fast to play a piece? The tempo LARGO would have fit this clue as well as it is also slower than ADAGIO. Here's the beginning of the slow 2nd movement from Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony in E Minor, No. 9, Opus 95, with variations on the beautiful gospel hymn "Goin' Home" ...
51. Andrew Miller novel about an Italian adventurer: CASANOVA. Casanova the novel is based on the memoir Histoire de Ma Vie (History of My Life) written by the Italian adventurer Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798). As the manuscript of the latter was about 3700 pages long, it's likely that the novel leaves out quite a few of the juicy bits.
 |
| Giacomo Casanova by his brother Francesco Casanova circa 1750–1755 |
54. App for pix: INSTA. INSTAGRAM. Precisely tailored to the attention span of its users.
58. Oodles: A LOT. The opposite of 60D.
59. [Theme reveal]
62. Stuff to stick with?: GLUE.
63. "Enigma Variations" composer: ELGAR. The Enigma Variations put ELGAR on the map, establishing him as the greatest English composer of the 19th Century. It consists of 14 variations on an original theme (although there has been much speculation that the germ for it might be a well-hidden popular theme). Here is Variation IX, the most often played, entitled Nimrod ...
64. Many a fan mag: ZINE.
65. Grub: EATS.
66. Ingredients in garden "bombs": SEEDS. New to me. SEED bombs, also known as earth balls or seed balls, have roots in classical Egyptian agricultural practices. The method may have been widespread in the ancient world as an efficient way to sow large amounts of seed quickly, with minimal tools, especially after floods and other disruptions.
67. Jazz great James: ETTA. Here she is with Something's Got a Hold on Me ...
Down:
1. Hit hard: BASH.
2. Be overly sweet: CLOY.
3. __-Cola: COCA.
4. "That works!": SUITS ME.
5. Ga. airport: ATL. A CSO to ATLGranny! I'm writing this just after I read your 6/22 announcement of your successful cataract surgery. Congratulations!
7. Cab driver?: TRUCKER. The TRUCKER sits in the CAB of the TRACTOR that pulls the TRAILER (aka the SEMI) ...
8. Nabisco cookie: OREO. A constructor's delight, with three delicious vowels and a letter to end a comparative adjective!
9. Long Island county: NASSAU. NASSAU County is an affluent inner suburban county located on Long Island, immediately to the east of New York City. As of the 2020 United States census, Nassau County's population was 1,395,774, making it the sixth-most populous county in New York State.
 |
| Nassau County |
10. Open, as a necklace: UNCLASP.
11. Last bit of decoration: FINAL TOUCH.
12. "__-dokey!": OKEY.
13. Tennis units: SETS.
18. Naan flour: ATTA. You can buy ATTA flour at your local Indian grocery or from Amazon and make your own Naan:
 |
| Naan |
24. Merediz of "In the Heights": OLGA. In the Heights is a 2008 Broadway musical with concept, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara AlegrÃa Hudes. The story is set over the course of three days, involving characters in the largely Dominican American neighborhood of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan, New York City. OLGA Merediz originated the role "Abuela" Claudia (“abuela" means "grandmother" in Spanish), the loving matriarch of the barrio who is like a grandmother to all. Here she sings "Paciencia y Fe" ("Patience and Faith") ...
25. More rough: CRUDER.
27. Latte topper: FOAM.
28. Marine predators: ORCAS. The OREOS of the oceans.
29. Sends a message (to): REACHES OUT.
30. Coronation __: 2023 celebratory dish: QUICHE. A dish fit for a King and Queen ...
 |
| Coronation Quiche |
35. Dates: SEES.
37. Mr. Bean player Atkinson: ROWAN. Here Mr. Bean takes himself out to dinner on his Birthday!
39. Fundraising suffix: THON.
42. Makes like a dreidel: ROTATES. Here's a Hanukkah Children's Song called Dreidel ...
44. On the lam: AT LARGE.
45. Struggle (over): AGONIZE. Hold on folks. Your struggle is almost over!
47. Chooses a running mate?: ELOPES.
48. Gas or elec.: UTIL.
51. Nicolas of "Ghost Rider": CAGE. Faust on a flaming motor cycle ...
52. Mozart's "Rondo __ Turca": ALLA. The third movement Allegretto from the Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K. 331, is played here by Manuela Giardina on a fortepiano equipped with a "Turkish sounding" janissary stop ...
53. Land between hills: VALE.
55. Peevish mood: SNIT.
56. Canvas structure: TENT.
57. On the briny: A SEA.
60. Skosh: TAD. From the Japanese word Sukoshi, meaning "a little" ...
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Notes from C.C.:
Happy
57th birthday to Barry G, a regular on our blog in the earlier days.
Barry, we miss you and your comments. Here's a picture of Barry, his son Joshua and his wife, who's from Tianjin, China. I clearly need an updated picture, Barry!
