31. Souvenirs caught at stadiums: FOUL BALLS. In 40 years of going to basaeball games, I've never caught an MLB FOUL.
34. Taos winter hrs.: MST. Taos, New Mexico is in Mountan Standard Time zone during DST (Daylight Standard Time).
35. SAG-AFTRA president Drescher: FRAN. She was oft in the news over the summer.
She played "The Nanny"
36. Maize unit: EAR.
37. Title for Mo Farah: SIR.
39. "Just to clarify ... ": I MEAN. "I mean, I mean, [...] I'm sittin here on the Group W bench 'Cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army [...] after bein' a litterbug." -Arlo Guthrie
40. Ouija users: MEDIUMS.
42. In a spooky way: EERILY.
43. Film composer Danny: ELFMAN.
44. Glossary entry: TERM.
47. Tolerate: ABIDE.
48. Aquarium fish: TETRA.
49. "Twilight" author Stephenie: MEYER.
50. Nature Conservancy giveaway: TOTE.
51. Still alive for the semis, say: IN IT.
53. Lose one's cool: SNAP.
55. Look at: EYE.
56. Cape __: COD.
57. O'Shaughnessy poem that begins, "We are the music makers, / And we are the dreamers of dreams": ODE.
Yep, a nice Wednesday puzzle with no intersecting names ;-). Post your puzzling thoughts below.
The Grid:
The Grid
WOs: I ink'd only one M in COMMUNITY for a second
ESP: MIEN, THORNE, ELFMAN, MEYAR Fav: Ultimate FRISBEE
Cheers, -T
Notes from C.C.:
Happy
86th birthday to Lucina! Here's a 2011 picture of Lucina and our old California blog regulars JD, Chickie, Clear Ayes and Garlic
Gal and Dodo. Our deepest condolences for the loss of your niece, Lucina.
L-R back row: Chickie, Clear Ayes, Garlic Gal
Front: JD, Lucina, Dodo (June 23, 2011)
Good Morning Crucibverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here once again with a recap of a Friday puzzle. Today's puzzle setters are Taylor Johnson and Christina Iverson. We have previously seen puzzles by each of them in the L.A. Times.
Today's "theme" is something of an odd duck and I find it to be a bit difficult to explain. First of all, it is meta. At five places within the grid (each clue ending with a question mark for a bit of added helpfulness), portions of the clues themselves are used to form the answers. In each case the letters that are employed in this capacity frame the opening portion of the clue. The relationship that each answer has to its clue is the "letter play"and the use of words such as border, case, frame, etc,. Let's look at the first example and see if things might not become a bit clearer.
17 Across: Op-ed column feature?: OPEN BORDER. If we look at OP-ED COLUMN we see that the O P E and N form the word OPEN. OPEN forms, and frames, the left BORDER of the clue (exclusive of the word "feature").
25 Across: Spa service feature?: SPACE CASE. . In the second-from-the-top themed clue/answer, we are presented with SPA SERVICE in the clue. The S,P, A, C, and E of the answer (SPACE CASE) originate in the clue. They could be said the enCASE the clue. The fact that we have two C's and two E's from which to chose might be a wee bit confusing but since we are going with edges and sides we'll go with the first C and the last E for the highlighting, below. Making things a bit more interesting or confusing is that, in this instance, SPACE can frame both the clue and the answer.
The other three theme answers are:
35 Across: Free booze feature?: FREEZE FRAME. FREE BOOZE. As with the previous theme answer, things are a bit more interesting / confusing because FREEZE FRAMEs both the clue and the answer.
48 Across: Lotus pose feature?: LOOSE ENDS. LOOSE frames the ENDS of the clue LOTUS POSE.
63. Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, for one: ESPY. Named in honor of North Carolina basketball coach Jim Valvano.
