SEWER ENTRANCE
Sō - er en TRANCE, not this . . .
Today we have a duet of previous LA Times crossword constructors; here's one from Stacey, and one from Larry. Our Friday theme, not related to the "Thirteenth", is a play on words that could, but don't, rhyme - words that are spelled the same, but have a different pronunciations are called "Heteronyms". Two grid-spanners in the over-sized 15 x 16 puzzle frame, no circles, no outlier letters, 2 Napoleons, a few quotes, a Twurd or two. 3- & 5LWs combined equal the number of four-letter words, plus a number of proper nouns, but fair ones. The themers, no reveal;
18. Year of tears?: PAGE-A-DAY CALENDAR - yeer of "tares"
The caption says "llamas at home", and in the bubble -
"Llook out Llary, it's the llandllord~!"
30. Show bow?: CURTAIN CALL - shō - bao
The Princess Bride
45. Kind of wind?: OCEAN BREEZE - kye-nd of wih-nd - a bit meh, since one would inherently read this as such - not kih-nd of wye-nd, or kye-nd of wye-nd . . .
58. Power shower?: BATTERY INDICATOR - IMHO, the best of the bunch - pao-wer shōw-er
Butte Weight, Tare's Moor~!
ACROSS:
1. Chicago team: CUBS - Major League Baseball
5. Atmosphere: AURA
9. Put in the rearview mirror: GO PAST - you can go past fast if you go past fast
15. Still working: AT IT - Yes, I know it's parsed differently, but no way the previous editor lets this fly with "TIT" in the grid as well . . . 😖
16. Apple variety: iMAC - computers, not crisps
17. Beethoven symphony originally intended to honor Napoleon: EROICA - 'Hero' in Italian
Napoleon #1
21. "Hoo boy": "OH MAMA~!" - oh, Twurd(ish)~!
22. Paleozoic, for one: ERA
23. Minor progress: DENT - i.e., "I made a ' _ _' in my to-do list today."
24. Little dickens: IMP
25. Pumpkin seeds: PEPITAS - filled via perps
Straight definition
28. __-bitsy: ITSY - teeny-weeny, yellow polka-dot bikini . . .
34. Pointillism bit: DOT - coulda been tied to 30D.
35. Ribs, e.g.: BONES
36. Ashram mentors: GURUS
37. Class with makeup tests?: ANATOMY - Meh. Cosmetology would have been funnier; anatomy is the study of internal and external structures that "make up" a body
39. Countertop option: FORMICA - I still have the one from the 1950s - a product now over 100yrs old
41. One who keeps on trekkin': HIKER
42. Quaint greeting: M'LADY - "It's a bit windy, M'lady . . ."
Our dear departed Queen Elizabeth can't look
48. Some postgrad degs.: PhDs - abbrs
49. Mixture: MELANGE - a meaty mouthful
50. Poorly lit: DIM
51. Big personalities: EGOS
54. Do one's part: ACT - I prefer being behind the scenes - literally making the "scenes"
55. "You promise?": "HONEST~?" - Quote #1
62. "Shove it!": "BITE ME~!" - Quote #2
63. Outdated marriage vow word: OBEY
64. Flooring choice: TILE - I plan to redo my cheap linoleum kitchen floor with ceramic tile
65. Horse barn sounds: SNORTS
66. Gram: NANA - Grandmother nick-names
67. Solitaire foundation cards: ACES
DOWN:
1. Tool for a quick key change: CAPO - Hah~! That kind of key change - nailed it.
I say a Kay-po, You say a Cah-po - fits the theme, too - the other Capo
2. State whose license plates say "Life Elevated": UTAH - I lived in OHIO, so that four-letter state was out, and it definitely wasn't IOWA - but I couldn't recall this last four-letter one . . . and a Tuesday dupe
3. "You'll regret that": "BIG MISTAKE." - 10-letter Down, Quote #3 - and a unique fill, too
4. Torrid: STEAMY - Dah~! I had stORmy first . . .
5. Opera mentioned in the 10,000 Maniacs song "Verdi Cries": AIDA - yada yada four-letter opera~?
6. Actress Thurman: UMA - Crossword three-letter name staple
7. Word with UV or X, but not W: RAY - Took me a minute, but a great clue/answer; UV-ray, X-ray
8. Learns to live with: ACCEPTS - ABIDES was a letter short
9. Frozen Italian desserts: GELATI - the Italian plural of gelatO
10. Mine find: ORE - More ORE~! Every Friday, it seems - and a Thursday dupe
11. High-grossing film?: POND SCUM - The disgusting, "gross", water-covering kind of "film" - and one of my favorite "Edgar" scenes from Men In Black
. . . as they scurry about, in short, pointless, lives . . .
12. Staffer: AIDE
13. Read quickly: SCAN
14. Small pie: TART - I'm making fudge peanut-butter brownies for Thanksgiving
19. Concert piece: AMP
The Grateful Dead's "wall of sound"
20. Opera solo: ARIA - opera #2
25. Dinky: PUNY
26. Before, once: ERE - we had palindrome on Tuesday
Napoleon #2
27. Spitting nails: ANGRY - not IRATE
28. Craters of the Moon locale: IDAHO - more here
29. Elixir: TONIC
30. Business extension: .COM - I actually had to think about this one; ".biz" was my first notion
31. Branch of mathematics: ARITHMETIC - the other 10-letter Down
32. __ dreaming: LUCID - I try to recall all the details of my dreams in the morning - the Wiki
33. Future DAs' exams: LSATs - District Attorney, Law School Admissions Test
35. Carried: BORNE - e.g., "wind-borne" sand
Jason Bourne sand
38. Semi pro?: TEAMSTER - Didn't fool me - I knew we were looking for a "rig driver", but that didn't fit - Teamsters is the "semi" truck-driving union, which includes UPS, e.g., where I was once a member
39. Put off one's game: FAZE - most of us are fazed by too many names in a crossword
40. Many a poem by Clint Smith: ODE - no clue, but yada yada three-letter poem~?
42. Bring up: MENTION - did I mention there were 18 3LWs today~?
43. Limb lifted in a développé: LEG - I can't believe I tried ARM first - I'm so ashamed . . .
Frawnche #1, the ballet move, "unfolded"
46. Plays loudly: BLARES - Like one's stereo
Quiet Riot - "Cum on Feel the Noize" -
the YouTube link
47. Somewhat blue: RACY - Ah. That kind of "blue"
48. One hanging around a party?: PIÑATA - Har-har
50. MS Word file: .DOC
51. Starts to peter out: EBBS - Dah~! not DIES
52. Profit: GAIN
53. Inflatable pilot in "Airplane!": OTTO - Ah, the all-time best comedy movie~?
Blazing saddles, Young Frankenstein are in the running, too
55. "Hey there!": "HI-YA~!" - I tried PSST first
56. Single: SOLE - Dah~! Not LONE, but 75% correct
57. "__ chic!": "TRES~!" - Frawnche #2
59. Vitals checker, briefly: EMT - Emergency Medical Technician, but I thought "RNs" was better
60. Org. for Suns and Rockets: NBA - Basketball from Phoenix & Houston - not NASA 😁
61. Guest room, in a pinch: DEN
Splynter
Grid Flow 52.4
Notes from C.C.:
Happy birthday to Big Easy (George), husband of Louisiana Tennis Hall of Famer Diane! Hope you have a wonderful birthday and a great year ahead, George!
