L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Mollie Cowger

Jul 17, 2021

Saturday, July 17, 2021 Mollie Cowger

Themeless Saturday by Molly Cowger

I enjoyed Mollie's challenging puzzle and learning about two contemporary women, one historical woman and a male Chinese artist/activist. Here is what this Dallas girl had to say to us:

Hi Gary,

I started working seriously on crossword construction last summer, and it's been such a source of joy during the past year. This puzzle is one of the first few themeless puzzles I made, and though I think my sensibilities have changed a bit (e.g. I'd be hesitant to put A-BOMBS in a puzzle nowadays), there's a bunch of stuff in here I like. My favorite clue is [Draw for some pictures] for STAR POWER.

The seed entry for the puzzle was ISABEL WILKERSON - it's always exciting when you realize someone whose work you admire has a 15-letter name! I'm tickled by the fact that the two grid-spanning entries, ISABEL WILKERSON and EXERCISE REGIMEN, have the same meter - both words in each entry are dactyls I believe (someone who knows more about poetry than I do can confirm or deny). That wasn't intentional, but I noticed and appreciated it when looking back at the grid.

You can find more of my work on my blog, Crosswords From Outer Space, where I post puzzles (usually themeless, usually on the challenging side) every two weeks.

Mollie

This just in: I found Mollie on FaceBook and saw she and I have a common FB friend. It turned out that the common friend is my granddaughter's husband in Lincoln and had met Mollie through high school debate forums. Cue "It's A Small World"!

Across:

1. Parenting pair, perhaps: DADS

5. Word from the Aramaic for "father": ABBOT.

10. Onetime capital of the Mughal Empire: AGRA - AGRA is our familiar crossword city that is the home of the Taj Mahal but with Saturday cluing

14. Throw off: EMIT.

15. Ambition: DRIVE.

16. Leftover bit: DREG - A Sinatra classic

17. "The Chi" creator Waithe: LENA - (Show is pronounced The SHY for south Chicago) LENA is the show's creator, writer and executive producer

18. Word with ice or rain: MAKER - My other son-in-law is well connected in Lincoln and is a "RAIN MAKER" for his architecture firm

19. Fermented seasoning: MISO - MISO (みそ or 味噌) is a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji (the fungus Aspergillus oryzae) and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients.

20. It may require some heavy lifting: EXERCISE REGIMEN - Don't overdo on the first day!

23. Leaves spots?: TEA POTS - You can see a good spot for tea leaves inside this TEA POT. Very tricky, Mollie!😁

24. Coastal hazard: TSUNAMI.

25. Checks at the bar?: ESTOPS - Legal bars (Oh, that kind of bar!) that prevents (checks) a person from asserting a claim or fact that is inconsistent with a position that the person has previously taken.

26. Phony: SHAM.

27. "Mom" network: CBS.

28. "Sunflower Seeds" artist Ai with an echoic name: WEIWEI - Here is Ai WEIWEI (eye way way) holding some of the 100,000,000 porcelain "Sunflower Seeds" he had made by 1,600 artisans over several years. The rest of these "seeds" are on the floor behind him in 32. London's __ Modern: TATE.. Meaning

30. Go for the gold?: SMELT.

35. Dilutes: THINS.

37. Laudatory poems: ODES.

38. "Your Movie Sucks" author: EBERT - His lowest rating of all time goes to Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo.

40. Old-style writing need: INK POT - Yes, I am old enough to have gone to school that had desks on sled runners and an INK POT in every writing surface!

42. Get lost, say: ERR.

43. Well's opposite: RARE - I ask for my steaks to be medium RARE, never "well done"

45. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty subjects: A-BOMBS.

49. Lincoln biographer: TARBELL - She wrote a four volume biography of Lincoln. IDA TARBELL also was a well known muckraker who took on Standard Oil

51. Get: PROCURE.

52. "Caste" author who was the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism: ISABEL WILKERSON - Learning abut this woman and seeing her first and last names are both dactyls is more learning provided by Mollie.

54. Actress Sorvino: MIRA - Her IMDB

55. Having ups and downs, in a way: TIDAL.

56. Quatro x dos: OCHO - 4 x 2 = 8 in Spanish

57. Subject for pastors and philosophers: EVIL - or Disney studios - Cruella dE VIL

58. Where a 1980 "miracle" occurred: ON ICE - Lake Placid Olympics - Still one of the most amazing events in American sports history! "Do you believe in miracles?"

59. String some words together?: SLUR.

60. Lick, maybe: SEAL - Sealed With A Kiss?

61. More out there: ODDER.

62. Beneficiary of a Sonic boom?: SEGA - SEGA did experience a sales boom with Sonic The Hedgehog. Very clever again, Mollie!

Down:

1. Strike: DELETE.

2. Charging choices: AMEXES

3. Patronize, as a bistro: DINE AT.

4. Draw for some pictures: STAR POWER - Not even the STAR POWER of Gene Hackman and Dan Ackroyd could draw enough movie goers to this stinker that lost $10M

5. Confesses: ADMITS IT and 53. "It was me": I DID.

6. Top __: BRASS.

7. Icon on some "Share the road" signs: BIKE.

8. Analyze to a fault: OVERTHINK - "Hey, that molehill looks like a mountain to me"

9. Saint of Ávila: TERESA - The story of this amazing Spanish Caremelite nun

10. Forum overseer, briefly: ADMIN - Having an ADMINISTRATOR oversee a forum can stifle input

11. Reacted to pain: GRIMACED.

12. Share a look with?: RESEMBLE - I loved (eventually) this very cool clue/fill with some odd syntax!

Angelina Jolie Melissa Baizen

13. Ones in a struggle: AGONISTS - Learning for me

21. Manage: COPE.

22. Periodontist's concern: GUMS.

26. River in some Renoir paintings: SEINE - The SEINE and the Thames don't follow my hooked on phonics training! 😊

29. Dizzying, as a romance: WHIRLWIND.

31. Contest with hogs: MOTOCROSS - Harley Davidson motorcycles are often called "hogs". In the 70's they entered the MOTOCROSS market with this MX1000

32. Elements of a course schedule?: TEE TIMES - Mollie tweaked "course schedule" from a classroom to the golf course. Granddaughter made a TEE TIME of 8:15 a.m. for us yesterday.

33. Irritating: ABRASIVE.

34. Bottle garden relatives: TERRARIA - Here are some lovely TERRARIA

36. Fourth of July purchase: SPARKLER.

39. The oldest known living one is named Methuselah: TREE - This California hike will take you past Bristlecone Pines that germinated before the pyramids were built. The location of the actual 4,852 year old Methuselah Tree is kept secret by the Park Service. More info