64. Some piercing spots: NOSES. First thought was LOBES. Three out of five wasn't going to work out.
65. Toy (with): MESS.
Down:
1. Sportswear logo: SWOOSH. A Nike athletic apparel reference.
2. Baby bottle topper: NIPPLE.
3. Pickup spec: ONE TON. Not a pickup bar reference. A truck reference.
4. Ligurian port on a namesake gulf: GENOA. Often clued with a salami reference but, hey, it's Friday.
5. Glasgow citizen: SCOT. Not Glasgow, Montana.
6. Road goo: TAR.
7. Total: ADD UP. If this had been a truck reference the answer could have been WRECK.
8. Davis of "Beetlejuice": GEENA.
9. Stern: STRICT.
10. Pretend: ACT.
11. Cry for attention: LOOK AT ME.
12. Turpentine ingredient: PINE SAP. First went with PINE TAR.
13. Tweezers targets: SLIVERS. SPLINTERS was too long.
18. Jumper cable?: BUNGEE.
22. 39-Down, e.g.: TEA.
25. Portmanteau coined by Tyra Banks on "America's Next Top Model": SMIZE. Smile with your eyes. Perhaps in some circles Tyra-isms are as accepted as Yogi-isms are in other circles. However, at this point in the solve the only thing my eyes were doing was rolling.
26. Harlan Coben genre: CRIME.
29. Simian: APE. What do you call a simian who lives in a ventilation system? A duct APE.
31. Dances with queens: PROMS. Dances is used here as a plural noun.
Julie Brown
32. Sundial X: TEN. Roman numeral.
33. Some natural hairstyles: AFROS.
35. Blueprint: FLOOR MAP. More often, FLOOR PLAN but that would not fit.
37. Matches: AGREES. 38. "None for you!": ALL MINE.
39. Herbal red 22-Down: ROOIBOS. A new one for me but, apparently, not all that obscure.
42. Unadon fish: EEL. A sushi reference.
43. Church official: DEACON. A couple of locals DEACONs stood by the side of the road holding up a sign that read, “The End is Near! Turn yourself around now before it’s too late!” They held up the sign to each passing car. “Leave us alone you religious nuts!” yelled the first driver as he sped by. From around the curve they heard a big splash. “Do you think,” said one DEACON to the other, “we should just put up a sign that says ‘bridge is out’ instead?
45. Guessing game where the answer can be false, but not true?: WORDLE. A gimme for many here. Tough for many others.
46. Farewells: ADIEUS. Could have been ADIEUX.
47. Approvals: YESSES.
49. Hangzhou "Hello": NI HAO. Today's mandarin lesson.
50. Metallic waste: DROSS. SLAG was too short.
52. Spectrum-maker: PRISM.
55. Own (up): FESS. It might have been clued as "Actor and wine maker ____ Parker".
57. Short: SHY. Not a height reference. As in to owe money that one does not have.
59. "The thing is ... ": SEE.
The thing is... that about wraps things up for today. Have a great weekend, everyone. I will be traveling and taking time off from blogging for a while. See you in September.
Today veteran constructor Taylor Johnson (7 previous LAT and
4 NYT puzzles) presents us with an interesting challenge. It's not uncommon for
puzzles to have clues that reference other clues, but I've never seen one
where all the theme clues just referenced another clue, which of course
had to be the reveal:
57A. "Time to go," and a phrase that could be uttered by a 15-, a 21-, a 32-,
or a 48-Across?: LET'S ROLL. This is an idiom that can have at least four different
meanings, depending on who the "utterer" is ...
15A. See 57-Across:
DIRECTOR. This utterer is the one who says "Lights, camera, action". In
this case LET'S ROLL means "start the
film reels that record the action". This is an anachronism these days as
most video is recorded digitally or generated by
CGI. We see a few examples of the latter in the clues below.
21A. See 57-Across: CRAPS DEALER. The role of this utterer is not a simple one. As near as I can
tell her/his job is to direct the activities at the craps table, determining
who "shoots" next and how much, if any the players at the table will win or
lose, depending on their bets prior to the roll. In this case the dealer
might say LET'S ROLL to keep the
action going and maximize the house's cash intake. This video explains it all
(you've got nothing to lose, so good luck!) ...
