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

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Showing posts with label Jessica Zetzman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jessica Zetzman. Show all posts

Oct 31, 2023

Tuesday, October 31, 2023 Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

19-Across. Restaurant that operates within another restaurant: GHOST KITCHEN.  Hand up if you knew of Ghost Kitchens.


27-Across. With 32-Across, embarrassing secret: SKELETON.  //  And 32. See 27-Across: IN THE CLOSET.  Together, this gives us a SKELETON IN THE CLOSET.


42-Across. Emmy-nominated TV series based on a Hilary Mantel novel: WOLF HALL.  That's Dame Hilary Mantel (July 6, 1952 ~ Sept. 22, 2022) to you.  She was best known for her historical fiction.  She wrote a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell's rise to power in the court of Henry VIII, King of England.  Wolf Hall was the first book in the series, followed by Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light.   [Name # 1.]

And the unifier:

48-Across. Halloween attraction, or what 19-, 27-/32-, and 42-Across all might be a part of?: HAUNTED HOUSE.

And, what you might hear in a Haunted House:

36-Down. Evil laugh: MWA HA HA!

Across:
1. Hip-hop duo __ & Rakim: ERIC B.  I am not familiar with this duo of Eric B. (né Eric Barrier; b. Nov. 8, 1963) and Rakim (né William Michael Griffin, Jr.; b. Jan. 28, 1968).  The group was big in the late 1980s and early 1990s.   [Names # 2 and 3.]

6. Landlocked West African nation: MALI.  The United States Department of State currently lists Mali on its Do Not Travel list due to crime, kidnapping and terrorism.


10. Product prefix that evokes winter: SNO.


13. Gambling hub near Hong Kong: MACAU.  Everything you wanted to know about Macau but didn't know to ask.


14. Opinion piece: OP-ED.  Opposite the Editorial Page.

15. Cloverleaf feature: LOOP.


16. Eggs (on): SPURS.

17. Gem from Australia or Ethiopia: OPAL.  Hi, Kazie!  Is it bad luck to wear an Opal if it's not your birth stone?

18. Eclectic online digest: UTNE.  Its full name is the Utne Reader.  It was first published in 1984 and is named after its founder, Eric Utne.

22. Large cupboard: ARMOIRE.


25. Black belt discipline: KARATE.


26. Tosses: HEAVES.

29. Circle dances: HORAs.


30. "Finish the job!": DO IT.

31. Grass in a roll: SOD.

36. GI grub: MRE.  We had the Meals Ready to Eat last Tuesday.

38. Flair: ELAN.

39. Campfire residue: ASHES.


45. Texas border city: EL PASO.  The city and county of El Paso, Texas is in the Mountain Time Zone, where as most of the rest of Texas is in the Central Time Zone.



46. Glass raiser's opening: A TOAST.


47. Brother of Ophelia: LAERTES.  A reference to Willie the Shakes' play Hamlet.  I'll let our Shakespeare scholar expound on these characters.  [Names # 4 and 5.]

51. Fighting: AT IT.

52. Christian of fashion: DIOR.  Christian Ernest Dior (Jan. 21, 1905 ~ Oct. 24, 1957) was a French fashion designer.  He is best known for A-Line collection which made its debut in 1955.  [Name # 6.]


53. TV channel with election night coverage: MSNBC.  It's short for Microsoft and the National Broadcasting Corporation.

57. "For __ jolly ... ": HE'S A.

58. Not new: USED.

59. Like more than 4 billion people: ASIAN.

60. Fruit juice suffix: -ADE.  We miss you LemonADE!

61. Degs. for many profs: Ph.Ds.  Today's Latin lesson.  The abbreviation for Doctor of Philosophy, or in the original Latin: Philosophiae Doctor.

62. "Oppenheimer" director Christopher: NOLAN.  J. Robert Oppenheimer (né Julius Robert Oppenheimer; Apr. 22, 1904 ~ Feb. 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist and director of the Manhattan Project's Los Angeles lab.  He is sometime called the Father of the Atomic bomb.  Christopher Nolan (né Christopher Edward Nolan; b. July 30, 1970) is a British-born filmmaker who directed this past summer's blockbuster film about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb.   [Names # 7 and 8.]


