Monday June 24, 2024 Larry Snyder

  

Happy Monday, everyone! Today's offering comes to us from OVERachiever Larry Snyder. Husker Gary introduced us to Larry on his June 3, 2023 LAT debut.

Theme:                          Overdoing It!

I am always impressed when a constructer can double-up on the themers. Let's take a look:

17 Across. Like structurally significant walls: LOAD-BEARING. I knew this one from watching HGTV. It'll cost extra!

• OVERLOAD.  to load with too great a burden or cargo
• OVERBEARING.  unpleasantly domineering

30 Across. Many a beach resort condo: TIMESHARE.

• OVERTIME.  in addition to normal working hours
• OVERSHARE.  reveal an inappropriate amount of detail about one's personal life

39 Across. Taking every point, in hearts: SHOOTING THE MOON.  Hearts is a card game. explanation

• OVERSHOOTING.  going past (sometimes unintentionally)
• OVER THE MOON.  extremely happy; delighted

46 Across. Have a guilt-free conscience, so to speak: SLEEP EASY.

• OVERSLEEP.  sleep past the time one intended to wake up
• OVER EASY.  a way to cook eggs so both sides are fried but the yolk remains runny

Then the reveal:

64. Repeatedly, or what can come before the main components of 17-, 30-, 39-, or 46-Across: OVER AND OVER.

When something is said repeatedly it is said OVER AND OVER. Also, two OVERs are paired with the two parts of the themed answers. 

Well done, Larry! I especially liked your grid-spanner, SHOOTING THE MOON.  

Hmmm.... I wonder if C.C. will pay me OVERTIME for having to write two explanations for each answer?  😜

Next, I'll go OVER the remaining clues:

Across:
1. Lettuce wrap lettuce: BIBB.  Fortunately I could only think of one variety of lettuce with a 4-letter name. Here is a P.F. Chang's copy-cat recipe. It calls for ground turkey or chicken but I want to try it with tofu.

BIBB lettuce makes nice cups for the filling.

5. "Tapestry" artist King: CAROLE.  Tapestry is the title track of the second studio album by American singer-songwriter, Carole King (b. Feb. 9, 1942). Here is a version with the lyrics:  

11. Weaken: SAP.  

14. Opera solo: ARIA.     and     36 Across. Kind of soprano: MEZZO.

MEZZO-soprano ARIAs offer a rich vocal range  for the middle female singing voice (between soprano and contralto). This is Raehann Bryce-Davis singing La Luce Langue at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp, Belgium in 2021. She will knock your socks off!  

15. Soft end of a pencil: ERASER.  cute

16. One more than bi-: TRI-.

19. Cherry shade: RED.  not the protection from the sun provided by a cherry tree

20. Creative motivation, casually: INSPO.  INSPiration

21. Floating ice chunk: BERG.  not a 4-letter nickname for iceberg lettuce (See 1-Across.)  

hanging out on the BERG

22. Actress Merrill: DINA.  (1923 - 2017)  Her father was Wall Street broker E.F. Hutton and her mother was cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. NPR ran this piece when she passed away.

23. Use oars: ROW.

25. "No harm done": IT'S OKAY.

27. Chew the fat: GAB.     and     71 Across. Chews the fat: YAKS.  

33. Beginning on: AS OF.

35. Sorento automaker: KIA.  Here are the details on the 2025 model from Car and Driver magazine. When did KIAs get so large?

43. 41-Down variety: PEKOE.     and     41 Down. Brewed beverage: TEA.

44. Floral garland: LEI.

45. How only two Super Bowls have ended, for short: IN OT.  an Easter egg??

This just happened last February when the Chiefs beat the 49ers IN OverTime in Super Bowl LVIII. The other time was seven years ago when the Patriots beat the Falcons in Super Bowl LI.

50. Moody music genre: EMO.

51. Cajole: WHEEDLE.  

53. Droop: SAG.  Blame it on gravity!

Old 97's (You know I love them!)

No Baby I from their seventh studio album, Blame it on Gravity

"You got them tears

They fall like pearls

Blame it on gravity, yeah

Blame it on being a girl"

55. Gripped: HELD.

56. __ A Sketch: ETCH.  

"screen time" in the 1960s

59. Maps app output: ROUTE.

63. In need of chicken soup, maybe: ILL.

66. "Fee, __, foe, fum": FIE.  I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive, or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

(Hand up for preferring the dead option when this happens.)

67. Make fizzy: AERATE.  On my recent cycling trip in the Pyrenees I tried txakoli wine (not a type-0! how to pronounce). It is not in itself fizzy but they pour it from on high so it AERATEs by the time it gets to your glass. (See the 9 sec. video below.) You are supposed to drink it quickly, before the bubbles leave. more info  

He makes this look easy! 

