Monday February 14, 2022 Paul Coulter

Theme: Alliterative Jobs

16. Alliterative union litigator: LABOR LAWYER.

25. Alliterative craftsperson: WOODWORKER.

47. Alliterative marriage specialist: MATCHMAKER.

60. Alliterative accompanist: PIANO PLAYER.

Boomer here.  

Another alliterative I have in mind is Crossword Constructor for which C.C. fills the bill.  I hope all of you enjoyed the Super Bowl commercials which cost the vendors Seven Million Dollars for thirty seconds. I suppose the prices of those items might reach your credit limit. Sorry, I will watch  the football game but I needed to prepare the blog a bit early to preserve some time for healthcare.

 Across:

1. Erykah Badu hairdo: AFRO.  Can you say bowler "Kyle Troup" ??

 

 

5. In pieces: APART.  Years ago I had "A PART" in a play.

10. The Beatles' Pepper, e.g.: Abbr.: SGT. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band.

13. Attired: CLAD.  Some electric wires are Copper CLAD.

14. Pennsylvania in Washington, for example: AVENUE.  Most AVENUES run one direction and streets intersect.  

15. Couple's pronoun: OUR.  OUR home is on an "L" of two avenues.

18. State sch. with campuses in Providence: URI. The University of Rhode Island.

19. DoorDash rival: UBER EATS.  We still buy most of our EATS at a grocery store.  Years ago I had a job delivering pizza.

20. It follows dawn: SUNUP.

22. Ancestry.com concern: DNA.  This is some kind of genetic ACID with a name I cannot spell.

23. Wicked one: FIEND.

30. Lawyers: Abbr.: ATTS. Attorneys.

33. To no avail: IN VAIN.

34. On a cruise, say: ASEA.  Some of those multi-level cruise ships are unbelievable!

36. __ Tin Tin: RIN.  Lassie's predecessor on black and white TV. 

37. Discover: LEARN.

38. Word that fittingly fills the blanks in "_ _ propria _ e": APT.  Appropriate.

39. About to explode: IRATE.   You may be IRATE if interest RATES go up.

41. Rapper __ Kim: LIL.

42. "__, Brute?": ET TU.   Old joke -- "How many eggs did you have for breakfast Caesar" ?

44. Nativity display: CRECHE.  A Manger.  Beautiful Christmas decoration.

45. Quite often: A LOT.  I used to bowl A LOT before ......

49. Malodorous: FETID.

51. One-named "Cheap Thrills" singer: SIA.

52. '90s trade acronym: NAFTA.   North Atlantic Free Trade.

54. Rain in light drops: SPRINKLE.  This fell Thursday evening in normally snowy Minnesota. Spring is coming... Maybe?

59. NFL's Cardinals: ARI.  Moved from St. Louis in 1988.

63. Anatomical pouch: SAC.

64. Being: ENTITY.

65. Act the blowhard: BRAG.

66. Civil War nickname: ABE.  Five Dollar bill nickname last week.

67. Indoor parking lot features: RAMPS.

68. Nordstrom rival: SAKS.  Fifth Avenue.

Down:

1. Censorship-fighting org.: ACLU.  Civil Liberties Union.

2. Love handles, essentially: FLAB.  I have totally lost mine.  Now 6 ft. 2 in.  159 pounds and still losing it.

3. Broccoli __: RABE.  I am not a big fan of broccoli but I have heard it was voted Americas favorite vegetable.

4. Aroma: ODOR.  I think people enjoy aroma, but hold their nose on ODOR.

5. Personal user pic: AVATAR.

6. Seats with kneelers: PEWS.  Old days.  Our church has no kneelers.  Attend Mass and either sit or stand.  Okay with me.  These days I sit for the whole Mass.

7. "__ questions?": ANY.

8. Regret: RUE.  Ms. McClanahan in "The Golden Girls".

9. Brusque: TERSE.

10. Music for a movie: SOUNDTRACK.  "The Hills are alive, with the Sound of Music". 

11. Trusted adviser: GURU.   My GURU is C.C. (And Doctor Downs).

12. Excursion: TRIP.  Most of our trips recently are to the VA hospital.  It is an excursion of about 35 miles each way.  Traffic is usually no problem.

14. Group co-founded by Bill W.'s wife: AL-ANON.  I never needed this.  In fact, after Dr. Downs banned booze with my medicine, I donated all the sealed bottles for door prizes at my bowling banquet.  Then the league secretary jimmied the drawing so I won two rounds of golf at a local course.  Guess who I played the round with.