Down:
1. Ambulance gp.: EMs.  Emergency Medicine.  //  And 3-Down: Hosp. recovery area: ICU.  Intensive Care Unit.  //  And 20-Down. Surgery ctrs.: ORs.  Operating Rooms.

2. Knock sharply: RAP.

4. Moving day rental: CARGO VAN.


5. Most overgrown, say: BUSHIEST.


6. __ Tracks ice cream: MOOSE.  Vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups and chocolate fudge.  Apparently the name was inspired by a mini golf course.


7. Spot on a sked: APPT.  An appointment is a spot on a schedule.

8. Plumbing problem: LEAK.


9. "That sounds tempting": I'D LIKE TO.

10. Phrase of finality: SO THAT'S THAT.

11. Far from: NONE TOO.  Meh!

12. Allowing for modification, as a mortgage: OPEN END.

15. Loot: LUCRE.

21. "She's So High" singer Bachman: TAL.  Tal Bachman (né Talmage Charles Robert Backman; b. Aug. 13, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is best known for She's So High.  [Name # 9.]


22. Sound at a spa: AHH!

23. __ Speedwagon: REO.  The band, which was formed in the late 1960s, was named after the REO Speed Wagon truck that first produced in 1915 by Ransom Eli Olds (June 3, 1864 ~ 1950) of Oldsmobile fame.  [Name # 9]


24. Duchess of Parma who was Napoleon's second wife: MARIE LOUISE.  Archduchess Marie Louise (Dec. 12, 1791 ~ Dec. 17, 1847) was the Duchess of Parma in her own right.  She reigned as the Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla from April 1814 until her death 33 years later.  In 1810, she married Napoleon (Aug. 15mm 1769 ~ May 5, 1821).  He was her first husband.  After his death, she married twice more.  [Names # 10 and 11.]

27. L.A.'s region: SO-CAL.  Southern California.

28. Pottery oven: KILN.

30. Big name in crossword puzzle magazines: DELL.  [Name adjacent.]


33. Warmed, as leftovers: HEATED UP.

34. Arthur Miller's "Death of a __": SALESMAN.  Arthur Asher Miller (Oct. 17, 1915 ~ Feb. 10, 2005) wrote many, many plays, but is probably best known for his short marriage to Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 ~ Aug. 4, 1962).  She was the second of his three wives.  [Name # 12.]


35. Strong coffee in a tiny cup: ESPRESSO.  Yummers!


37. Went round and round: ROTATED.

40. WNW's opposite: ESE.


41. Emergency letters: SOS.  This is becoming a crossword staple.


43. Fruit soda brand: FANTA.  [Name Adjacent.]


44. Pres. after FDR: HST.  Harry S Truman (May 8, 1884 ~ Dec. 26, 1972) was Vice-President until the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Jan. 30, 1882 ~ Apr. 12, 1945).  Roosevelt president to be elected for a 4th term.  Truman was his 3rd Vice-President.  His first Vice-President was John Nance (Nov. 22, 1868 ~ Nov. 7, 1967).  Nance served from 1933 until 1941, Roosevelt's first two terms.  Henry A Wallace (Oct. 7, 1888 ~ Mpv. 18, 1965) was Roosevelt second Vice-President.  He served from 1941 until 1945.  [Names # 13 and 14.]

45. __ de toilette: EAU.  Today's French lesson.  Everything you wanted to know about Water of the Toilette but didn't know to ask.


47. Some Parliament members: LORDS.

49. Dinner plate: DISH.


50. Did a garden chore: HOED.

54. Zero, in soccer: NIL.

55. Sheep call: BAA.

56. TV channel with election night coverage: CNN.  Cable News Network.


Here's the Grid:


חתולה




Sep 1, 2022

Thursday September 1, 2022 Hoang-Kim Vu, Jessica Zetzman

 

 

Silent Movie - The Card Game


Rabbit Rabbit.  Care to try your luck at cards?

