Sunday January 3, 2020 Trent H. Evans

Theme: "Career Counseling" - Common phrases are humorously reinterpreted as if they're the advice given to the person in the clue.

22. Advice to an aspiring preacher?: SPEAK OF THE DEVIL.

39. Advice to an aspiring organizer?: DON'T THROW IT ALL AWAY.

57. Advice to an aspiring journalist?: DON'T FORGET TO WRITE.

83. Advice to an aspiring ballet dancer?: LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP.

99. Advice to an aspiring history professor?: THERE'S NO FUTURE IN IT. Made me chuckle.

121. Advice to an aspiring stationer?: PUSH THE ENVELOPE.

Did I miss anything extra? A full set of  "Don't" advice would be a tighter set, but probably Trent found them repetitive and too simple.

This is Trent's first Sunday puzzle for the LA Times. Perfect 100 theme squares. So many sparkling fill & fun clues, typical of his grids. You can find more of his work at  Grid Therapy.

Trent Evans

Across:

1. Movers, but hopefully not shakers: VANS. I'll just highlight a few more great clues: 30A. Star sometimes eclipsing Venus?: SERENA. The Williams sisters. 35A. Support for wind energy?: MAST. 62A. Head of MI6?: LOO 11D. Head of MI6?: LAV Toilet. Not real head.. 76A. Zoom lens?: WEBCAM. Zoom meetings.

5. Hawkeye's title workplace: MASH.

9. Global warming word: MELT.

13. Stumbling block: SNAG.

17. "Are you hurt?" response: I'M OK. After the painful slip last year, I bought these Yaktrax grips.

18. Soprano showpiece: ARIA.

19. Far from clueless: AWARE.

21. It's not a bear: KOALA. Anyone else tried this salt? It has eucalyptus in it. Smells nice.

25. Gives the boot: OUSTS. And 26. Give a lift: ELATE.

27. Finger-wagging word: SHAME.

28. It's nothing to Caesar: NIHIL.

32. Esteem to the extreme: IDOLIZE.

44. NFL's Falcons: ATL.

47. Vatican farewell: CIAO.

48. Messy place: STY.

49. Fictitious: MYTHIC.

50. Dalai Lama's former home: LHASA. And  53. China's Zhou __: ENLAI. Most respected & loved politician in China. Also 5. Red Warhol subject?: MAO.

56. "Watch me do this!": HERE I GO. And 59. "You can't be serious": OH C'MON. 89. "You betcha!": SURE WILL. Love these colloquial phrases.

63. 2020, for many: ORDEAL. Vaccines are coming.

64. "I know! I know!": OOH OOH.

65. Philly Ivy: PENN.

66. Middle schooler, probably: PRE-TEEN.

70. Prairie howlers: COYOTES.

73. Collars, as a perp: NABS.

78. Seyfried of "Big Love": AMANDA.

82. "We __ Farmer's, bum ba dum bum bum bum bum": ARE.

88. Salts, say: SEASONS.

90. Govt. security: T NOTE.

91. Unexpected mug shot feature: SMILE.

92. Bring into harmony: ATTUNE.

93. Exec concerned with hacking: CIO. Chief Information Officer.

96. "__ girl!": ATTA.

98. First name in supervillains: LEX. Luthor.

105. Simple meteorological tool: VANE.

106. Treater's adamant words: I INSIST.

107. Rap caps, perhaps: DO-RAGS.

111. Breaks down: WEEPS.

113. Cosmic comeuppance: KARMA.

117. Devoid of any pleasure: NO FUN. 3. Musical deficiency: NO EAR.

118. Aim high: GO BIG.

125. Speed skater Ohno: APOLO. Also won "Dancing with the Stars".

126. Some fitness ctrs.: YMCAS.

127. Hawaiian seafood salad: POKE. Diced raw fish.

128. Tolkien trilogy, initially: LOTR. The Lord of the Rings.

129. Radio piece: DIAL.

130. Kindle display: E INK. Learned from doing an old NYT puzzle.

131. Ruth's sultanate?: SWAT. Babe Ruth is called "Sultan of Swat"

132. Greens in regulation, e.g.: STAT. And 42. Tiger's target: HOLE. Tiger Woods.

Down:

1. Tools with jaws: VISES.

2. Quite big enough: AMPLE.

4. Got by on one's reputation alone, perhaps: SKATED.

6. Canine chorus: ARFS.

7. Evil sci-fi order: SITH.

8. LOL, verbalized: HA HA.

9. Used what was available: MADE DO.

10. Sheep related to you?: EWE. Homophone.

12. Holy threesome: TRINITY.

13. The one: SOULMATE.

14. "Old Town Road" rapper Lil __ X: NAS.

15. PC shortcut key: ALT.

16. Teslas don't need it: GAS.

20. "My Fair Lady" lady: ELIZA.

21. Japanese garden fish: KOI.

23. Lotto cousin: KENO.

24. Gulf States bigwig: EMIR.

29. Ram's protection: HELMET. LA Ram, right?

31. Mandela's org.: ANC. African National Congress.

33. Painful sequence: OWS.

34. Illuminated: LIT.

36. For a bit: A WHILE.

37. Vietnam War hot spot: SAIGON.

38. Mogul: TYCOON.

40. Cake level: TIER.

41. Drink mix made famous by NASA: TANG. Also 123. Frenemy of Lando: HAN. My hometown Xi'an was the capital city of four Chinese dynasties: Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang. I have Zhouqin. Our puzzle has HAN & TANG.

 43. Harp relative: LYRE.

44. Big name in footwear: ALDO.

45. Son of Odin: THOR.

46. Touch down: LAND.

51. Dance moves: STEPS.

52. Nowhere close: AFAR.

54. Right this minute: AT ONCE.

55. Olympic skating medalist Midori: ITO.

56. Kermit's greeting: HI HO.

58. Praise for a torero: OLE.

60. Seek the affections of: WOO.

61. Rob __: ROY.

65. One of a biblical 150: PSALM.

67. Jefferson bills: TWOS.

68. "OMG, a mouse!": EEK. We finally caught the mouse with our glue traps. Wow, he was sneaky.

69. Ease up: EBB.

71. Eastern "way": TAO. We say "Dao" in China.

72. Birds that boom and grunt: EMUS. Wow, I don't know. Sounds so noisy.

73. Channel that provided coverage of the New Horizons Pluto flyby: NASA TV. Gary probably watches it regularly.

74. Respectful singer?: ARETHA. One of her songs is "Respect".

75. Taken down: BEATEN.

77. Back on the boat: AFT.

79. Scientist __ deGrasse Tyson: NEIL. Harvard classmate of constructor Andrea Carla Michaels.

80. View from a hill: DALE.

81. Top of a hill: APEX.

83. Like the Texas flag's star: LONE. Hi there my Texas T's!

84. Baby's outfit: ONESIE.

85. Crowd eruption: ROAR.

86. Rock ending?: ETTE. Rockette.

87. Mountain legend: YETI.

93. Take over or take in: CONSUME.

94. Hypotheticals: IFS.

95. Yes, to Yves: OUI.

97. "Your point is?": AND.

100. Chilly: NIPPY.

101. Finger-wagging sound: TSK TSK.

102. Four Corners state: UTAH.

103. Skye of "Say Anything...": IONE.

104. Fishes, in a way: TROLLS.

108. On, as Sherlock's game: AFOOT.

109. Sanjay of CNN: GUPTA. Is this a common Indian surname, Vidwan? We have a Dr. Gupta in our VA hospital also.

110. Hägar's dog: SNERT.

112. Film director's challenge: EGO.

114. Gym set: REPS.

115. "May I have some tuna, please?": MEOW. Such a polite cat.

116. "My Way" lyricist: ANKA.