17. Merlot or Syrah: RED WINE.

21. Acapulco article: UNA.

23. Big celebration: FEST.  I think a FEST might be in order when CHEMO is wrapped up.

24. Anger: IRE.

25. Novelist Cather: WILLA.

26. Negro Leagues legend Buck __: O'NEIL. See who's there behind O'Neil?

27. Presidential workplace: OVAL OFFICE.  Don't tear up any of those papers, Joe.

28. Patriotic org. since 1890: DAR.  Daughters of the American Revolution.

29. Dead, as an engine: KAPUT.  Sometimes this happens in our cold weather.  However cars are more dependable these days.

31. Church donation: TITHE.  I do this weekly.  Not sure if it is as much as they recommend.

32. Contemptuous look: SNEER.

35. "Par avion" letters: AIRMAIL.  I think most first class goes by air now.  That's why it's always late.

38. Just slightly: A TAD.  If your TITHE is a TAD, you may want to reconsider ??

40. "The Crying Game" actor Stephen: REA.

43. "Enough!" in a text: TMI.  Too Much Info.

44. Happy as a lark?: CHIRPY.

46. Hanoi holiday: TET.  Reminds me of the Vietnam era.

48. $100 bills, in slang: C SPOTS.  NOO! They are called BENJAMINS. 

50. Narrow to a point: TAPER.  When we mail a package, I am usually the TAPER.

52. Astronaut's insignia: NASA.

53. Speedy steed: ARAB.  Kentucky Derby is coming soon.

54. Barbershop sound: SNIP.  Old days, now the sound is a buzz from the clippers.

55. Apprehends: NABS.

56. Actress Sedgwick: KYRA. Wife of Kevin Bacon.

57. Plumbing problem: LEAK.  We hired the wrong company once for a new toilet.  The next thing we knew we had dripping in our garage.  Luckily our bathroom is over our garage and we hired a different company to fix it.

58. Units of work: ERGS.

61. "Be there __ sec!": IN A.  I am here already.

62. Bank convenience, for short: ATM.  I have not used an ATM in years.  But now I get phone calls from shysters telling me how to get free money.

Boomer

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 Paul Coulter

Animal Sounds that Aren't.

16-Across. Antidote fraud that doesn't come from a duck?: QUACK CURE.  What does the duck say?

28-Across. Social media barrage that doesn't come from a bird?: TWEETSTORM.  What does the bird say?

43-Across. Voguish term that doesn't come from a bee?: BUZZ PHRASE.  What does the bee say?  Also known as Buzz Words.

58-Across. Fabric made from tree exteriors that doesn't come from a dog?: BARKCLOTH.  What does the dog say?  Hand up if you knew what Barkcloth is.

Across:

1. Broke off, as talks: ENDED.

6. Retired flier: SST.  We haven't seen the SST Concorde in the sky since its retirement in October 2003.

9. Lola's nightclub, in song: COPA.

13. To a degree, informally: SORTA.  I'm sorta okay with clues and answers like this.

14. Lyndon Johnson girl beagle: HER.  And the boy dog was named Him.

15. Breakfast sizzler: BACON.

18. Northeast express train: ACELA.  This train line appears with some frequency in the puzzles.

19. Swipe: STEAL.  I was thinking of "swipe right" or "swipe left" instead of actually theft.

20. Pub with suds and entertainment: BEER HALL.

22. Jog or racing gait: TROT.

24. Caught in the act: SEEN.

25. Bat's home: CAVE.

33. German river: EDER.

34. Gets really high: SOARS.

35. Asian language: LAO.

36. Director Wertmüller: LINA.  Lina Wertmüller (née Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spanol von Braueich; Aug. 14, 1928 ~ Dec. 9, 2021) was an Italian film director best known for her art-house films from the 1970s.  She died just over a month ago at age 93.

37. Rock gp. sometimes joined by Young: CSN. With Young, the band is known as CSN&Y.

38. __ stick: bouncing toy: POGO.

39. Wide shoe spec: EEE.

40. "When I Need You" singer Leo: SAYER.

42. Hunchbacked lab assistant: IGOR.

46. Daly of "Judging Amy": TYNE.  Tyne Daly (née Ellen Tyne Daly; b. Feb. 21, 1946) is the older sister of actor Tim Daly (né James Timothy Daly; b. Mar. 1, 1956).