68. Dread: FEAR.

69. Supporting: FOR.  as in "I am FOR this ballot measure"

70. Bishop's neighbor on a chess board: KNIGHT.  

Down:
1. Indonesian island that has more than 20,000 temples: BALI.  That is about 1 temple for every 225 people. Balinese Hinduism

2. Wrinkle remover: IRON.  

3. Leaning: BIAS.  "Atilt" took today off.

4. Negative media coverage, for short: BAD PR.  Public Relations is shortened.

5. Fair grade: CEE.  

6. Part of UAE: ARAB.  United Arab Emirates

7. Hard to find: RARE.

8. Egyptian god of death and rebirth: OSIRIS.  ESP for me but it turns out he was one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt.  more info.

9. 50 meters, for an Olympic pool: LENGTH.  I liked this fresh angle! I also like a 50-meter pool. The pool where I swim these days is only 25 yards. I feel like I am constantly turning around.

10. Unit of energy: ERG.  The erg is a unit of energy equal to 10⁻⁷ joules.

11. Home plate umpire's parameter: STRIKE ZONE.  Great fill! I saw that "batter's box" fit but that did not seem quite right so I waited for a couple of perps.

12. Large stadium: ARENA.

13. March 14, to math fans: PI DAY.  3/14 is the day we celebrate 3.14  

18. Kick (out): BOOT.  

Nancy Sinatra released These Boots Are Made for Walkin' in 1966.

22. Sequence before fa-sol-la: DO RE MI.  

24. Crowdsourced site, briefly: WIKI.  Today's meta moment:  Wikipedia's entry about Wikipedia  

26. Alike: SAME.

27. Sound of shock: GASP.

28. Tennis legend Arthur: ASHE.

29. Merchant with novels, memoirs, etc.: BOOK SELLER.  I recently read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. There is a picture of a cat on the cover so I kept waiting for a cat to appear in the story. Spoiler alert:  no cat.

31. Least amt.: MIN.  MINimum

32. Two under par, in golf: EAGLE.  

34. Tricked: FOOLED.

37. Speed (by): ZOOM.  

38. "You may be __ something there": ONTO.

40. Cued (up): TEED.

42. Angry cat sound: HISS.

47. An hour before midnight: ELEVEN.  11:00 p.m. is one hour before 12:00 a.m. Whose great idea was that?!

48. "Great" czar: PETER I.  (1672-1725)  more info

Hand up for quickly filling in P-E-T-E-R what???

49. Three feet: YARD.

51. Faint scent: WHIFF.

52. Prefix meaning "sun": HELIO-.  Helios was the Greek sun god. He drove a chariot across the sky from east to west every day.  

relief sculpture excavated at Troy

54. Silly: GOOFY.

57. Rocky projection: CRAG.  This is a 5:35 min. video about a couple looking to find a new location in Greece for sport climbing. They establish ROUTEs on a gorgeous and challenging CRAG.  

58. "Thirty days __ September ... ": HATH.  I useth the knuckle trick.  

60. Eye layer: UVEA.  

61. Flooring wood: TEAK.     and     64 Down. Flooring wood: OAK.

62. Messes up: ERRS.

65. Com alternative: NET.  Top Level Domains (TLDs) See #4 below. (Click to enlarge.) 

Here's the grid:

That's it for today. sumdaze, OVER and out!

Saturday, June 3, 2023, Emma Lawson and Larry Snyder

Themeless Saturday by Emma Lawson and Larry Snyder

As you will tell from the paucity of my comments, I was able to sail through big parts of this puzzle. However, when the wordplay heated up I had some delightful struggles. This is Larry's first published puzzle and Emma's first Saturday themeless but fourth overall for the LA Times. 

Emma is a reasearch librarian at Langara University in Vancouver, British Columbia. Larry is a professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and director of the Institute for Data, Intelligent Systems and Computation at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. This is another transcontinental collaboration.

  

     

Across:

1. Age of the information superhighway: DIGITAL ERA - The switch from a slide rule to a calculator marked the beginning for me

  

11. 1980s pop duo: WHAM.

15. Hardest part of making guacamole: AVOCADO PIT.

16. Spooned, maybe: HELD.

17. Tropical mocktail: NADA COLADA.

18. Some Minecraft blocks: ORES - I had no idea but ORES made sense with that game title 😐

19. Sounds from a bull pen: SNORTS - Our friend Nick has heard many of those as he is a professional bullfighter/rodeo clown.

20. Fulfills a take-out order?: ERASES 😀 - No restaurants or mobsters here.

22. Actress Winslet: KATE - Her portrait done for the famous scene from Titanic was actually drawn by the director James Cameron

23. Mathewson who was one of the first five inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame: CHRISTY.

25. Blackthorn berries: SLOES.

27. __ Troopa: Nintendo turtlelike creature: KOOPA.

