Friday, October 11, 2024, Rich Norris

Theme:  I didn't fall for it ... 

Puzzling thoughts:  

The erstwhile LA Times Editor, Rich Norris, landed the big fish today with his well-formed crossword puzzle, featuring four 15-letter entries.  Rich took advantage of the idiomatic expression "hook, line, and sinker", and made us fall completely in like with his work - without hesitation

I had a similar puzzle published in 2023 but was able to come up with only three 15-letter, one-word clues that captured the "theme".  Rich used not only the individual word clues (hook, line, sinker) but the entire phrase (hook, line, and sinker) to complete his "superfecta"

17-across. Hook: PETER PAN NEMESIS.  The first of the four was as clever as it gets.  In this case, "Hook" refers to the antagonistic Captain who appears in the 1904 J. M. Barrie play, Peter Pan

24-across. Line: SCRIPT COMPONENT.  While not as clever as the first entry, coming up with a 15- letter phrase that fits the clue "line" could not have been easy.  In fact, when I googled this answer there was nothing, I saw, that tied Script component to a line.  However, if you use a bit of poetic "crossword" justice, you could parse this as being a component of a script; as in the "lines" of a play or movie.  Here is a video tutorial on the Elements of a Film Script:

42-across. Sinker: TOUGH PITCH TO HIT.  Perhaps my favorite of the three entries, as it took the last of the "fishing" terms in this phrase and referenced a baseball term.  The sinker is really just a version of a fastball.  As the hyperlink indicates, Curt Simmons (1950's Philadelphia Phillies pitcher) is given credit for being one of the first to perfect it.  Here is a video to explain the pitch (and how pitchers grip the ball):

56-across.  Hook, line, and sinker: WITHOUT QUESTION.  As the idiomatic expression is defined, when you accept/fall for someone's deceitful offer "hook, line, and sinker", you do it without question

Maybe like Jerry Lewis did in this movie?

But I suspect that most - if not all - of our solvers today did not fall for Rich's deception.  I found very little, in fact.  Yes, there were a plethora of four and five-letter entries (32 of the four-letter variety) but a very manageable 10 TLWs

Lots to like here.  Overall score for this: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Grid

Across:
 

1. Mishandle, as a grounder: BOOT.  I'd be curious to know if, when Rich Norris has an LAT puzzle, Patti edits his clues?  I worked with Rich once, and he was very good at making clues work

5. Accelerated sci. class: AP BIO.  IIRC, when I was in high school, the accelerated classes had a II behind them; Chem II or Algebra II or Calculus II

10. __ Eats: UBER.  I have never used either UBER Eats or DoorDash

14. Colorful deepwater fish: OPAH.  Aka, "Moonfish"

 

Moe-ku #1:

"Hook, line, and sinker":
That deepwater fish is known
As OPAH Winfrey

15. Hospital prep area: PRE-OP. Other than the "prep" in the clue matching the PRE in the answer ...

16. Aviation milestone: SOLO. Moe-ku #2:

A Star Wars pilot's
First Millennium Falcon
Flight, was Han's SOLO

20. Sentimentality: SCHMALTZ.

21. IMO relative: I'D SAY. Well, since IMO (in my opinion) is a text abbr., I'm not sure how I'D SAY is related; text-wise, anyway

22. Orangutan, e.g.: APE.

23. Chilly product prefix: SNO.

33. Basic decision-maker: COIN. I couldn't make "heads" or "tails" out of this clue ...

34. Weak poker hand: A PAIR. But even A PAIR of two's beats an ACE-high hand; just saying

35. Actress Zadora: PIA. Now there's a clue/answer we haven't seen in a long time. An erstwhile "crosswordese" entry

36. Sometime in the past: ONCE. AGO didn't fit

37. Inconsiderable: SCANT. New clue/synonym for this word

38. Fantasy franchise letters: LOTR. Lord of the Rings. Hand up for trying IHOP first? I did

39. Amanda Gorman's "An __ We Owe": ODE.

40. __ dish: PETRI.

41. Prefix with -genarian: OCTO. SEPTA (my prefix) didn't fit

46. Plant sci.: BOT. Short for, botany. Also short for robot

47. "A spider!": EEK.

48. Take by force: WREST. I wrestled with this one for a while; USURP was my first guess

51. "Sadly, yes": AFRAID SO.

59. New Rochelle campus: IONA.

60. Hook, line, and sinker, e.g.: NOUNS. Rich (and/or Patti) found yet another clue for today's "theme"; which coincides with (62-across. "Yep, already spotted that"): I SAW.

61. One on a seal: UNUM. As on the reverse side of a one dollar bill

63. Hard to navigate: SNAKY. Another Friday-like clue for a familiar adjective

64. John or Paul, but not Ringo or George: POPE. Yup

Down:
1. Danceable songs: BOPS. As in "Be-BOPS"

2. Gp. whose most populous member is Nigeria: OPEC. Learning experience

3. Citizenship recitation: OATH. I swear, this is true

4. Ship in a late 19th century tragedy: THE MAINE. This is an LAT entry "debut"; I hope you will remember this (along with the ship)

5. Simple program: APPLET. I solved this whilst having a cup of Java ...

6. Lead-in to fall: PRAT. As in "PRAT-fall". Being a "stooge" I know all about these! I don't know if you need a Facebook account to view the video below ... I read somewhere that the Stooges "inspired" Aerosmith to write the song "Walk this Way" ...

