Monday January 20, 2025 Susan Gelfand

 

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, everyone!  

Theme:            A Wrench in the Works  

Constructor Susan Gelfand throws a few wrenches into today's puzzleworks, hopefully bringing a smile to the faces of DIYers. Here are her four themers:

17 Across. Ocular opening: EYE SOCKET.

23 Across. Rum and vodka cocktail: BRASS MONKEY.

35 Across. Actress who played dance teacher Lydia Grant on "Fame": DEBBIE ALLEN.

49 Across. Muffler attachment on a car: EXHAUST PIPE.

Next, the reveal:

59 Across. Good gift for a handy homeowner, and what the ends of 17-, 23-, 35-, and 49-Across are?: WRENCH SET.  Socket, monkey, Allen, and pipe are all types of wrenches. Together, they make a set of wrenches.

(l to r)  socket wrench, monkey wrench, Allen wrench, and pipe wrench

Across:

1. Famous __ cookies: AMOS.  AMOS is almost as famous for being in crossword puzzles as he is for his cookies.

5. Iranian currency: RIAL.  As of this writing, one US dollar is worth 42,000 Iranian RIALs. A gallon of regular milk costs 101,000.56 ﷼ in Iran. That is about $2.40.

9. Hopping mad: IRATE.  

14. Daddy: PAPA.  

Also...I know that some of you listen to NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and are familiar with panelist Tom PAPA. Here is 45 sec. of his stand-up comedy routine. (I've heard him on the show for years but I never knew what he looked like until today.)

15. Poker starting stake: ANTE.  

16. Parcels (out): DOLES.  

Can someone please help DOLE out these cans of pineapple?

19. Accumulate: AMASS.

20. Like a marching band, hopefully: IN STEP.  Who doesn't love a marching band?! Generally speaking, a band marches at 120 beats per minute. Each step is about 1.5 ft. long. Therefore, it takes them roughly half an hour to go 1 mile.

21. Peak in the Cascade Range: SHASTA.  Scientists think Mt. Shasta last erupted 3,200 years ago. This NASA page has some interesting information about Mt. Shasta, along with two very cool photos taken from the ISS.

22. Proposal fig.: EST.  "Fiancé" was too long.

"Figure" is abbreviated, so is "estimate".

26. Some cars and trucks made in the early 1900s: REOs.  The REO Motor Car Company Plant in Lansing, MI was a National Historic Landmark from 1978 to 1985. National Park Service website with several old photos

28. Dinner and a movie, perhaps: DATE.  15 DATE night ideas for seniors  (Just saying...)

29. Sponsored spots: ADS.  advertisements

30. Stinks: REEKS.  

32. V, on a battery: VOLTS.     and     50 Down. Battery part: ANODE.  

39. Stands in line: WAITS.  Here's a flashback to 1981.

Foreigner  ~  Waiting for a Girl Like You

40. French pancake: CREPE.  

Do you usually order a sweet or savory crepe ... or both?

43. Guys: HES.  plural of the third person singular pronoun

46. Drawn tight: TAUT.

48. Share a border with: ABUT.  

54. Patient care pros: RNs.  Registered Nurses are professionals.

55. Song sung by sailors: SHANTY.  The video below is an example of a sea shanty. This group's story was told in the movie Fisherman's Friends (2019). Clips from the movie are sprinkled in this video. If you like the feelings in this song, you should watch the movie.

56. Capital of Oman: MUSCAT.  

a very strategic location

58. Diviner's deck: TAROT.  A diviner is a person who predicts the future by magical, intuitive, or other means.

62. Skip over in speech: ELIDE.  Certain sounds are skipped over to make the language easier and faster to say. Some examples are "I dunno" for "I don't know"; "kamra" for "camera"; and "fish 'n' chips" for "fish and chips".

63. Merit: EARN.  

64. Green pod that thickens gumbo: OKRA.

65. Direct elsewhere: REFER.  

66. Crafter's online marketplace: ETSY.

67. Yellow jacket, for one: WASP.  

They are considered beneficial insects because they kill other insects
that are harmful to plants  -- sort of a natural (and more selective) pesticide.

Down:

1. Bonobo or gibbon: APE.  

2. "Can you please show me?": MAY I SEE.