32A. See 57-Across: SUSHI CHEF. This utterer might say LET'S ROLL to
his crew if a party of 8 has just placed a big order for
makizushi. Of course if the order is for
sashimi
or
nigiri
sushi, the chef might say LET'S SLICE.
48A. See 57-Across:
JAZZ DRUMMER. Actually I think the utterer in this case would be the band leader who would cue the
DRUMMER: "it's time for your solo",
LET'S ROLL. In this case he points to TWO of the greatest drummers of all time to show
their chops: Gene Krupa & Buddy Rich:
Did the guy who came down stage at the end look familiar? He played
Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess in last Thursday's puzzle.
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ... Across:
1. Oscar, __, Quebec: NATO sequence: PAPA. From the
The International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as the NATO phonetic alphabet. It's the most widely
used set of clear code words for communicating the letters of the Roman
alphabet.
25. Season with heavy rainfall: MONSOON. A
MONSOON
is a seasonal change in the direction of the prevailing, or strongest, winds
of a region. Monsoons cause wet and dry seasons throughout much of the
tropics. Monsoons are most often associated with the Indian Ocean
27. Faux __: PAS. "False step" (pl. FAUX PAS), today's
French lesson. I make a lot of FAUX PAS when creating reviews (as opposed to TYPOS, which Teri catches) and
I rely on the early crew (you know who are), to point them out in their
comments and give me a chance to fix them. It's likely that the
Cornerites who get up at a reasonable hour don't even know I made them.
28. The Cavaliers of the NCAA: UVA. The
Virginia Cavaliers
football team represents the University of Virginia in the sport of
American football (not the one played in most other parts of the World).
Here's why they're called
The Cavaliers.
29. Not behind: ANTI. "Not behind" as in "Does not support".
30. Fated: DESTINED. See 64A.
32. [Theme clue]
36. Put the final touches on, say: POLISH UP. Sometimes I just
don't know when to stop.
39. Some bros: SIBS.
43. Tan line cause: BRA. Colorful cue.
44. "Mangia!": EAT. Today's Italian lesson.
45. Core-sculpting apparatus: AB TONER. This is not a
well-defined term. Presumably anything, whether it be machines,
electrical stimulation, or stuff that you strap to your body to make your
ABS look like a 6-pack of beer.
48. [Theme clue]
51. __ Paulo, Brazil: SAO. Saint Paul. Today's
Portuguese lesson. A city in Brazil named for a famous letter writer.
52. Strong dark beer: BOCK. The dark lager known as
BOCK beer
was first brewed in the 14th century in the town of
Einbeck in Lower Saxony. Definitely not a good way to get 6-pack ABS.
53. Buoys: UPLIFTS.
55. Palm leaves: FRONDS.
57. [Theme reveal]
59. "Oh, I remember now!": AH YES. Said by people all over the Corner every day.
60. "__ you serious?": ARE. R.U. Sirius is the name of the
space station where most of the action takes place in the daily cartoon
Brewster Rockit,
drawn by Tim Rickard. Here's
Dr. Mel Practice counseling Oldbot in the June 13th 2023 episode
...
61. Region: AREA.
62. Big cheese: BOSS.
63. Homer's "okily-dokily" neighbor: NED. Apparently NED
has a lot of relatives ...
64. "Champagne Life" R&B singer: NE-YO. I'm not sure
if he was DESTINED for this fill or it was just perped in by a Google
search, but Champagne Life does qualify as Rhythm and
Blues,and he can sing it. Here's NE-YO and
his posse having a good time with some bubbly ...
Down:
1. "__ Save America": Crooked Media production:
POD. In the review racket this clue is called a political "hot
potato" and I'm punting.
2. Jennifer of "The Morning Show": ANISTON. The Morning Show, is an American comedy-drama television series starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell, that premiered on Apple TV+ on November 1, 2019. The series is inspired by Brian Stelter's 2013 bookTop of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV. The series has been renewed through 2023.
3. Degree of interest?: PERCENT.
4. Antiquing agent: AGER.
5. "My Neighbor __ ": 1988 Miyazaki film: TOTORO. This one was
right on the tip of my tongue (where it stayed until perped).