118. Wander (about): GAD.

119. Big name in nail polish: OPI.

120. Slithery squeezer: BOA.

122. Bio or chem: SCI.

124. Lab coat checker?: VET. Labrador.

C.C.

Saturday, May 2, 2020, Trent H. Evans

Themeless Saturday by Trent H. Evans

Today we have an LA Times first-time constructor Dr. Trent H. Evans, PhD, who is a psychologist after graduating from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and has been practicing for 19 years. Today he is in Catonsville, Maryland. 

Here we see him pictured with his good friend Donut and below is part of his generous response to my email:

As far as the puzzle goes, I constructed this one in May of 2019 when I had not yet done very much themeless constructing [Husker note: My note to him was the first he knew that the puzzle was going to run today]. I don’t recall very much about the process. I know I slapped down PEDAL TO THE MEDAL to start with and after roughing out a grid, the next thing I put down was FRED SANFORD. Sanford and Son was one of my favorites as a kid, and my high school band director seemed to have an anecdote from a specific episode of Sanford and Son to cover almost any life lesson he wished to impart. By the way, if you haven’t seen the YouTube clip of Fred wearing a mask and trying to socially distance from a sick Lamont, it’s worth your time [Husker note: Picture is in the write-up]. See, I told you there’s a Sanford and Son episode for all situations!

Since I made this puzzle, I started a crossword blog at gridtherapy.com and among the puzzles on the site are 15 themelesses as of now. I call them ‘Free Association’ puzzles in keeping with the ‘therapy’ motif (I am a psychologist as you said). Looking back on this LA Times puzzle, I’m still fairly pleased with it, but I hope I’ve improved with more practice. As of this writing, the most recent puzzle on Grid Therapy is titled “Addled” which coincidentally enough makes an appearance at 9-down in this LA Times puzzle. 

I hope you and yours are as well as can be expected during these difficult days. Me, my wife Beth, and our four (!) teenagers have refrained from any acts of violence against each other over the course of our six or so weeks in lockdown, which I am going to call a win!  

Take care Gary. 

Trent 

Now let's do some "Free Association" with the good doctor on this first Saturday in May

Across:

1. Groom like a groom, maybe: MANSCAPE - Everything below my neck remains, uh, ungroomed. TMI?

9. Is in store: AWAITS.

15. Green getaway: ECO HOTEL - This one is in South Africa

16. "Crud!": DARN IT.

17. Beneficiaries of preferential admission: LEGACIES - Youngest daughter followed oldest one into this Pi Beta Phi house on 16th Street at UNL

18. Delightful: DREAMY.

19. Texas congressman who ran for president as a Libertarian in 1988: RON PAUL - He got  about 1/2 of the green section here:

21. Nice refusal?: NON - A Nice, en France, je dirais NON à manger des escargots (In Nice, France, I would say NO to eating snails)
22. When things just don't click: OFF DAY 

25. Aide-__: mnemonic device: MEMOIRE - An easy to understand French loanword. I taught ROY G BIV for decades as a mnemonic device.

28. White wine cocktails: KIRS - made with Creme de Cassis and named after Félix Kir (1876–1968), mayor of Dijon in Burgundy. If champagne is the chosen wine, the cocktail is called Kir Royale

29. Gets stuck: BOGS DOWN.

32. Let go: AXE and 33. Let go: FIRE - Somebody's losing their job here.

34. Air freshener deliveries: MISTS.

37. High-speed metaphor: PEDAL TO THE METAL - Trent's seed entry. I remember it as CB lingo.

41. Give out: ISSUE.

42. Colorado tributary: GILA.

43. "So you admit it!": AHA.

44. "Star Wars" film subtitle: A NEW HOPE - I really liked the first Star Wars movie, went to sleep in the second one and have not returned.