3. Like most sandals: OPEN-TOED.  not recommended for cyclists

4. Back talk: SASS.

5. Indy entrant: RACER.  race car driver

6. Stamping need: INK PAD.  

this kind of stamping 

7. Noshed: ATE.

8. "__ the good times roll!": LET.  

The Cars  ~  Good Times Roll  ~  (1978)

9. State known for potatoes: IDAHO.  NPR's Planet Money recently did a story about Idaho potato farmers and NAFTA as an example of how pest regulations are sometimes used as a "sneaky form of economic protectionism". I would not label this as "political" since every country does it to some extent. It is more of a reality check on how trade works after the politicians get their pictures in the newspapers. Here is a link to the podcast and transcript, for those who are interested in these types of economic issues. It is about a 30-min. read.

10. Times New __: common font: ROMAN.  We use the Georgia font here on The Corner but I changed this one to Times.  a brief history

11. Baked __: dessert covered with meringue: ALASKA.  

This is a picture of a recipe for Baked Alaska in my first cookbook.
I was 5-years old. I 'was good' at my doctor's appointment so my mom
let me choose a book at the bookstore nearby.
I chose this one -- probably because there was a cat on every page.

12. Tried out: TESTED.  I tried out most of the recipes in that cookbook but I cannot remember ever making Baked Alaska. I was never much of a cake person and I don't think my family was keen on meringue.

13. Literature class assignments: ESSAYS.

18. Wagering site, briefly: OTB.  Off Track Betting 

National Problem Gambling Help Line

21. Aroma: SMELL.

22. Make a boo-boo: ERR.

24. Builds a nest egg: SAVES UP.  Here is a time-lapse video of a chickadee building an egg nest. You can see the entrance hole on the left. Also, when the fledglings start to leave, look on the right hand side for an insert view of the outside of the nest. The camera actually catches the fledglings leaving. 

25. Greek portico: STOA.  Def:  (noun) an ancient Greek porch-like structure, usually walled at the back with a front colonnade designed to afford a sheltered promenade.

27. Distort, as data: SKEW.

31. Agcy. that helps entrepreneurs: SBA.  Agency and Small Business Administration

33. Pampering initials: TLC.  Tender Loving Care  

Elvis Presley singing Love Me Tender with TLC on the Ed Sullivan Show (1956)

34. "Buona __": Italian "Good evening": SERA.  

36. Teensy: BITSY.     and     59 Down. Tiny: WEE.

37. "Let's just leave __ that!": IT AT.

38. Lincoln's locale: NEBRASKA.  Illinois also has eight letters and is known as the "Land of Lincoln", but this time we needed the city of Lincoln.

CSO to Husker Gary!

41. Football players often needed in fourth-down plays: PUNTERS.  Another option would be kickERS -- if they want to go for a field goal.

42. Aliens, for short: ETs.  

43. Prynne of "The Scarlet Letter": HESTER.  Hester Prynne is the protagonist of this 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne novel. She has a child out of wedlock and is condemned by her Puritan community. She must wear a letter A on her bodice as a reminder of her sin of adultery.

44. Breathe out: EXHALE.  I do this about half the time.

45. "Doctor Zhivago" actor Omar: SHARIF.  

from the 1965 movie
Hi Lucina!

47. Stopwatches: TIMERS.

51. Say out loud: UTTER.

52. Like groan-inducing jokes: PUNNY.  

53. Key to exit a program: ESC.  

I copied this image from -T's write up last Sunday.

57. Grub: CHOW.  not a bug

60. Maze rodent: RAT.  

61. Spigot: TAP.  

If your spigot stops working, you can try 
TAPping it with a WRENCH.

Today's grid:

Thanks and have a great day!

Monday January 13, 2025 Robbie Cottom

 

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here with Robbie Cottom's sophomore LA Times offering.  Theme:  A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN  

"There's no crying in baseball!"

A League of Their Own  ~  1992  ~  (1:48 min.)

Tom Hanks and Bitty Schram (Recognize her from Monk?)