My Neighbor TOTORO
is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film that was written and directed by
Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli. The film stars tells the story
of a professor's young daughters Satsuki and Mei, and their interactions with
friendly wood spirits in postwar rural Japan. Beautiful animation
(English voice overs provided by the Fanning sisters, Dakota and
Elle) ...
6. Branding words: SLOGAN.
7. Pro pitcher?: AD REP. EWER was too short.
8. Something in the air: AROMA.
9. Gp. with student diplomats: MODEL UN.
MODEL UN is a
popular activity for those interested in learning more about how the UN
operates. Hundreds of thousands of students worldwide take part every year at
all educational levels.
Model UN Assembly
10. One of the Three Stooges: MOE. A CSO to our
Chairman! Here's hoping he and Margaret are enjoying their
vacation.
11. Curtailed missions?: OPS. "BLACK" was chopped off the
front?
14. Italian port neighboring Slovenia: TRIESTE.
TRIESTE
is located at the head of the Gulf of Trieste, on a narrow strip of Italian
territory lying between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia; Slovenia lies
approximately 8 km (5 mi) east and 10–15 km (6–9 mi) southeast of the city,
while Croatia is about 30 km (19 mi) to the south of the city.
Trieste
16. Pixar film with the song "Remember Me": COCO.
COCO is a 2017 American computer-animated fantasy film
produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney
Pictures. The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel (Gonzalez)
who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where he seeks the
help of his deceased musician great-great-grandfather to return him to his
family among the living and to reverse his family's ban on music.
17. Punctuation found in many Emily Dickinson poems:
EM DASH.
Here's a brief bio of the Bell of Amherst
-- and a selection of her poems -- see if you agree with Taylor on that
assessment.
Emily Dickinson
20. Actress Thurman: UMA.
22. Blueprint info: SPEC.
23. Part of NYE: EVE.
24. "Cool, man": RAD. A truncation of RADICAL -- Dude!
26. "Absolutamente": SI SI. Yes Yes. Italian lesson #2 (idiomatic).
30. Party bowlful: DIP.
31. "In that case ... ": IF SO.
33. Bargain bin stock at some music stores: USED CDS. Most music
is streamed from the
Cloud
these days, free or with a fee -- e.g.
Spotify --
so USED CDS can be had cheaply. Or you can listen on your
favorite radio station -- e.g.
WBJC -- streamable free
from anywhere in the world (I assume you have Internet service or you wouldn't be reading this) -- I think Emily is
starting to rub off on me.
34. San Jose team: SHARKS. The San Jose SHARKS are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference.
35. Native Rwandan: HUTU. TheHUTU, also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great Lakes Twa.
Rwanda Burundi
36. Vegan sandwich, initially: PBJ.
37. "Your Song" singer Rita: ORA. No automobiles were damaged in
the making of this (rated PG13) video ...
38. Some recliners: LA-Z-BOYS.
40. Forthcoming: IN STORE.
41. "Moonlighting" actress Allyce: BEASLEY. Moonlighting
is an American comedy drama television series that aired on ABC from March 3,
1985, to May 14, 1989, starring Cybill Shepherd (Maddie) and
Bruce Willis (David) as private detectives, and
Allyce Beasley (Agnes) as their quirky receptionist. In this scene
Agnes has arrived early at the office, but David has arrived earlier ...
42. Full house indicator: SRO.
45. Electrical unit: AMPERE. The amount of
current (AMPERES (I)) passing through a conductor of a
given resistance (OHMS (R)), for a given
voltage (VOLTS (V)), as defined by
Ohm's Law.
46. Sang with gusto: BELTED. Here's the late, great Dimitri
Hvorostovsky BELTING out the aria Largo al Factotum from
Giaochino Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville ...
47. Swim/bike/run races, briefly: TRIS. Short for
Triathlon, and a CSO to sumdaze, who has done several TRIS and 10 marathons!!!