Husband and wife team Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman are veteran constructors for the NYT and Vu has published here as recently as last Thursday.  But today is their first pairing on the Corner. and they have some new tricks up their sleeves.  We'd better start by calling 'em:

62A. With 66-Across, images played in silent films, and what one might use to play the games in the first parts of the answers to the starred clues?: TITLE.
66A. See 62-Across: CARDS.

Spreading their themers on the table, we quickly see the names of 4 films or videos that begin with the TITLE of a CARD game:

23A. *Channing Tatum film series featuring strippers: MAGIC MIKE. Bling wise this clue was not a good opening.   No trailer for this one, as I'm sure Merl Reagle would agree that a flick on male strippers wouldn't pass the Margaret Farrar "Sunday Morning Breakfast Test". 

OTOH, if you want to try your hand at Magic The Game, here's everything you need to know.

39A. *Martial arts series based on the writings of Bruce Lee: WARRIOR. Bruce Lee (Chinese: 李小龍; born Lee Jun-fan, 李振藩; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist, martial arts instructor, actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and philosopher. Here's the trailer for the 2019 TV series Warrior:


Here are the rules for WAR the card game.

28D. *Netflix series starring Adjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury: BRIDGERTONBridgerton is an American historical-romance television series based on Julia Quinn's collection of novels.


We have a friend who's been trying to get us to learn the game of BRIDGE for years.  He sometimes lurks on the Corner.  Perhaps he'll stop buy and post some corrections to this "complete tutorial": "Learn How to Play Bridge" (in 16 minutes?):


31D. *Emmy-nominated miniseries about a woman leaving her Hasidic community: UNORTHODOXUnorthodox is a German-American drama television miniseries that debuted on Netflix on March 26, 2020. The first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish, it is inspired by Deborah Feldman's 2012 autobiography, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots.  Here's the trailer:


Here are the rules for UNO the card game.

Here's the grid:

The following are the rest of our constructors' tricks:

Across:

1. Crushes it on the runway: SLAYS.  A bit of fashion hyperbole used only in the present tense.  You never hear "The model really SLEW them on the runway yesterday".  BTW this clue hath oft been used in crossword puzzles.

6. Disapproving sound: TSK.  Perhaps the politest way of expressing the increasingly widespread reaction to just about everything.

9. Wolf (down): SCARF.  "eat hastily," 1960, U.S. teen slang, originally a noun meaning "food, meal" (1932), perhaps imitative, or from nautical slang scoff "eat hastily or voraciously, devour" which is attested from 1846 (compare U.S. tramps slang scoffing "food, something to eat," 1907). This is said to be a variant of scaff (by 1797) in the same sense, and scaff (n.) "food, provisions" is attested from 1768, but the group is of obscure origin. Perhaps the word comes ultimately from some survival of Old English sceorfan "to gnaw, bite".  -  etymonline.com

14. __ butter: COCOA.

15. Med. condition with repetitive behavior: OCDObsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Varying degrees of this disorder are common among cruciverbalists.

16. "Culture Warlords" author Lavin: TALIA.  Subtitled My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy.  She may have spent just a little too much time there.

17. Get straight: ALIGN.

18. Average: PAR.  A CSO to Husker, Boomer, and TTP.  Not that any of them are average mind you.

19. Discontinued Apple devices: IPODS.

20. Angry with: MAD AT.  Oh, for the good old days when MAD meant this.

21. 27-Down garment: BRA.  I'm sure they're worn on the island that's the namesake for 27D.

22. Toothpaste choice: CREST.

26. "Waterloo" singers: ABBA.  Oh goodie, music ...!


29. "Don't get any __!": IDEAS.  Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?

30. Bubbles: SUDS.  Common slang for brewed drinks such as ...
 

15 facts about Guinness


34. Milk container: CARTON.  And you can use the milk to make your Guinness even sudsier:
 
Guinness Punch
recipe
36. __ route: SCENIC.