The four themers are:

17 Across. Musical interval that spans four semitones: MAJOR THIRD.  Here is a 40 sec. explanation:  

20 Across. One of two Supreme Court members appointed by 5-Across: JUSTICE KAGAN.  (b. April 28, 1960 in New York, NY) She became the 112th JUSTICE of the Supreme Court in 2010. Note: Pres. Obama's other appointee was #111, Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

JUSTICE KAGAN

58 Across. Relatively cool period of European history?: LITTLE ICE AGE.  This Britannica article says it occurred from 1300 to 1850-ish.

64 Across. Drag performer who won Miss Congeniality on Season 5 of "RuPaul's Drag Race": IVY WINTERS.  While I am not familiar with this person, I can see how IVY used as a name differentiates it from the plant connected with the schools in the reveal.

Today's reveal lies on the equator:

39. Many championship-bound teams, or what the starts of 17-, 20-, 58-, and 64-Across are: LEAGUE LEADERS.

The starts of each themed answer can go in front of the word LEAGUE to create a new, in-the-language phrase. In this way, they LEAD the word LEAGUE. We have:

MAJOR LEAGUE:  the highest-ranking league in a particular professional sport, especially baseball.

JUSTICE LEAGUE:  a group of superheroes in the DC Comics universe.  

If you watched Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s, 

you likely saw this 1 min. intro to Super Friends.

LITTLE LEAGUE:  a youth baseball program started in 1930 in Williamsport, PA.  more info.

IVY LEAGUE:   a group of eight private colleges located in the northeast section of the U.S.

Next we will look at the 73 remaining clues:

Across:

1. Overconfident racer of fable: HARE.  not to be confused with "win by a hair"

5. Barack who was the 44th U.S. president: OBAMA.

10. Shedloads: A TON.  Shedloads is an informal word more common in the U.K. than it is in the U.S. It means "a large amount".  

You can fit A TON of stuff in these sheds.

14. "My good lady": MA'AM.     and     43 Across. "My good man": SIR.

15. More peaked: PALER.

16. "Video Games" singer Del Rey: LANA.  Two weeks ago we had 42-Across "Lust for Life" singer Lana ___ Rey.  DEL

19. Family chart: TREE.  

22. "Now I'm with you": GOT IT.  It took me a bit to get this one.

25. Overnight stop: INN.

26. Historical period: ERA.

27. Actress Longoria: EVA.

28. Meeting, informally: SESH.  short for session 

32. Smartphone user's "Keep in touch": TEXT ME.  

Blues Traveler   ~   Run Around   ~   1994

"Hey babe, let's keep in touch.

Hey, baby, let's keep in touch."

34. Acorn producers: OAKS.  The Coastal OAKS here on the Monterey Peninsula are having a mast year. Nature never ceases to amaze!

36. Stags and does: DEER.  plural of DEER

38. Gp. for physicians: AMA.  Group and American Medical Association

44. Scheme: PLAN.

45. "Sweet!": NEAT.  

47. Strangers, slangily: RANDOS.  RANDOm people

50. __ and ends: ODDS.  My Australian friends call their pot-luck parties "ODDS and SODS" -- an informal British term used to describe different kinds of things that are usually small and unimportant.

52. In the past: AGO.

53. Music producer Brian: ENO.  Yesterday -T pointed out that this is one spelled backwards.

54. Feminine pronoun: HER.

56. "All good, thanks": I'M SET.  I related this one to a handy Japanese phrase:  けっこうです.  Use kekkou desu to reply when a waitress asks, "Do you want me to refill your water glass?" or a store clerk asks, "Do you want a bag for your purchases?"

63. Kuwaiti ruler: EMIR.  This 1:47 min. news segment from Aljazeera covers the swearing in of Kuwaiti's EMIR just over one year ago.  

68. Tuesday treat: TACO.  

69. Birth-related: NATAL.  NATAL and nation both came from the Latin word nasci.

70. Milky white gem: OPAL.

71. Snow coaster: SLED.  

Whoo-hoooo!

72. Narrow valleys: GLENS.

73. Like Cheerios: OATY.  

Down:

1. "Let me see ... ": HMM.

2. Roadside aid org.: AAA.  organization and American Automobile Association

3. Koothrappali on "The Big Bang Theory": RAJ.  

RAJ (Kunal Nayyar) and his dog Cinnamon

4. Symbol such as Exploding Head: EMOJI.  

Use it to express shock or disbelief as in, "That blew my mind!"