The three legs of a Triathlon
49. Regions: ZONES.
50. Disney retelling of a Chinese folk legend: MULAN. As it
turns out, Disney made two versions of this
legendary story: an animated version in 1998 and a live action version in
2020. As I avoid decisions wherever possible, here are trailers
for both.
54. Drescher of "The Nanny": FRAN. "The Nanny" is an American
television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from November 3, 1993 to June
23, 1999, starring
FRANDrescher
as Fran Fine, a Jewish fashionista from
Flushing, Queens, New York, who becomes the nanny of three children
from the New York–British high society. Here's her job interview ...
55. Groovy: FAB. A sibling of 24D.
56. Sigma preceder: RHO.
58. Asian language: LAO.
Cheers, Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading, for
her constructive criticism.
Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with today's recap of a puzzle by Taylor Johnson who first appeared in this venue just a few days shy of one year ago (on 22 May 2022, per Bill). Taylor has also had puzzles published in other venues. Previously, he has employed themes where letters have to be removed from common words and phrases in order to form appropriate (and humorous) answers to the clues. Today, in an example of, arguably, increased efficiency, nothing has to be removed. A single letter merely has to be moved over from the start of one word to the end of the preceding word. He provides the key at:
59 Across: Makes room, and when parsed differently, an instruction for four answers in this puzzle: MOVES OVER. Or, as intended here, MOVE S OVER.
He applies this methodology at four places in the grid:
17 Across: Leg muscle of a mathlete?: GEEK'S QUAD. Geek Squad (techies) is modified by moving the S from the beginning of the word SQUAD to the end of the word GEEK thereby making GEEK possessive. At the risk of being redundant, GEEK SQUAD morphs into GEEK'S QUAD (as in quadriceps).
31 Across: Fruity pastry made by a movie boxer?: ROCKY'S TART. Similarly, ROCKY START becomes ROCKY'S TART. What Adrian certainly was not?
Theme From Rocky XIII
35 Across: Pub pour for an enlisted soldier?: PRIVATE'S ALE. Parsed differently, PRIVATE SALE.
42 Across: Vacation for a stand-up performer?: COMIC'S TRIP. COMIC STRIP.
Comic's (and POTUS's) Trip
Here is how this looks in the grid:
. . . and here are the rest of the clues/answers:
Across:
1. Informant: RAT. Hollywood gangster movie jargon.
4. MGM part: METRO.
9. Labor leader Chavez: CESAR. His granddaughter was recently tapped to be the current president's reelection campaign manager.
14. Goof: ERR.
15. Sprinter Bolt: USAIN. Among other accomplishments, an eight-time gold medalist at the Olympics.
16. Enough: AMPLE. Knock. Knock. Who's there? Four eggs. Four eggs who? Four eggs AMPLE.
19. Stacked: BUILT. A bit of a stretch. In slang, both stacked and BUILT have another meaning. Perhaps that's what was intended here.
20. "Don't you agree?," informally: INNIT. Punt!
21. Darn things: SEW. Darn, here, is used as a verb as in to mend.
23. However, poetically: THO.
24. Game requiring plug-ins?: MAD LIBS. You plug your words into the blanks without knowing the context (a second participant asks you for a noun, a verb, an adjective, etc.). The results can sometimes be hilarious.
27, Idle Talk: CHATTER
30. International gas brand: ESSO. From Standard Oil. S.O.
33. Source of a low blow?: TUBA. A bit of word play. A wind instrument that plays low notes. Hand up for first thinking of KNEE,
34. "History of the World, Part II" actress/writer Wanda: SYKES. The Hulu TV series is meant to be a sequel to the 1981 Mel Brooks movie. It's good to be the king.
39. Like part of some fusion cuisine: ASIAN.
41. Semisoft cheese: EDAM. Not all cheeses are made in the same manner. In fact, EDAM is made backwards.
45. Shirt part with a button: CUFF.
49. Tip: POINTER.
50. ESPN Deportes language: ESPANOL. The clue employs the Spanish language so the answer does also.
52. Small bill: ONE. As in legal tender, currency.
53. Crossed (out): XED
55. __ board: EMERY. A SURF board was too short. A CUTTING board was too large. Ouija board fit but didn't work. Thanks, again, perps.