7. Julie who played Rita on "Dexter": BENZ. Would it have been too obvious if her character's name was "Mercedes"?

8. Lithium-__ battery: ION. Did this one almost set you on fire?

9. Reveal, in verse: OPE. Moe-ku #3:

Amanda Gordon
Revealed poetic intent
When she OPEd an ode

10. Tried to influence with: USED ON. My "influencer" on food packaging is when it says "USED BY"

11. Order (around): BOSS. Verb form

12. Director Kazan: ELIA.

13. Good-looking?: ROSY. The hyphen in the clue gave it away

18. "Snow Angel" singer Rene : RAPP.

19. Key type: MINOR. Perps made this MINOR rather than MAJOR

23. Barbecue rod: SPIT. Doesn't seeing a piece of meat on a SPIT want to make you drool?

24. Slide on a seat: SCOOT. Tough clue

25. Vrbo listing: CONDO.

26. The Owls of the NCAA: RICE U.

27. Jumping chollas, e.g.: CACTI. CSO to me, Lucina, and Yuman

28. Victor Vasarely's movement: OP ART.

29. Frenzied: MANIC. Hoping that no one felt this as they were solving today's puzzle

30. Holocene, for one: EPOCH. Holocene EPOCH

31. Tucci's "Road to Perdition" role: NITTI. Movie based on mobster Frank NITTI

32. Deck with kings and queens: TAROT. Good Friday clue; or a good clue on any non-Christian Friday

37. Equinox mo.: SEPT. Only because MARC looked odd

38. "You have a dictionary, don't you?": LOOK IT UP. For the most part, I LOOK IT UP for all y'all

40. Snap: PHOTO. Crackle: CHINA; Pop: SODA. Or are snap, crackle, and pop just a bit of Rice Crispies?

43. "Pygmalion" playwright, for short: G.B. SHAW. Not enough spaces for the full name: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW. Fun Fact: SHAW preferred to be called "Bernard", and his signature/autograph was G Bernard Shaw

44. Grounds for excommunication: HERESY. As opposed to grounds for "communication", which for me is COFFEE. Please, no talking until I've drank the first cup!

45. Drinks with scones: TEAS. See 44-across; I am a COFFEE drinker but I do like a good scone

48. "Captain America: The First Avenger" backdrop, briefly: WWII. Margaret got me hooked into the Marvel movie series, and "Captain America: The First Avenger" was my intro

49. Spanish flowers: RIOS. Flowers, as in rivers

50. Italian volcano that's a UNESCO World Heritage Site: ETNA. The UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Italy. Among those that we saw on our trip were: The Piazza del Duomo (Pisa); Venice and its Lagoon; The Historic Centres of Florence and Siena. The city in which we stayed, Montecatini Terme became part of the transnational "Great Spa Towns of Europe" UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021

51. Turquoise hue: AQUA. Needed perps; remember, my crayon box only had 8 colors. Turquoise and AQUA were not one of them

52. Low state: FUNK. FUNK is also somewhat related to 1-down (BOPS) as an African-American music genre. Video below gives snippets of the Top 25 FUNK songs of all time

53. Shape of some chicken nuggets, briefly: DINO. Meh. This was a reach, IMO

54. First course, often: SOUP. "No SOUP for you!"

55. Generous offer: ON ME. As in picking up the tab

57. Young'__: UNS. The future of crossword puzzles depends on these folks

58. Long or short measure: TON.

Well this concludes another recap from the Chairman. I won't be visiting the board today (other than briefly seeing that it published) as I will be at my mom's memorial service. Today would have been her 96th birthday. My sister and I felt that holding the service on her birthday was a no-brainer. In her list of wishes to us (for the service) she wanted an ice cream social afterward as opposed to a sit-down lunch. Flavors will be Moose Tracks (her favorite!) in addition to good old Chocolate and Vanilla

She was really quite a lady and lived a good, long life. It'll be hard to speak of her in the third person but I'll find something appropriate (and amusing) to say. Do me a favor and call your mom today (if she's still alive) if just to say "hi"

Saturday, September 7, 2024, Rich Norris

 Themeless Saturday by Rich Norris

Rich is back again with a puzzle that kept me going for way too long. MOLIERE and TOVAH were my last two entries among the slew of names. 

Some of Rich's cluing was cruel and unusual! Okay, I got 'em but laughed when I saw how they fit for my hard-earned "got 'er done".

Across:

1. Attractive bar, say: INSPOT - NYC's INSPOT of the 70's. Yeah, I went with magnet first. 

7. New parent, maybe: STEP DAD -  Mike was a new parent to half the bunch

14. Big star: POP IDOL.

16. French Tony equivalent: MOLIERE - MOLIERE is considered to be France's Shakespeare and 36. Cover name: ALIAS - Moliere was born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, but changed it to his one-word pseudonym. 

