Today I had a pleasant 18 minute stroll through Jeffrey's 151st LA Times puzzle. As you regulars know, Lemon noted on October 11 that he was blogging Jeffrey's 150th LA puzzle that day and we had the benefit of a fun puzzle and commentary from Jeffrey. Add in Lemon's always elucidating narration and it made for a lovely experience. Jeffrey's accompanying comments on that Friday said how he values terseness for that which made me look to see where he and Rich pared down to the most succinct cluing today. You regulars will also be able to pick Jeffrey out of this gaggle of constructors shown in the accompanying picture here. I will post at the bottom (*) of the write-up which one is our prolific Jeffrey. Across: 1. Safari sight: WILD ANIMAL - All right, who's watching whom?
11. Class clown, at times: APER - I had a student "APE" some of my actions during class and I laughed really hard! 15. MRI safety consideration: ENERGY DOSE - An ENERGY DOSE greater than 3.5 kJ/kg can be uncomfortable for the patient. You're welcome! 😙 16. Fabric used in sci-fi costumes: LAMÈ- Still puzzled about your halloween costume? For around $80 you can get this gold LAMÈ outfit that would make Elvis proud. Do sci-fi next year! 17. Ones concerned with public images?: TV STATIONS - In my misspent yute, we had two and then three TV stations. Now... 18. Infuriates: IRES. 19. Where food may be collected: BIB. 20. Many Egon Schiele works: EROTIC ART - Search at your leisure. I couldn't pick a "favorite" to post 22. Lacking a key: ATONAL - A two-min primer on this type of music 26. __ code: PENAL. 27. Has as an address: RESIDES AT - Most here know what fictional character RESIDES AT this Baker Street address
31. "__ Mio": O SOLE - Sherrill Nielsen sings in Italian and then The King answers with the English adaptation of this lovely melody
32. Gradual process of concern to periodontists: BONE LOSS
34. Recognizes: ID'S. 35. See 46-Down: THIS and 46. With 35-Across, self-confident words: I CAN DO - That is the mantra for this anxious woman anticipating her first roller coaster ride
38. Annoying sort: TWERP. 39. Leporello in "Don Giovanni," e.g.: BASS - Don's servant. Description of the role is servant, comic relief, sidekick, misguided, loyal 40. Dorm figs.: RA'S - Resident Assistants are supposed to prevent liquor from entering the dorm 41. Vacation itinerary entry: TOUR SITE - Daughter avoids these on vacation and we seek them out 43. French dispatch boat: AVISO -I was proud my cwd experience filled this in immediately 45. Summer fun item attached to a ladder: POOL SLIDE - I CAN NOT DO THIS!
49. Cetera of Chicago: PETER - Not on my play list 50. __ powder: TALCUM - Whether TALCUM increases cancer risk due to some asbestos content is an open debate right now 51. Intellectual property statute: PATENT LAW - America's first patent issued to Samuel Hopkins and signed by G Washington
56. Greece neighbor: Abbr.: ALBania 57. Oklahoma city: ENID - About 7 hours SSW of me
58. Payment: REMITTANCE. 62. Coleridge work: RIME - Archaic spelling of rhyme. Coleridge's original title was RIME of the Ancyent Marinere. 63. Fair: EVENHANDED 64. Hightailed it: SPED. 65. Musical with the song "Sex Is in the Heel": KINKY BOOTS - Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, book by Harvey Fierstein. Trailer Down: 1. Rec room amenity: WET BAR - Yes, but here is a real (and really) WET BAR
2. Ask: INVITE. 3. Sappho's home: LESBOS - Here 'ya go 4. Gere title role: DR. T - The critics saw a lot more to like than the audiences
5. Ottoman honorific: AGA - The AGA Khan is said to be a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed 6. News initials since 1851: NYT 7. Romeo's last words: I DIE.
8. Baskerville Hall setting: MOOR.
9. "It came __ surprise": AS NO. 10. Opposite of provided: LEST.