38. Yale student: ELIWhy they're called ELIS.

43. Artist Yoko: ONO.  Well before her famous partnership with John Lennon, Yoko Ono was the "High Priestess of the Happening" and a pioneer in performance art. Drawing from an array of sources from Zen Buddhism to Dada, her pieces were some of the movement's earliest and most daring. With unprecedented radicalism, she rejected the idea that an artwork must be a material object.
Yoko Ono

44. Finished: DID IN.  The past tense of do in.

46. Set out of bounds: BAN.

47. Hawkeye projectile: ARROW.  The clue and the fill connote the sagas of the French and Indian War, immortalized in James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans, popularized in the 1992 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeline Stowe.  A minor nit is that while Nathaniel "Hawkeye" Poe was probably proficient with a bow and arrow, his weapon of choice was a "Killdeer" rifle not a bow and arrow.  Here's the trailer:


49. Baseball VIPs: GMS.  Even more important than the General Managers are the Owners.  Apparently a dispute has broken out in the Orioles organization among two sons of long-time owner Peter Angelos over the future of the team, raising the possibility of selling or moving it.  This is scary.

50. [shrug emoji]: IDK I Don't Know.  This immediately reminded me of a story by a priest I used to know.  He was describing questions his elementary school students used to try to trick him, e.g. "Father, can God make a rock so big that he can't pick it up?".  The priest paused for few seconds, and then shrugged "I don't know🤷".  But as this was before MS Windows, it looked more like this "¯\_(ツ)_/¯".

51. Nov. honoree: VET.  Veterans Day is always on November 11 so the day of the week changes each year.  Here is a calendar and a history of this day that we should always remember.



52. Sub (for): STEP IN.  Another CSO to Husker.

55. Collect: GATHER.

58. Lawn care tool: AERATOR.  Every thing you'd ever want to know about lawn AERATORS.

60. Upshot: OUTCOME.

61. Body art: TATS.  Plural to clecho 42D.

64. God of war: ODIN.  Hand up if you expected MARS or ARESODIN is the Norse god of war, aka WOTAN in German. Here's Wotan singing a touching farewell ("Abschied") to his disobedient  daughter Brunhilde, one of the Valkyries in Wagner's Die Walküre.  She has fallen from grace and is now banished from Valhalla to spend the remainder of her days on Earth as a mortal.  Teri and I saw this very same performance years ago sung by bass James Morris, a Baltimore native and protégé of  the great Rosa Ponselle (lyrics).   The soprano was Hildegard BehrensA CSO to opera lovers Jayce and Ol' Man Keith.


65. God of love: EROS. The Norse goddess of Love was FREYJA, who also makes brief appearances in Wagner's The Ring of the Niebelung:
Freyja
John Doyle Penrose
(May 9, 1862 – January 2, 1932)
67. Take down: NOTE.
 
68. "Auld Lang __": SYNE.  We'll be singing this before you know it.  This version has ALL of the lyrics:


69. Helen who was the first actress to achieve the EGOT: HAYESHelen Hayes MacArthur (née Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award (an EGOT). She was also the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting; as of December 2020, the only other person to have accomplished both is Rita Moreno.
Helen Hayes

70. Austin festival, briefly: SXSWSouth X SouthWest Festival.  Hand up from anyone who's been to it?
 
Down:

1. Con: SCAM.

2. Kinks woman with "a dark brown voice": LOLAThe Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s.  LOLA wasn't the only song they wrote.  Here's their SUNNY AFTERNOON:



3. Corrosive chemical: ACID

4. Studio rollout?: YOGA MAT.  A CSO to Lucina.

5. Nick name?: SANTAHow Saint Nicholas became Santa Claus.
 


6. Auction winner, probably: TOP BID.  In addition to Antiques Roadshow  the BBC had a long running comedy series (1986 - 1984) called Lovejoy about an antiques dealer extraordinaire.  Lovejoy was a "divinator" with a second sense that immediately told him not to BID on an antique that was fake.   Played by actor Ian McShane, Lovejoy did however occasionally fake antiques himself, as he was an all-around  rogue.  In Series 1 Episode 1 he first meets his friend Lady Jane Felsam, played by Phyllis Logan.  You may remember Phyllis for her later role as Mrs Hughes in Downton Abbey:



7. In short supply: SCARCE.

8. TV series from Seoul, e.g.: K DRAMA.  As  Korean dramas (Korean: 한국 드라마; RR: Hanguk deurama), more popularly known as K-dramas, are television series in the Korean language, made in South Korea. They are popular worldwide, especially in Asia, partially due to the spread of Korean popular culture (the "Korean Wave"), and their widespread availability via streaming services which often offer subtitles in multiple languages

9. Selfie __: STICK.  In ancient Greek times they were called Narcissus Sticks.

10. Insalata of tomato, mozzarella, and basil: CAPRESE.  See the clue for the recipe.

11. Sunburn treatment: ALOE.  Very popular with constructors because of its VTCR of 75%.  Suntan lotion is much better though.  Not only does it prevent sunburn, but skin cancer as well.

12. Purges (of): RIDS.

13. Lickety-split: FAST.

24. Rodriguez of "Jane the Virgin": GINAGina Alexis Rodriguez-LoCicero (née Rodriguez; born July 30, 1984) is an American actress. She is known for her leading role as Jane Villanueva in  satirical romantic dramedy series Jane the Virgin (2014–2019), for which she received a Golden Globe Award in 2015.
Gina Rodriguez
25. Playground comeback: IS SO IS NOT.

26. Served past: ACED.

27. Lingerie brand: BALI.  See 21A for one of their products.  And here's their eponymous island in the Indonesian archipelago:
Bali

32. T. rex, e.g.: DINO.  I think this may be a mistake.  I'm pretty sure DINO was a Snorkasaurus.
 
Dino

33. Freight boat: SCOWA scow is a small type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbors.  A CSO to Jinx.
 
Sailing Scow
New Zealand, circa 1900

35. Takes responsibility for: OWNS IT.

37. Ascot kin: CRAVAT.  What's the difference between an ASCOT and a CRAVAT?   OTOH this reference doesn't think it's that simple.

40. Result of a bases-loaded walk, for short: RBIRun Batted In, even though it wasn't batted in.

41. "Tubular!": RAD.  Surf culture slang for cool or awesome, derived from catching a wave and getting in the "tube".

42. Body art: INK.  Singular of clecho 61A.

45. Stalemate: IMPASSE.

48. Updates the backstory to accommodate new material, for short: RETCONSRetroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work which recontextualizes or breaks continuity with the former. [Hey,  I'm not making this up!]


52. Provides enough: SATES.  IMHO it may be impossible to SATE cruciverbalists.

53. Emotional: TEARY.

54. V-shaped cut: NOTCH.  A versatile word, e.g. a mountain pass, a degree of change,  a position, etc..

55. Speculate: GUESS.  Hand up if you had to speculate about any of today's fill?

56. Radiates: EMITS

57. Extend, in a way: RENEW.

59. Gold-certifying org.:  RIAA.  The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization formed in 1952 that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legally sold recorded music in the United States". RIAA is headquartered in Washington, D.C.  I was 5 years old when they got their start, and they promptly pulled the plug on my business pushing bootlegged 78's.
60. Shoppe descriptor: OLDE.

63. Tackle: TRY.  I'm too tuckered out to tackle this one.

waseeley

And thanks as always to Teri for her proofreading and constructive suggestions.

Hoang-Kim Vu & Jessica Zetzman, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below.  We'd love to hear from you.

Cheers,
Bill

Apr 26, 2020

Sunday April 26, 2020 Hoang-Kim Vu & Jessica Zetzman

Theme: "Undercover Work" - Seven different type of service are hidden in each theme answer.
  
22A. *Rejects, in a way: SWIPES LEFT. Self service.

113A. *Journeys that aren't fun: GUILT TRIPS. Lip service.
  
7D. *"Landslide" group: FLEETWOOD MAC. Food service.