5. Goes (for): OPTS.

6. Thai currency: BAHT.  It is illegal to 59-Down on a Thai BAHT because the king's face is on the bills. Doing so would be insulting to the Thai royal family and could result in three or more years of imprisonment.

7. Et __: and others: ALII.  From Grammarly:  Et al. is an abbreviation for et alia (neuter plural). But it can also be an abbreviation for et alii (masculine plural), or et aliae (feminine plural). This phrase means and others. Most commonly, et al. indicates other contributors (authors, editors, etc.) in a bibliographic list.

8. French "Thank you": MERCI.  

9. Passionate: ARDENT.

10. Opposite of baja: ALTA.  

a little bit of Alta California history

11. Focus of some campaigns: TARGET AREAS.  This term is also used when talking about working out.  

12. Like difficult pushups: ONE-ARM.  Speaking of working out, check out Jack LaLanne doing these on his fingertips! (His dog is not impressed.)  link to video

13. Swaying hip-hop dance: NAE NAE.  BuzzFeed says this dance is loosely inspired by Sheneneh Jenkins, the female character played by Martin Lawrence on his '90s sitcom, Martin.

18. Dull routines: RUTS.  

21. Work, as dough: KNEAD.  

22. Cable's Nat __ Wild: GEO.  

23. Not quite round: OVAL.

24. Pays attention: TAKES NOTICE.  

29. End of a dean's email address: EDU.

30. Ooze: SEEP.

31. "Mornin'!," in the morning: HELLO.  At first I mistook the quotation marks as a title indicator. I thought "Mornin'!" was a TV show I did not know. Then I determined it was just someone shortening their "Good morning" greeting.

33. Marvel Comics mutants: X-MEN.  

35. Spoken: SAID.  Both are adjectives here.

37. Crack a book: READ.  

40. Dave of the Foo Fighters: GROHL.  Happy early birthday to Dave Grohl who turns 56 tomorrow! Before founding the Foo Fighters, he was Nirvana' drummer from 1990 to 1994. His unofficial nickname is "the nicest guy in rock" but his reputation took an unfortunate hit last September. The old saying goes, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." 

performing in Denmark last July 5

41. Furthermore: AND.  

42. Poultry herb: SAGE.  My grandmother used a lot of SAGE in her turkey stuffing recipe.

46. Tater bite: TOT.  

47. Puts on Airbnb again: RELETS.  Def.: to rent out again.

48. Neither vegetable nor mineral: ANIMAL.  This clue was a fun play on a classic 20 Questions-style game. Test your knowledge here. To play, click on whether you think it is an animal (it's alive), a vegetable (it grows), or a mineral (it's not alive, does not grow, but comes from the ground).

49. Dating: SEEING.  

texting screenshot

51. Talk, as with a deaf person: SIGN.  verb meaning "to use SIGN language"

55. Challenger: RIVAL.  Has anyone seen the 2024 romantic sports drama Challengers? It has 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. I have not seen the film but the intense music score caught my attention so I've added it to my queue. Here's a taste:  

57. "Ditto": ME, TOO.

59. Walked (on): TROD.

60. Suffix meaning "cell": -CYTE.  For example, an osteocyte is a cell that lies within the substance of a fully formed bone.

This "Y" was my last fill. I was fairly sure it had to be a vowel -- so not a complete WAG.

61. Actor McGregor: EWAN.  his IMDb page

62. Feels sick: AILS.

65. Clean water org.: EPA.  organization and Environmental Protection Agency

Pres. Richard Nixon created the EPA on Dec. 2, 1970 to protect human health and the environment.

66. Tattletale: RAT.  

James Cagney   ~   Taxi!   ~   1931
(Splynter and I were on the same page this week.)

67. Sneaky: SLY.  

Those last two were fun neighbors in the grid.

Speaking of the grid, here you go:

That's all for today. Have a premier week!

Monday January 6, 2025 Brian Callahan and Jess Shulman

  

Happy first Monday of 2025, everyone! sumdaze here. Brian Callahan has become a popular constructor on The Corner with six solo and five collaborations for the LAT since 2023.  Jess Shulman has two LAT Friday collaborations. It was fun to see them team up on today's puzzle.