11. Eatery "just a half a mile from the railroad track": ALICE'S - The Smithsonian's take on Arlo's song 12. Conspiracy theory origin, perhaps: PARANOIA - Nobody as insignificant as Lee Harvey Oswald could have killed JKK, so... 13. Green shades: EMERALDS. 14. Antsy: RESTLESS - Supervise a 7th grade study hall and you can also find some 24. Commotion: ADO. 21. Wall St. events: IPOS - Ten biggest IPO's of 2019 23. Ink spots?: NIBS - The NIB on this pen is the spot where ink is placed
25. Tempo of Chopin's "Marche funèbre": LENTO - Same for this piece more familiar to me (assai means very)
28. Clinch: SEW UP. 29. Last Olds model: ALERO. 30. Where the heart is: TORSO - More "that's why I love Jeffrey's puzzles" cluing/fill 33. Like some wasted milk: SPILT - Don't cry over it 37. Anticipatory question: IS IT TIME? - Yes, it's time to let it go! 35. Early Hudson's Bay Company employees: TRAPPERS.
36. Imbibe minimally: HAVE A NIP - Not a SIP it turns out 39. Franklin half-dollar image: BELL - Can you find the mint mark that indicates where this coin was struck?
41. Undecided: TORN. 42. Org. with beeping wands: TSA - Truly a thankless job but...
44. Like some rye: SEEDED. 47. Pleasing to the ear: DULCET - My first thought was of Bing Crosby but this was too hard to pass up
48. Places firmly (in): EMBEDS - A ___ EMBEDS a(n) ____ into a ____
52. "Star __": TREK 53. First name in casual wear: LEVI - These LEVI jeans from 1879 (when Mr. Strauss was 50 yrs-old), with trademark rivets, were not made for casual wear. They are stored in a fire-proof safe where only two people have the combination.
54. "And that goes for me, too!": AMEN. 55. Pretend not to see, with "at": WINK - Trust me
59. Old possessive: THY. 60. Q neighbor: TAB - Not NOP or RST 61. "Is that __?": A NO - Not my response if you are asking to comment today!
*Jeffrey is standing next to C.C. in an argyle sweater
Today we take another fun spin on Jeopardy Champion Erik Agard's puzzle-mobile. Two triple vertical stacks of 9's and triple horizontal rows of 8's are so impressive! This is a nice article about Marylander Erik (graduate of Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Springs) Across: 1. Online gay dating site: GRINDR - Here ya go 7. Bridge accessory: SCORE PAD. 15. Electrically overhaul: REWIRE - It took me an hour to REWIRE a lamp three weeks ago. Now I could do it in five minutes!
16. ProvenÁal olive-and-capers spread: TAPENADE - Its name comes from the Provençal word for capers, tapenas. French major granddaughter says ProvenÁal used in clue is an archaic name for the adjective Provençal describing things from the Provence area in SE France 17. Many: A LOT OF. 18. Bent: APTITUDE - My APTITUDE for math and science led to a 42-yr career (BENT OUT OF SHAPE was our Thursday gimmick) 19. Legal end: BAN - It doesn't seem to be a good time to be starting a Vape business 20. Eponymous German bacteriologist: PETRI - Here is the discoverer of penicillin, Alexander Fleming, holding a PETRI dish like the one he used in making his momentous find
22. Nuzzled: NOSED. 23. Relative of "You go!": ATTA- Many "over and above" things I did as a teacher garnered me an "ATTA Boy" but no cash 25. Yogurt-based condiment: RAITA - How to make one type. Yes, I saw it is an anagram of our cwd rope friend
27. Contents of some weekly organizers: MEDS - They can get complicated
30. Forensic workplace: DNA LAB - DNA testing exonerated this Idaho man and convicted the actual perpetrator. 28. "Alas ... ": SADLY he spent 20 years in jail before the truth came out