56. Pegasus pair: WINGS. The mythical winged horse.
62. First name in cosmetics: ESTEE. ESTEE Lauder visits us frequently.
63. Netflix crime drama set in Missouri: OZARK.
64. Self-regard: EGO.
65. River in a van Gogh painting: RHONE.
66. Event of passing interest?: RELAY. RELAY race. Pass the baton. Literally.
67. Silent approval: NOD.
Down:
1. Ruling period: REGIME. It can be used to mean the time period although more often it refers to the government in power.
2. Entertainment centers?: ARENAS. A bit of word play. Places where you might go for entertainment. Not something like this:
3. Directions: TRENDS. Would one ever say that current directions are in the right, or wrong, direction?
4. "You honestly need me to do that?": MUST I. Quotation clues provide much flexibility.
5. Letters on some office suite doors: ESQ. ESQuire is an honorific for an attorney. Collectively, we're still working out the approriate honorific as esquiress does not seem to have caught on.
6. Sigma follower: TAU. It helps to know the Greek alphabet if one likes to solve crossword puzzles . . . or at least print it out and keep that sheet of paper handy.
7. Narrow inlets: RIAS. Crosswordese.
8. Next: ON DECK. Best known as a baseball reference. The next batter up is said to be ON DECK.
9. Indie rockers Death __ for Cutie: CAB. Often clued with a reference to wine or Uber.
10. Cassowary cousin: EMU.
11. Classic bit of slapstick: SPIT TAKE. A SPIT TAKE is a comedic technique or reaction in which someone spits a drink, or sometimes food, out of their mouth as a reaction to a surprising or funny statement.
12. "Everyone's accounted for": ALL HERE.
13. Fires back, in a way: RETORTS. Verbal bantering.
18. K, in the NATO alphabet: KILO. Same tip as for 6 Down, above.
22. Frequent question from a toddler: WHY
25. British dude: BRUV. Brother --> Brudder - -> Bruvver --> BRUV. Unfamiliar to this solver. Thanks, perps.
26. Buckwheat noodle: SOBA.
28. Indian state near Bhutan: ASSAM. An oft visited place in crosswords. Sometimes clued with a reference to tea.
29. Brief sign-off: TTYL. Talk To You Later. Hand up for first trying TA TA. Cheerio!
32. Cover the spread?: CATER. Provide the food on the table as in "that's a nice spread."
33. Hint of color: TINCT. Hand up for TINGE.
35. Olive stuffing: PIMIENTO. A red, heart-shaped pepper.
36. Cloudburst: RAIN.
37. Singer Brickell: EDIE. She knows what she knows if you know what I mean. Married to Paul Simon.
38. Drains: SAPS. SAP is another word with multiple meanings.
39. Household outlet output: AC POWER. Alternating Current.
40. "In a few": SOONISH. Acceptable . . . ish.
43. __ ed: SEX. No longer limited to those "social disease" films that they showed us in high school.
44. Shiver: TREMOR.
45. Hunting garb: CAMO. CAMOuflage
46. Bumpy: UNEVEN.
47. Precede: FOREGO. Although it is usually employed to mean relinquish or go without, FOREGO can also mean to go before.
48. Casting option: FLY ROD. Sculpture (lost wax casting)? Hollywood ensemble? To throw? To watch your cellphone screen on your TV? Nope. A fishing reference.
51. Annoying: PESKY. Where does the word "politics" come from? From the Greek "poly" for many and the English "ticks" for PESKY parasites.
54. Nap: DOZE.
57. Mil. title: GEN. GENeral Abbr / Abbr
58. Match, in poker: SEE.
60. Kilmer of film: VAL.
Nick Rivers Straightens That Rug
61. Cy Young stat: ERA. A baseball reference. Earned Run Average. The Cy Young award is given annually to the best pitcher in each of the two major leagues.