I'm going to give it the same title Merle Haggard gave this 1977 song, 

The Running Kind

You may wonder what kind of running we talking about. A look at the three themers will answer that:

17 Across. *New job that's hardly a promotion: LATERAL MOVE.  

28 Across. *Honking collective: GAGGLE OF GEESE.  

45 Across. *Phenomenon of collective false memories: MANDELA EFFECT.  This one was an interesting learning moment for me. Paranormal researcher Fiona Broome named this phenomenon after discovering that she and others possessed strong, yet false, memories about the death of Nelson Mandela.  Britannica article  (See 52-Down.)

Then the unifier:

58 Across. Vice presidential hopeful, and what the first part of the answer to each starred clue can be: RUNNING MATE.

LATE, GAG, and MAN can all be MATEd to (joined with) the word RUNNING to form these in-the-language phrases:

• RUNNING LATE is to be behind schedule.
• A RUNNING GAG is a joke that is repeated several times (often with slight tweaks) throughout a performance or literary piece. (See 14-A & 40-A.)
• The RUNNING MAN is a 1982 Stephen King Novel set in a dystopian United States in the year 2025 (This year!) In 1987 a movie version was released starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

I liked how only a few letters were connected to the unifier. That helped the theme stay hidden until after I completed the grid.

Across:

1. Packs on muscle, with "up": BEEFS.  I quickly threw down BulkS. What is it D-Otto likes to say? I wonder if he made the same error.

6. Aspect: FACET.  

11. Q's keyboard neighbor: TAB.  computer keys

14. Super Breakout console: ATARI.  Super Breakout is the sequel to a 1976 video game -- but all I really needed was "console that begins with the letter 'A'".

15. "Fame" star Cara: IRENE.

16. Three, on a sundial: III.  Roman numerals (as seen in 21-A)

19. Awareness-raising TV spot: PSA. Public Service Announcement

20. "Anything __?": ELSE.

21. WWII soldiers: GIs.  

a WWII GI Joe toy

22. Big, big stars: IDOLS.  This NASA site will teach you about even bigger stars. 😀

24. "Mind. Blown.": WHOA.  

26. Pointy tooth: CANINE.

31. Axton of country music: HOYT.  (1938-1999) This is a 1 min. clip of Axton doing a guest appearance on WKRP Cincinnati:  

"It was Della and the dealer and a dog named Jake and a cat named Kalamazoo."

32. Pie __ mode: A LA.

33. Reader of a quick-start guide: USER.  Great clue! Most tech today comes with a quick-start guide and a website for more details. Gone are the days of thick USER manuals in eight languages.

34. Pair: DUO.

35. Sofía of "Modern Family": VERGARA.  I know who she is but always forget how she spells her last name.  

39. Consumes: HAS.     and     3-Down. Consumes: EATS.

...as in, "He HAS a sandwich for lunch every day."

40. Grocery chain with a Winking Owl wine brand: ALDI.   E&J Gallo produces ALDI's own, in-house brand labeled Winking Owl -- but all I really needed was "grocery chain that begins with the letter 'A'".  

42. Texting titter: LOL.  To titter is to laugh in a nervous, affected, or partly suppressed manner.

43. Future DA's exam: LSAT.  CSO to my big bro who is a definitely amazing District Attorney who passed the Law School Admission Test on his first try!

49. Led: HELMED.  "HEadED" almost fit. It took me a bit to let go of that one....

50. Constellation bear: URSA.

51. "Head over and take a look": GO SEE.

52. "Let You Love Me" singer Rita: ORA.  We often see this clue, OR A version of it, on Mondays.

53. __ prep: weekend activity for some home cooks: MEAL.  DH does this. Every Sunday he preps his lunches for the work week and puts them in containers, ready for the microwave.  

DH's lunches

57. Lip balm in egg-shaped containers: EOS.  

62. Spin bike meas.: RPM.  In Spin class, speed is measured in Revolutions Per Minute.

63. Name with Will and Frankie in sitcom titles: GRACE.  This clue refers to two separate sitcoms:  Will and GRACE (1998-2020) and GRACE and Frankie (2015-2022). It took a bit for the penny to drop because I am unfamiliar with the second show. I was trying to think of a show with Will & Frankie. I finally noticed that titles was plural.

64. Gnats, flies, etc.: PESTS.

65. WNW's opposite: ESE.  compass directions

66. "The Princess Bride" co-star Cary: ELWES.  I should have this name memorized by now but I am still working on it.