13D. *Revere: PUT ON A PEDESTAL. Postal service.

15D. *Nissan Leaf, e.g.: ELECTRIC VEHICLE. Civic service.

42D. *Inverts: TURNS UP SIDE DOWN. Turndown service.

50D. *Farmers' market find: HEIRLOOM TOMATO. Room service.

61D. *Dish commonly made with cod: FISH AND CHIPS. Fan service is new to me.

Reveal:

33. President's protector ... and a hint to the circled letters: SECRET SERVICE.

Great to see Hoang-Kim Vu back. He gave us this puzzle last year.  Congrats, Jessica, on your LA Times debut.

For  this type of "Secret" or "Hidden" theme, we normally we get the key words fully embedded in each theme entry. This is a variation.

Heavy themage. I like how two of the Across themers intersect two Downs. This grid can be flipped and then we'd have a normal Sunday grid with theme entries mostly in Across.

Across:

1. Features of many beds: SLATS.

6. Curly coif: AFRO.

10. Evite request: RSVP.

14. Like half a towel set: HERS.

18. Cliff dwelling: AERIE. It's also the name of American Eagle's underwear line.


19. Place at the pier: SLIP.

20. World's smallest island nation: NAURU.

21. Lamb pen name: ELIA. Charles Lamb.

24. "... but maybe I'm wrong": OR NOT.

25. Took off: WENT.

26. Rest, in Rioja: SIESTA. Alliteration.

27. Nutmeg State Ivy Leaguer: ELI.

28. Social media movement since 2017: ME TOO.

29. Movie SFX: CGI.

30. Fashion monogram: YSL.

31. Speeds up: HASTENS.

34. Carolina quarterback with a Heisman Trophy: CAM NEWTON. And 37. Kneeling quarterback Tim with a Heisman Trophy: TEBOW.


38. Mount: GET ON.

40. State to be true: AVER.

41. Part of CDC: Abbr.: CTRS. Never paid attention to who the CDC director was until the virus hit us. Dr. Robert  Redfield at the helm now.


43. How some like it?: HOT.

45. NFL sportscaster Collinsworth: CRIS.

46. Green film on bronze: PATINA.

49. Down in the dumps: BLUE.

50. Style of earrings: HOOP.

51. Kylo in "The Rise of Skywalker": REN.

52. Commonly misplaced camera part: LENS CAP.

53. Run, as a museum: CURATE.

55. Sees: DATES.

57. Features of many 48-Down: ADS. 48. Phone downloads: APPS.

58. Celeb, say: VIP.

59. Dojo instructor: SENSEI. Literally "born before". Japanese and Chinese have the same characters. The second character here means "born".


60. Visibility reducer: MIST.

61. Enemy: FOE.

62. Comes together: GELS.

63. Rise to an exalted level, as spirits: SOAR.

64. Early Southwestern natives around the Virgin River: ANASAZI. New word to me. The Smithsonian says "Their descendants are today's Pueblo Indians".

67. Persian for "king": SHAH.

69. Rode teacups, say: SPUN.

71. Inc. relative: LLC.

73. Squeezes (out): EKES.

74. "Fiddler" toasting song: TO LIFE.

77. Dadaist Jean: ARP.

78. __ the line: TOE.

79. Chart with lines: GRAPH.

80. Largest U.S. federation of unions: AFL- CIO.

81. Aerospace task: MISSION. And the Mars-obsessed 86. Musk in the news: ELON.

83. Head, for short: LAV.

84. Cloud of gloom: PALL.

87. Dre protégé: EMINEM.

88. Gp. that looks to the stars?: SETI.  OK, the real stars.

89. Soul mate, with "the": ONE.

90. Salon colors: DYES. What's the first thing you'll do when this virus is over? Haircut for me.

91. Pub flier: DART.

92. Dog: POOCH.

94. Reps' pitches: DEMOS.

96. Peels out: STEPS ON IT.

99. Have humble pie: EAT CROW.

101. Side dish piece: FRY.

104. Taken in: HAD.

105. Chinese gambling mecca: MACAO. Macau is more common. Love their egg tarts and pork chop buns.



107. Informal rejection: NAH.

108. Dish: ENTREE.

110. Scores: A LOT.

112. Bitter: ACERB.

115. Christchurch native: KIWI. Wiki says Christchurch is the "largest city in the South Island of New Zealand."

116. Lands like a rock: THUDS.

117. Like some inappropriate comments: UN-PC.

118. Navel variety: OUTIE.

119. Pull hard: YANK.

120. "My bad!": OOPS.