30. Some viewer-supported broadcasts: PBS SHOWS.

34. "Best sleep on it before deciding": BE SURE - $154,940 for this Cadillac Escalade

35. Big talkers: ORATORS.

36. Richard Williams, to Venus and Serena: DADAGER - Oh, now I get it, it's a portmanteau!

37. "I can __": RELATE.

38. Tiny object that goes around the world?: MINI YOYO - This is Duncan's smallest YOYO and "around the world" is a standard yoyo trick (not shown here)

39. Boob: TWERP - Professor Harold Hill's take on River City's new pocket billiards table:

It takes judgement, brains and maturity to score
In a balkline game, I say that any BOOB
Can take and shove a ball in a pocket
And I call that sloth the first big step on the road
To the depths of deg-ra-day

40. Group that meets regularly to practice spelling?:  COVEN 😀 An "out there" clue made sense when the spelling is about casting spells by a COVEN of witches 

41. Date: PLUS ONE. - Joann is my PLUS ONE when we go to graduation parties

43. Teléfono answer: HOLA.

47. Neptune's largest moon: TRITON - TRITON with Uranus in the background 

48. Up: ARISEN.

50. Cooler at sea: BRIG - 😀 Cooler is slang for jail and a BRIG is a jail abroad a ship 

51. "Facts!": AMEN TO THAT.

54. "That must hurt": OUCH.

55. Rant and rave in public: MAKE A SCENE.

56. Ruby Queen, e.g.: BEET - People seem to either love or hate BEETS. I'm in the former camp.

57. "Little help, please!": I NEED A HAND.

Down:

1. Maker of Købenstyle casseroles: DANSK - Danish cookware 

2. Pomeranian voiced by Emma Stone in Disney's "Suite Life" franchise: IVANA.

3. Focus of actors working as waiters?: GODOT - 😀 The actors in the clue are a profession but the waiters in the clue are, uh, just actors in a play where waiting is in the title. Last week, Tom Pepper and C.C. had 15. Welcome message to a waiter: NEXT PLEASE 

4. "You matter to me": I CARE.

5. Delicacy: TACT.

6. Fusses: ADOS.

7. "U slay me!": LOL.

8. Clean water agcy.: EPA.

9. Backseat drivers, e.g.: RIDERS 😀

10. Video Olympics platform: ATARI.

11. "Maybe, maybe not": WHO'S TO SAY - How 'bout another way to ask it by a 22-yr-old Johnny Mathis on a 1957 Ed Sullivan Show?

12. "As requested": HERE YOU GO.

13. Some steinfuls: ALES.

14. Physical pros: MDS - During my yearly required physical with my MD, he and I mostly talk about space and golf for 20 minutes.

21. Welcomed: ASKED IN.

23. Farm moms: COWS - Ewes and sows get the day off

24. Guys: HES.

25. Decathlon event: SHOTPUT.

26. Legends: LORE - King Arthur and Robin Hood are two legends of England

28. Quarry: PREY.

29. Flight-related prefix: AERO.

30. Tawny __: PORT - Port Defined All ports are made from a blend of grapes grown throughout Portugal's Douro valley. There are two kinds of port: tawny and ruby. Tawny is aged in wooden casks and released ready to drink, while ruby ages more in bottle than in wood and generally requires many years of cellaring. You're welcome!

31. "The __ Crew": Milwaukee nickname: BREW - Very familiar to baseball peeps

32. Attractive figure?: SALE PRICE - SALE_R_C_ led me to SALES RACK for too long of a price

33. "The Boys" superhero who fires destructive beams: STARLIGHT - Neither the comic book nor broadcast has crossed my path. All you want (or don't want) to know

34. Nemesis: BANE.

36. Low bar?: DIVE - This DIVE is The Bottom Road Bar and is just across the Platte River from my golf course. It has great burgers and unbelievably low prices. Grandson and I ate all that for $13.00 total after 18 holes.

               

38. Sun chaser?: MON 😀 Oh, it's a calendar deal!

40. Hustler: CONMAN - Fast Eddie Felson leaps to my mind when I see that word. His drinking was one thing that put a 43. Snag: HITCH in his plans.

42. "Me too": SO AM I.

44. "Cocaine Bear" actor __ Jackson Jr.: OSHEA.

45. Singer Rimes: LEANN.

46. Paid to play: ANTED.

47. "Facts!": TRUE.

48. Not much: A TAD.

49. Parks of Alabama: ROSA 

50. Small float: BOB - 😀 Also called a bobber. It was not my last fill but it was my last, "Oh, now I get it! Fishing gear."

52. Squeak (out): EKE.

53. Once called: NEE - More brides seem to be keeping their birth names.