67. Spaces: AREAS.  ...as in, "Please clean up your work spaces."

Down:

1. Bundle of hay: BALE.  The woman in this video does a good job of showing how to use hay hooks to move a BALE of hay (1:38 min.). It's true, one of my best birthday presents ever was my very own set of hay hooks. 

2. Latin shorthand in a bibliography: ET AL.  It means et alia which translates to "and others". (See 31-D.)

4. Thoroughfare without tolls: FREEWAY.  I liked the without tolls clueing for FREEway.

You have likely heard that Californians use the word "the" before a FREEWAY name, as in "The 405". This is a Southern California thing. As a native Northern Californian, I can say the only people I know who speak that way are people who have spent time in Southern California. YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).

5. Knight's title: SIR.  

6. Befitting an offspring: FILIAL.  Def.:  (adj.) having or assuming the relation of a child or offspring.

7. Upper limbs: ARMS.

8. Corp. leader: CEO.  Corporation and Chief Executive Officer

9. Pt. of SASE: ENV.  Self Addressed Stamped Envelope and ENVelope

10. Enraging, with "off": TEEING.  "Teed off" is an informal English expression to say one is angry. I always thought it was short for "Ticked off". I suppose one might say, "He is TEEING off the entire committee," but something feels off about this one.

11. Show respect, in a way: TIP ONE'S HAT.  If the clue said "Shows", we would answer TIPS ONE'S HAT.

12. Flight selection: AISLE SEAT.  This is my preference.  

13. Slant: BIAS.

18. Awestruck: AGOG.

23. French deity: DIEU.

25. "Love It or List It" channel: HGTV.  I like this show but I would like it more if they were not so adversarial.

26. Pepsi or Coke: COLA.

27. Way off: AFAR.

28. "Heavens to Betsy!": GOODNESS ME.  Both are quaint expressions of surprise or astonishment.

29. Bird on Mexico's flag: EAGLE.  

Mexico's national animal is the majestic golden eagle.

30. Triage ctrs.: ERS.  centers and emergency rooms

31. Toys to play around with?: HULA HOOPS.  This one is for the Cornerites who turned me on to Ted Lasso (Irish Miss, -T, ET AL.). I just finished Season 2 and am next in line for Season 3 at my library. I would not have known about this clip two weeks ago. It's the HULA HOOP scene from Season 2 with Coach Beard (Brenden Hunt) and girlfriend Jane Payne (1:40 min.):  

This episode was quite the outlier. I'm still processing it. Your thoughts?

34. Beaver's construction: DAM.

36. French fashion magazine: ELLE.  A print-version subscription for 2025 (10 issues) costs $25.

37. Map line: ROAD.

38. Some beers: ALES.

41. Not doing much: IDLE.

44. Con artist: SCAMMER.  This article from the FTC gives advice on recognizing phone scams. Another huge red flag is when someone tells you to not tell anyone about your conversation.

46. Come forth: EMERGE.

47. Greek goddesses of vengeance: FURIES.  ESP for me. "Nemesis" also comes up on a Google search but this clue specifies more than one goddess. more info.

48. Actress Drescher: FRAN.  (b. Sept. 30, 1957) In 2023, during the Hollywood writer's strike, we learned that this star of The Nanny (1993-1999) is the president of SAG-AFTRA.  

51. "Chicago" actor Richard: GERE.

52. In the past: ONCE.  Think, "I was a teenager ONCE." It is an interesting word because the clue, "In the future" works, too. Think, "ONCE you get to the stoplight, turn right."

Also, Once is a 2007 movie with an awesome soundtrack.  

If You Want Me  ~  Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard

Many people think they are a real-life couple, but they are not.

Perhaps this is an example of a 17-A  MANDELA EFFECT.

54. Simplicity: EASE.  "Simplicity" is also a brand of sewing patterns -- suggesting how EASy it can be to make your own clothes.  

55. "__ boy!": "Well done!": ATTA.

56. "More or __": LESS.  

59. Bookmarked link: URL.

60. "Yep" opposite: NAW.

61. Report card no.: GPA.  number and Grade Point Average

Today's grid:  

How did you do today? Did you run away with this one or did your luck run out?