47. Three-vowel African river: UELE.  Everything you wanted to know about the Uele River, but didn't know to ask

48. Bit of bickering: TIFF.  If the tiff is big enough, it might result in a gift from Tiff's ...

50. Military "pineapples": GRENADES.

54. Wikipedia policy: NO ADs.

57. Archaeological find: RELIC.

Sad, but true.

61. __ worse than death: A FATE.

62. Downed: ATE.

63. Arm bones: ULNAE.  The plural of Ulna.

64. Ho Chi __ City: MINH.  Formerly known as Saigon.

65. "Sure": YEP.

66. Certain NCOs: SSGTs.  As in Staff Sergeants.  This abbreviation appears with some frequency in the puzzles.

Down:

1. Letters on a law office door: ESQ.  Esquire it the title one can use after passing the bar exam.

2. We, to one who says "oui": NOUS.  Today's French lesson.

3. "Dang!": DRAT.

4. And so on: ET CETERA.  Today's Latin lesson.

5. Senegal's capital: DAKAR.  It's also a port city.

6. Moo __ pork: SHU.  You, too, can make this at home.

7. Balkan native: SERB.

8. Certain surgeon's "patient": TREE.  Cute clue!

9. Prestige: CACHET.

10. Cousteau's field: OCEANOLOGY.  Jacques-Yves Cousteau (June 11, 1910 ~ June 25, 1997) was a pioneer in ocean and marine conservation.

11. Gallup specialty: POLL.

12. Fastidious to a fault: ANAL.

15. Exposes: BARES.

17. Thickens, as cream: CLOTS.  You can purchase clotted cream across the pond.

21. Approximate nos.: ESTs.  As in Estimates.

23. Like a good-sized garage: TWO CAR.

25. People focus, for short: CELEB.  

26. "Bye" that's bid: ADIEU.  Another clever clue.  And more of today's French lesson.

27. Caracas native: VENEZUELAN.  Caracas is another port city.

29. Snap course: EASY A.

30. Writer Hemingway: ERNEST.  Ernest Miller Hemingway (July21, 1899 ~ July 2, 1961) wrote many books that are considered classics.  I had to read some when I was in high school.

31. Make fun of: RAG ON.

32. Mandy of "This Is Us": MOORE.  Mandy Moore (née Mandy Leigh Moore; b. Apr. 10, 1984) is also a singer.

38. Traps for the unwary: PITFALLS.  Pitfall was also the name of a relic of a Atari video game.  At the time it seemed really state-of-the-art.

40. Lawn tool storage building: SHED.

41. Sign again: REINK.  Meh!

44. Highest point: ZENITH.  Zenith was also an American company that manufactured televisions.  The company sold its shares to LG in 1995.

45. "Peyton __": PLACE.  Before it was a television show, Peyton Place was the 1956 novel by Grace Metalious (née Mary Grace DeRepentigny; Sept. 8, 1924 ~ Feb. 25, 1964).  The novel was quite scandalous when it was first published as it delved into the dark secrets of adultery, incest, lust, abortion and murder in a small New England town.

49. Concentrate: FOCUS.

50. Fat unit: GRAM.

51. Bank offering, briefly: RE-FI.  As in Refinance.

52. "Buy It Now" site: EBAY.

53. Fill to the max: SATE.

55. Bell sound: DONG.  I tried Ring and Gong before settling on Dong.

56. PDQ, in the ER: STAT.

59. Sales agent: REP.  As in a Representative.

60. Cock and bull: HEs.  Both a Cock and a Bull are male animals.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה

And Now I will Bid you Adieu!

Thursday, December 23, 2021, Paul Coulter

Today's constructor is Paul Coulter, who by my reckoning has published 82 puzzles in the LA Times in the last 6 years, starting in February 6, 2015.  The works out to almost 1 a month!

Paul's reveal-less theme plays on HOMOGRAPHS, words that are spelled the same but have different meanings.  Here pairs of HOMOGRAPHS in each clue are punned against one another:

17A Blades for trimming blades: LAWNMOWER.  A machine for trimming blades of grass:

 28A Development that ended much development: DIGITAL CAMERA.  The invention of the DIGITAL CAMERA brought a steep decline in the use of photographic film and dark rooms.  The Eastman Kodak company didn't see this coming.

46A Club used at a club: PITCHING WEDGE.  In golf a pitching wedge is  one of a subset of the iron family of clubs designed for special use situations. 

64A. Wheels for carrying wheels: LIMOUSINE.  Let's pick up the pace a bit.  The "wheels" IN this LIMO don't get much bigger (lyrics):

Here are the rest of the clues.