17. Significant tennis term: OPEN ERA - It started in 1968 when pros were allowed into The Grand Slam events.

18. Reveals: EVINCES - It was good enough for Thomas Jefferson.

19. Faction: SECT.

20. Cub Scout leader: AKELA - Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement, chose the wolf AKELA from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book to be its leader.

22. Flightless island bird: KIWI - They live on the island of New Zealand

23. Sword holder: SHEATH - More info

24. Brit's clothespin: PEG - This is also what some people call a golf tee

25. Letters for a seaside vacation: SPF - Sun Protection Factor

28. Hieroglyphic figures: ASPS.

29. "Lost" antagonist: ETHAN.

31. Carmichael who composed "Heart and Soul": HOAGY - Like others, I learned the right hand only version of HOAGY's classic tune

33. "Jingle Bells" preposition: OER - ... OER the fields we go...

35. Display area: SHELF.

37. Computer add-on?: ESE.

38. Go a-wassailing: CAROL -  There is hot cider (wassail) being consumed and CAROLLING going on below 

39. Honorary Oscar recipient in 1955: GARBO - The reclusive actress never came to accept it

40. Old young king: TUT 😀 - Howard Carter's discovery of TUT's tomb was financed by Lord Carnarvon, the actual occupant of Downton Abbey (Highclere Castle) in 1922 .

41. Play area: ARENA - A recent puzzle had STAGE for this clue

42. Unpolished: CRASS.

43. Play thing: PROP - For the very few peeps who do not recognize this famous PROP from the movie of the same name, the answer is at the bottom of the write-up. *

45. Overnight development: DEW - 😀 We early golfers are sometimes called DEW sweepers.

46. Mil. defense letters: ABM - Anti Ballistic Missle system

47. Place for many a last-minute purchase, casually: C-STORE - Or so many others...

49. Royale and Flying Cloud: REOS - I'm sure you cwd peeps know REO stands for Ransom Eli Olds who invented the Oldsmobile. He left there and made his own car.

51. Lyon's river: RHONE - Originates in the Swiss Alps and empties into the Mediterranean 

52. Composer/conductor Lukas: FOSS - Everything you want to know

56. Pope who was a patron of Michelangelo and Copernicus: PAUL III - Pope Julius II forced Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo did The Last Judgement for  PAUL III in the same room.

58. "Nice one!": YOU  ROCK.

60. Triage pro: ER NURSE.

61. Strike goal, perhaps: MORE PAY.

62. Sandal features: T-STRAPS.

63. Fails to act: SITS BY - If you were among the many millions who watched the finale of Seinfeld, you know they went to jail for failing to act to help a man getting robbed.

Down:

1. Certain market launches, for short: IPOS - Initial Public Offering of stock 

2. "Try again": NOPE.

3. Brief detail: SPEC.

4. __ glass: PINT.

5. To work?: ODE.

6. Five-book scrolls: TORAHS.

7. Troutlike fish: SMELT.

Rainbow SMELT

8. Actress Feldshuh: TOVAH - I never knew her name but remember her playing a "tough as nails" defense lawyer Danielle Melnick in Law And Order

9. One "ManningCast" host: ELI - Peyton and ELI Manning bookend Will Ferell

10. "Trouble" Grammy winner: PINK.

11. Figured out: DECIPHERED - Alan Turing and his colleagues did some of  the most important DECIPHERING in human history in Hut 8 during WWII.

12. Lead-in to a secret: ARE WE ALONE. 😀

13. Problem that may be confused with operator error: DESIGN FLAW - Uh, there is this one issue with your new Pinto

15. One of several artists nicknamed for where they lived: LAKE POET - More

21. Approaches carefully: EASES UP TO.

23. Indisputable decisions: SAY SO'S - I am married to the person who has the SAY SO around here

25. Big pile on the floor: SHAG CARPET - 😀 A necessary accessory for big pile SHAG CARPET in the 70's.

26. Club members who break the ice with splashy entrances?: POLAR BEARS - Yikes! Not a club I am anxious to join. 

27. Negotiation objective: FAIR AMOUNT - Ask for too much and hope to get somewhere in the middle

29. Get away: ESCAPE.

30. Seagoing adverb: THAR - Adverbs can tell where, like this version of there.

32. Natters: GABS.

34. Snail mail, e.g.: RETRONYM.

44. Cereal promoted by the Creme Team: OREO O'S.

47. Burning result?: CRISP - I'm at an 8 or 9

48. Backs (away): SHIES.

50. Arc on a score: SLUR.

52. Violin's lack: FRET 😀

53. Slip indicator: OOPS.

54. Sign of healing: SCAB - Tina Fey got a SCAR on her chin when she was 5 years old

55. Finlandia rival: SKYY.

57. Yo La Tengo guitarist Kaplan: IRA - I Have It in English. A definite Saturday IRA in this onslaught of name from Rich or Patti. This IRA was number 12 on this list of famous IRA's

59. The Rams of the Atlantic 10, briefly: URI - A good guess for an Atlantic Coast School

From l to r, that is Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Mary Astor and Sidney Greenstreet perusing the Maltese Falcon.