32. Volumes on devices: EBOOKS. 34. Cheeks asset: GLOW. 35. Lose juice entirely: DIE.
38. Sci-fi science: ALIEN TECHNOLOGY - The premise of the movie Independence Day was that gov't scientists were studying ALIEN TECHNOLOGY at Area 51
41. Palindromic observance: TET. 42. Imprecise words: OR SO. 43. Stand-up comic Boosler: ELAYNE - A funny minute with ELAYNE
44. Words of denial: I WASN'T 46. Was upheld on appeal: STOOD - After a review, an NFL referee can say a call has STOOD, been confirmed or been overturned 47. Radio letters: AM FM - In my yute, our car radios only had AM but those of us of a certain age will recognize the Conelrad symbols in case of emergencies
50. Many of the characters in the 2018 film "Smallfoot": YETIS.
52. Italian cabbage?: EURO - This is slang for money. Real Italian cabbage is Cavolo Italiano 53. Part of UCSD: DIEGO - The Geisel Library at the University of California at San DIEGO
55. Radical cousin: NEATO - The fill predates the cluing by quite a bit 57. Cheese go-with: MAC. 58. Handy annuals: ALMANACS - Here's one from the year I was born
60. It was created in Philly in 1792: US MINT. 62. Small tuft: PLUMELET - The PLUMELET (feather) in Forest Gumphad wonderful symbolism
63. White, to Juan: BLANCO - A fun song about Una Paloma BLANCA - The White Dove (I know the fill is masculine BLANCO but this is a fun song)
Down: 1. Park it: GRAB A SEAT. 2. Sympathetic: RELATABLE - I would call Tom Hanks the most RELATABLE actor in Hollywood 3. Defiant refusal: I WON'T DO IT. 4. Micromanager's excess: NIT - In a recent response to me, a professional person hoped my "weekend went GOOD" and said "she was giving me a PEAK at fees her institute charges". I did 9. Go (for): OPT to not correct her 5. Fall: DROP. 6. Direct: REFER - My doctor REFERRED me to a wonderful Omaha surgeon rather than trust our local hospital 7. Competitions in which batting is forbidden: STARING CONTESTS - Anyone batting their eyes loses
8. Goalpost look-alike: CAPITAL H. 10. Control during riding: REIN. 11. Lay to rest: ENTOMB. 12. Meaning of two vertical lines, at times: PAUSE.
13. Put in later: ADDED - If you buy M*A*S*H DVD's, you can choose to leave off the ADDED laugh track which I would elect to do 14. Done things: DEEDS.
21. Tiny bit: TAD. 24. Wound application: ALOE. 26. Without help: ALONE. 29. Informal "Dig?": Y'KNOW - Another ' from Erik and a very annoying speech idiom 31. Base runners?: AWOLS - Sgt. Hulka chews out Pvt. Ringer after Winger goes AWOL from the base, which was Camp Arnold, in Stripes
33. Deviate: STRAY. 35. "Excu-u-use me!": DO YOU MIND - He made it famous (:07)
36. "Learning [is] the kind of __ distinguishing the studious": Bierce: IGNORANCE - I always say that I am smart enough to know how little I know 37. Triangular chart user: EYE DOCTOR - People in 2020 will be surprised to learn that 20:20 vision is normal not perfect vision
39. Basic natures: ESSENCES. 40. Having a timing problem: LATE - Rude 44. "Let's": I'M GAME - A fourth apostrophe fill for our good friend Erik today 45. Familia member: TIA - ¿Todos los demás tienen una TIA loca en su familia? (Does everyone else have a crazy aunt in their family?) 47. Change for the better: ADAPT - When in Rome... 48. __ Vanilli: MILLI - Their lip-synching fraud of someone else's performance came out when the track stuck while they were "singing" on stage
49. Big bone: FEMUR. 51. Theater buff's collection: STUBS - Decorate a coffee table with them
54. Turow memoir: ONE-L. 56. Parliament : London :: Storting : __: OSLO - Norway's parliament, the Storting, meets in this building
59. Pale __: ALE. 61. Not bien: MAL - ¡El rompecabezas de Erik es bien, no está MAL! (Erik's puzzle is good, not bad!) Comments welcome:
16. Fabric used in sci-fi costumes: LAMÈ - Still puzzled about your halloween costume? For around $80 you can get this gold LAMÈ outfit that would make Elvis proud. Do sci-fi next year!