Across:

1. Some game pieces: PEGS.  Pegs are used in the game of CRIBBAGE.  Here's how to play it.

Cribbage Board

5. Long-range nuke: ICBM. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.  Russia, the United States, China, North Korea and India are the only countries currently known to possess land-based ICBMs; Israel has also tested ICBMs but is not open about actual deployment. - Wikipedia.

9. Like horses: MANED.  On horses, the mane is the hair that grows from the top of the neck, reaching from the poll to the withers, and includes the forelock or foretop. It is thicker and coarser than the rest of the horse's coat, and naturally grows to roughly cover the neck.

14. Palm whose oil is used in cosmetics: ACAI.  Same crosswordese, different clue.

15. David Copperfield wife: DORA.  David Copperfield, is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to maturity. It was first published as a serial in 1849 and 1850, and as a book in 1850.  Here he is with his wife Dora (née Spenlow)
 

David and Dora

16. Barely, with "by": A NOSE.

19. Futile: NO USE.  Or a NOSE with a U in the middle.

20. Channel that shows college games: ESPNU.

21. Banquet offering: TV DINNER. A bit of a stretch, but sadly it may be true these days.

23. Any ship: SHE.

24. Shine, in adspeak: GLO. Remember "Mop and GLO"?

 

 

27. Evasive: EELY.  A slippery creature.

34. Disinfectant brand since 1889: LYSOL.  This stuff flew off the shelves at the beginning of the pandemic, but it now seems to be available again in our neck of the woods.
 

35. Nipper: PUP.

36. Collapsed: SANK.

 39A. Bell invention with a bell: PHONE.  Even though it's short fill I thought about adding this to the list of themers, but all the others pair nouns, whereas Bell as used here is an adjective.   Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish inventor, living in Ontario (Hi CanadianEh!) at the time of the telephone's invention.  The first words ever uttered over the telephone were"Mr. Watson [Bell's assistant], come here! I want you!", a call for help after the inventor spilled battery acid on his pants.  The telephone network, layered on top of the network of existing telegraph wires, eventually morphed into what is now the Internet.  BTW, Bell did invent other things besides the telephone.

Alexander Graham Bell

42. Farm mom: MARE.  See 9A.

43. "Bravo!": OLE.

44. Unaccustomed to: NEW AT.

52. Centuries-old discipline: YOGA. A CSO to Lucina, and a hand up please from any others here who practice it.  Yoga has had a major impact on the world over the millennia, particularly in the East.  It first came to the United States in 1893 through Swami Vivekananda.  I highly recommend the book Autobiography of a Yogi, a personal and intimate account of the interior life of yogi Paramahansa Yogananda, first published in 1946.

53. Pod opening: TRI.

54. Japanese computer giant: NEC. NEC Corporation is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo.

57. Call dibs on, with "to": LAY CLAIM.

61. 1736 writer of a seminal paper on graph theory: EULER.  Leonhard Euler (15 April 1707 – 18 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in many other branches of mathematics.

Leonhard Euler

63. From an earlier time: OF OLD.

67. Setting for a Tony-winning Miller play: SALEM.   Arthur Miller's play was The Crucible, a fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials of 1692–93 set in Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The play was a veiled criticism of the McCarthy hearings investigating Communist influence in the U.S., conducted from the late 1940s through the 1950s.  During the hearings Miller was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended.  The conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

Arthur Miller

68. Persia, now: IRAN.  In the Western world, Persia was historically the common name for Iran. In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates to use the Persian term Iran (meaning the land of Aryans in Persian), the endonym of the country, in formal correspondence.

69. "Check this out!": PSST.  IMHO the clue's a bit of a  stretch.

70. Seriously weaken: ERODE.   Loss of stability due to erosion.

71. Bind, in a way: TAPE.

72. Eye ailment: STYE.  Possibly leading to a CHELAZION.  My oldest sister used to get these a lot, but outgrew them.

Down:

1. Loses color: PALES.  What causes sudden PALE skin?  That last link is enough to make me afraid to get out of bed in the morning.

2. PayPal payment, e.g.: ECASH.  Very convenient, but it does have its problems. If you're considering  signing up for this service, here is everything you need to know and more.  Well, maybe not everything.
 

3. Rubbernecked: GAWPED.  GAWPED vs GAWKED?  What's the difference?  The former's Brit and the latter's Yank.  Caveat: the Gawker site mentioned in the preceding article no longer exists. It was effectively driven out of business by billionaire Peter Thiel, the founder of Paypal, to get even for the site's outing of his sexual preferences.  Could that be why Paul put these two clues together?