47. Classist type: SNOB.

48. Breath-freshening brew: MINT TEA.

50. Board game conduits: CHUTES - A guy is offering this complete original game for $50 on eBay

52. Storied shelf occupant: ELF.

53. Lawmaker: ENACTOR - Not lately

56. Barked: WOOFED.

59. Pregame party site: TAILGATE - Husker pre-game activities have graduated from the TAILGATE of pickups to elaborate affairs that are noted for inviting fans of opposing teams to join in

63. Tee off: ENRAGE.

64. Pavarotti classic: O SOLE MIO - Sherrill Nielsen with O SOLE MIO and then The King follows with It's Now Or Never

65. Father figure?: DAD BOD - Uh, DAD, you're not 18 any more, how 'bout at least wearing a t-shirt?

66. Broad Eastern cuisine category: PAN-ASIAN - A extensive PANASIAN menu 


Down:


1. Harris of "thirtysomething": MEL - Then (1987) and now for "MEL" - Mary Ellen Harris 

2. Flying phenom: ACE.

3. Eggy drink: NOG.

4. Fragments: SHARDS.

5. __ butter: COCOA.

6. Not very much: A TINY BIT.

7. Single animal-shaped candy?: PEEP - More than A TINY BIT of sugar!

8. "Let It Go" singer in "Frozen": ELSA.

9. Mystified: ADDLED.

10. Serious declaration: WAR.

12. Before you know it: IN AN INSTANT - How the WAR declarations above seemed to occur in 1914

11. Is for many: ARE - Groucho is funny, the Marx Brothers ARE hilarious 

13. Divided island north of Australia: TIMOR - The west end of the island is Indonesia that is also known as West TIMOR

14. "Don't Rain on My Parade" composer: STYNE - I'll bet most of you know 1) What musical had this song and 2) Who belted out this Jule STYNE anthem 

20. Speaker's pauses: UMS.

22. Beast known as the zebra giraffe: OKAPI - The only members of this family

23. Rigs: FIXES - Some think pro rasslin' matches are FIXED. 🤯

24. Junk dealer in a '70s sitcom: FRED SANFORD - Here's a picture from the Sanford and Son episode Trent mentioned

26. Family nickname: MOMMA.

27. Tot's scrape: OWIE.

30. Peru panning target: ORO - The tragic story of mining gold in Peru (11:00)

31. Outset: GET GO - I liked Trent's puzzle from the GET GO

33. Speedy: FLEET.

35. Nevada tourist mecca: TAHOE - Michael and Fredo had a conversation in Michael's home on Lake TAHOE before Fredo went on a fatal fishing trip

36. Foundation pieces: SLABS - A cool, dry basement is very desirable in Arizona but most houses are build on concrete slabs because the rock hard caliche (kuh LEE chee) soil, made up of calcium carbonate and granite, means digging a basement can add thousands to the cost of a house

38. Bee or Em: AUNT - Opie Taylor's and Dorothy Gale's

39. With it: HIP.

40. Choice event: ELECTION 

45. Prepared a bed, maybe: WEEDED - SEEDED got, uh, WEEDED out

46. Solo pilot?: HAN - HAN Solo and Princess Leia are frequent visitors in our crossword universe 

47. Swells: SURGES.

48. Spoke Burmese?: MEWED - Our Lily prefers Siamese

49. Actress Massey: ILONA - Here she plays the Baroness Frankenstein in 1943's Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman

51. Casual greeting: HOLLA - "Hey dude, give me a HOLLA when you get home"

54. Perched on: ATOP.

55. 61-Down's dwelling: CASA and 61. Familia member: TIA - Nos encanta que TÍA Rosa visite nuestra casa (We love to have Aunt Rosa visit our home)
57. __ Four: FAB - The name of this tribute band

58. One may be bruised: EGO.

60. Challenging retort: AM I? - "Gary, you're going to eat that liver!"

62. Word that's sometimes an exaggeration: EON - I haven't seen my California cousins for EONS!


I also found this picture of Trent who  plays trumpet in an Alumni Jazz Band that just recently toured Europe. I'll leave it to you to find Trent with his trumpet in hand. He's a real renaissance man!

Any comments for Trent?