L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Katherine Baicker

May 19, 2022

Thursday, May 19, 2022, Katherine Baicker

Good morning, Cruciverbalists . . . and what a nice morning it is here! What's happenin' wordsmiths? What's in store for us today? What's with this puzzle? Exactly.

Malodorous Manatee here with the post-puzzle recap. Today's puzzle setter, making (I believe) her LAT debut, is the highly accomplished Katherine Baicker. Here is a link to her Wikipedia page:

Katherine Baicker Wiki

Despite the obvious depth and breadth of her experience, here, today, Katherine asks only a single, simple question. That question is not Who, Why or Where (except, maybe, for 27 Across) but, simply, WHAT. The reveal is found at 39 Across:

39 Across: Rhetorical strategy of countering an accusation with another accusation, and an apt description of the answers to the starred clues: WHATABOUTISM. It means to twist criticism back on the initial critic. The short version: "I know you are but what am I?"

The word WHAT is split evenly in half and the WH and AT bracket the multi-word themed answers. The word WHAT could be said to be ABOUT the answers (as in "There are challenges all about (around) us.") The structure of the theme is similar to last Thursday's puzzle but today's is simpler because the identical broken-up word pattern is repeated. When I saw the IS of WHISKEY I thought, for a brief moment that we would find ISM in the middle of the bracketing. That would have been quite impressive but 'twas not to be.

Here are the starred clues/answers:

18 Across: *Easy order for a bartender: WHISKEY NEAT. Nothing simpler to pour. Straight. No ice. No mixer. No lime wedge. No umbrella.

27 Across: *The place to be, informally: WHERE IT'S AT. Let me show you . . .

The Dave Clark Five - 1965

55 Across: *Toast choice: WHOLE WHEAT. Not a wedding tradition. Bread. Not money bread but food bread.

64 Across: *"Is it almost time for dinner?": WHEN DO WE EAT.

And now, with apologies to Paul Harvey, for the rest of the story:

Across:

1. First lady Biden: JILL. Not to be confused with the first lady. Eve.

5. Homeopathic treatment for bruises: ARNICA.

11. "Say that's true ... ": IF SO. "Let's suppose . . ."

15. On a cruise: ASEA. What do the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and reading have in common? Both are literacy (litter ASEA).

16. Couple: PAIR UP. Used as a verb. To become a couple.

17. "Mon __!": DIEU. Today's French lesson. OMG!

20. Rare blood type, briefly: B NEG. "Briefly" tips us off that neither NEGative nor POSitive will be called for. Also, we can be pretty sure that the answer will start with A, B or O.

21. B'way passes: TIX. Slang for tickets.

22. Blasting material: TNT. TriNitroToluene.

23. "Oh, brother!": YEESH. Just a wee bit of a punt. Still, easier to suss out than its crossing partner, 23 Down.

24. "It __ meant to be": WASN'T.

29. "Invisible Man" novelist: ELLISON.

31. Galoot: OAF.

32. Bygone airline: TWA. So many from which to choose but few with three letter.

33. Online journal: BLOG. Meta? (yesterday's 58 Down)

34. __ Eats: UBER. The food/restaurant delivery service.

37. "Happy now?": SEE. "I told ya!"

43. Up to, in ads: TIL. UnTIL

44. U2 lead singer: BONO. A well known celebrity.

45. Mall event: SALE. The sporting goods store at my local mall recently had a big SALE on rowing implements. It was quite the oar deal.

48. Overly: TOO. "Oh that this too, too solid flesh would melt." Hamlet.

51. Tattle (on): RAT. . . and 69. Tattled (on): TOLD. The first of two sets of clues paired this way.

53. Early stage: INFANCY.

59. Paul of "Bewitched": LYNDE. Also known for his appearances on Hollywood Squares.

60. Some map dots: ISLES.

61. College domain: EDU. An internet reference.

62. Playpen party: TOT. Not party as in a celebration. The party of the first part.

63. Lee with a posthumous cameo in "Avengers: Endgame": STAN. Made a bit trickier because Lee could be either a first or last name.

70. In demand: WANTED.

71. Fragrant herb: SAGE. Parsley? Rosemary? Thyme?

72. Mani-pedi spots: SPAS. Oft' visited in puzzles.

73. "What a shame": IT'S SAD. Might this refer to the number of things-people-could-say clues/answers used today?

74. Fig or olive: TREE. TREE, clued this way, could have been clued with approximately sixty thousand other words. Fortunately, we've seen this gimmick before.

Down:

1. Moose __, Saskatchewan: JAW.

Mac The Moose - Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan

2. "Give or take": ISH. Punt

3. Floral wreath: LEI.

4. Yesterday evening: LAST NIGHT.

Traveling Wilburys

5. Climber's goal: APEX. ACME was also a reasonable guess.

6. Blu-__ Disc: RAY.

7. Closer's inning: NINTH. A baseball reference.

8. Adler called "the woman" by Sherlock Holmes: IRENE. A not infrequent visitor.

9. Dos y dos: CUATRO. Today's Spanish and math mashup. 2 + 2 = 4

10. Suitable: APT. Anyone presently looking for an APT 2-bedroom apt.?

11. "__ on it": "You can be sure": I'D BET.

12. Best: FINEST.

Winston Churchill

13. Experience schoolyard highs and lows?: SEESAW.

The Moody Blues - Not 1968

14. Should, informally: OUGHTA.

19. Hobby shop buys: KITS. Sometimes clued as young foxes.

23. Liu who plays the title role in 2020's "Mulan": YIFEI. What? Who?

24. Organic flytrap: WEB. Spider WEB.

25. More than most: ALL. All is certainly more than most.

26. Boring: SLOW. If I had a dollar for every time someone called me a boring nerd I'd have a mean daily income of $6.54 with a standard deviation of $1.25.

27. Sparks org.: WNBA. Women's National Basketball Association

28. Singer Sheena: EASTON.

30. Ban: OUTLAW. Used as a verb.

35. Tidal movement: EBB and 54. Tidal movement: FLOW. The second set of clues paired like this. Brava.

36. Joey of kiddie lit: ROO. Kanga's child. A joey is a baby kangaROO

Kanga and Roo

38. Final thoughts?: ESSAY TEST. A final exam might have an essay component.

40. Buenos __: AIRES. Argentina. Neither NOCHES, nor TARDES nor DIAS would have fit.

41. Hand or foot: UNIT. Cute. Body parts, too. A hand is a unit, now standardized at 101.6 mm but based on the breadth of a human hand, used to measure the height of horses.

42. "Mental Illness" Grammy winner Aimee: MANN.

46. HDTV choice: LCD. Liquid Crystal Display. It could have been a brand name (e.g. NEC, JVC, RCA).

47. __ shadow: EYE.

48. Unexpected endings: TWISTS.

49. "I'm blushing!": OH STOP.

50. "Fancy!": OOLALA. More often spelled this way:

52. Southern California chain known for pastrami: THE HAT. I'm a native of SoCal and I have spent more than a few hours at the (pellet) grill but I had never heard of this restaurant. Pastrami could also be savored in yesterday's USA Today puzzle constructed by C.C.