121. Combat vet's affliction: PTSD.

122. Highlighter hues: NEONS.

Down:

1. Fresh: SASSY.

2. Narnia creator C.S.: LEWIS.

3. Disney mermaid: ARIEL.


4. Check additions: TIPS.

5. Boils: SEETHES.

6. Syst. with hand signals: ASL.

8. Search through hastily: RIFLE.

9. Selecting: OPTING.

10. Numismatist's prize: RARE COIN.

11. Basking goals: SUNTANS.

12. Big engine sound: VROOM.

14. Take down: HEW.

16. Jewelry-inspired pop nickname: RINGO. Wow, it has a ring connection?

17. Lustrous fabric: SATIN.

20. Happy eating word: NOM. Looking forward to making this, as soon as I receive my Amazon salted kelp. Amazon is soooo slow these days.


23. Swedish auto: SAAB.

32. NYC or London area: SOHO.

35. Captain America portrayer Chris: EVANS.

36. Waters: WETS.

37. Quisling's crime: TREASON.

39. "__ bien!": TRES.

41. Idea: CLUE.

44. "Rappa Ternt Sanga" artist: T PAIN.


47. Stick, as a landing: NAIL.

49. Former NCAA football ranking sys.: BCS. Bowl Championship Series. Replaced by College Football Playoff.

52. Vientiane people: LAO.

54. Important Kenya export: TEA. Mostly black teas.

56. Flight safety org.: TSA.

62. Proofreaders' proofs: GALLEYS.

65. Pseudonym letters: AKA.

66. One of the Marx Brothers: ZEPPO.

68. Where stars are honored: Abbr.: HOF. Boomer is in this Hall of Fame. Ha ha. Our hallway is full of his plaques and patches.


69. "Ditto": SAME.

70. Kat's sister in "The Hunger Games": PRIM.

72. Novelist Deighton: LEN.

75. Verizon bundle: FIOS. Acronym for Fiber Optic Service.

76. Long time span: EON.

78. Fancy cake feature: TIERS.

79. Felino doméstico: GATO. Domestic feline.

82. Digital sound?: SNAP. Hand!

83. Ballet garb: LEOTARDS.

85. Discomfiting look: LEER.

88. Add zest to: SPICE UP.

90. Dear Abbey for many?: DOWNTON.

93. Emotional problem: HANGUP.

95. Bubbly brand: MOET.

96. Unreliable: SHAKY.

97. __ al Ghul: daughter of a Batman enemy: TALIA. Learning moment for me.


98. Salsa holder: NACHO.

100. Bleachers' dig: TAUNT.

101. Crunchy snack: FRITO.

102. Adjust on a lapel, perhaps: RE-PIN.

103. Ayes: YESES.

106. Birthing room docs: OBS.

109. Loyal: TRUE.

111. __Tok: video sharing service: TIK.

114. HDTV choice: LCD.


Kazie (Kay) kindly sent me this lovely picture with below note:

"I'm attaching a recent photo if you'd like it--Lea's school beginning last August, which the whole family attended. The large school bag, an item of pride to her that day, distinguishes schoolkids from the Kindergartners, and the huge cone called a Zuckertüte in Saxony, is filled with candy and gifts. In most German states, they have a huge ceremony to introduce the 1st graders to real school, after they're done with kindergarten. In Lea's case, she had been going to kindergarten since she was about a year old.  She just turned 7 this January, but of course has been home with her sister and mom since the virus closed everything down."


Here's Lea with Grandpa Barry in 2013.


C.C.