4. __ Féin: SINN.  Sinn Féin (shin FAYN Irish; English: "[We] Ourselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

5. "What will __ now?": I DO.   If you happen to be standing on an ALTAR at the moment, you'd better say I DO, or you might find yourself in the middle of a really big ADO.

6. Intimidate: COW.

Merriam-Webster

E.g., having a COW MOO in your ear could be pretty intimidating.

7. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Saberhagen: BRET.  Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.
 

Bret Saberhagen

8. Show amazement (at): MARVEL.  Richard Feynman on marveling at a flower.

9. Western Pacific island capital: MANILA.  Manila, capital and chief city of the Philippines. The city is the center of the country’s economic, political, social, and cultural activity. It is located on the island of Luzon and spreads along the eastern shore of Manila Bay at the mouth of the Pasig River.

Manila, Philippines

10. Alias: ANONYM.

11. Proper __: NOUN.
 

from Merriam-Webster

12. Latin infinitive: ESSE.  Second time this week.  My older grandchildren tell me there's even more than that ...

13. Big game: DEER.

18. Wet weather word: MUGGY.

22. Holiday mo.: DEC.  Timely fill.

25. Speak like Sylvester: LISP.  A speech impediment common among AI programmers, and also in a certain cartoon cat:

26. Texter's "Then again ... ": OTOH.

29. Breed: ILK.

30. One way to sing: ALONG.

31. Acid Rain Program org.: EPA.

32. Capek classic: RUR.  Czech writer Karel Čapek's science-fiction play "R.U.R." ("Rossum's Universal Robots"), which turned 101 this year, and shows just what a seer the author was:

33. Parrot: APE.  Which is smarter, the PARROT or the APE?

36. Bribe: SOP.

37. "Aladdin" prince: ALI.  From the 1992 film Aladdin" - "A Whole New World" (lyrics)

38. After expenses: NET.

40. Colorful salamander: NEWT.  Common denizens of Cwds in both their immature (EFT) and adult (NEWT) forms.  Not only colorful, but varied:
 

41. Big-mouthed one that can hold its wine?: EWER.   Here's an oldie, but goodie.  I wouldn't call it "big-mouthed", but it does look like it could hold a lot of wine:

Greek Style Italian Ewer
Ca. 400 BC

42. Sess.: MTG.

45. Bye word: ADIEU.

47. Recurred at regular intervals: CYCLED.  It's about time!

48. Loving request: HOLD ME.  A CSO to all the DWs and DHs on the Corner.

49. "Hometown Proud" supermarket: IGA.  The Independent Grocers Alliance, founded in 1926,  is an American chain of grocery stores that operates in more than 30 countries. Many of these stores operate in small-town markets and belong to families that manage them.

50. Ace a test: NAIL IT.

51. Join: ENLIST.

55. Tiny: EENSY.

56. Minotaur's home: CRETE.  The Minotaur lived in the center of a labyrinth  in Crete where he lived on the flesh of Athenian youngsters. They were sent to the island yearly as a sacrifice by the city of Athens,  to atone for the death of King Minos' son Androgeus, whom the Athenians had once killed out of jealousy for beating them at the Panathenaic Games.

The Minotaur

57. Get rid of: LOSE.

58. Hardly around the corner: AFAR.

59. Risk-taker's acronym: YOLO.  "You Only Live Once", unless perhaps you're a Hindu.  See 52A.

60. Actress Sorvino: MIRA.  Mira Katherine Sorvino; born September 28, 1967) is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Mighty Aphrodite (1995).

Mira Sorvino

62. FedEx rival: USPS.

65. Plan (out): MAP.

66. "A Chorus Line" number: ONE. A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante, and lyrics by Edward Kleban:

 

 

 Here's the grid: 

waseeley

And thanks as always to Teri for proofreading and constructive criticism.

 

Cheers,

Bill

Note from C.C.:

1) Boomer had surgery yesterday afternoon to remove the tumor in that T7 area. I have not talked to him post-op. Will keep you updated. (Updated at 6:00am: Boomer is still in the recovery room. But he sounded cheerful.)

2) Happy 77th birthday to dear Misty, who's been with our blog for over 8 years. I think Misty found us by googling some crossword answers for her husband Rowland, who was an avid solver. Here is a picture of them celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary in 2009.