google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: sumdaze

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Showing posts with label sumdaze. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sumdaze. Show all posts

Mar 25, 2024

Monday March 25, 2024 Amy Johnson

  

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here. My calendar is telling me today is a XWD favorite holiday -- Holi. Best wishes to all who celebrate!

Veteran constructor Amy Johnson recently collaborated with Katie Hale on this Sunday puzzle. Today she is back with a solo contribution I am calling: 

Wishful Thinking

All is explained at the reveal:

56 Across. Words said over a lit birthday cake, and upon the start of 17-, 26-, or 42-Across: MAKE A WISH.  
Isn't she fun to watch?!

17 Across. Box office attraction: STAR POWER.  Jiminy Cricket sang about this in Pinocchio (1940).  
(Watch at 1:19 min. there are side-by-side pictures of crooner Cliff Edwards 
next to his animated alter ego.)

26 Across. Ancient vintner's quaff: DANDELION WINE.  
Why People Wish on Dandelions

42 Across. Makeup bag contraption: EYELASH CURLER.  If you see an eyelash on your friend's face, you can put it on the tip of your finger and tell your friend to make a wish then blow it away.
If you didn't know, this is an EYELASH CURLER.
No wonder eyelashes want to flee after being caught in one of these contraptions!  

The three themers give us three things upon which we can make a wish:  STARDANDELIONEYELASH. Amy did a fine job of crafting her idea into a 9-13-13-9 pattern grid. Let's see what else she included:

Across:
1. "The __ of the Furious": film sequel also known as "F8": FATE.  Hand up for filling this with FAST then later looking at 1-Down and thinking, "Huh?"
How did I miss the F+8=FATE ? I obviously went too fast

5. Orange juice bits: PULP.

9. Former Speaker of the House Pelosi: NANCY.  Nancy Patricia Pelosi (b. March 26, 1940) served as the 52nd Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007-2011 and 2019-2023.

14. Atmospheric glow: AURA.

15. Teri's "Young Frankenstein" role: INGA.  Here is Teri Garr reminiscing about making the 1974 film with director Mel Brooks and co-stars Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, and Madeline Kahn.

16. Honolulu hello: ALOHA.  

19. Like an area with many farms: RURAL.

20. Tee or cami: TOP.

21. Suffix with oct-: -ANE.  so much more info.

22. Letters sent by plane: AIRMAIL.  

24. Scott Turow work: ONE L.  
25. Timely blessing: BOON.

31. __ and pestle: MORTAR.  Mine gets a lot of use grinding flax seeds to add to the bread I bake. My tip is to add whatever salt a recipe calls for to the MORTAR at the same time.  

32. Dr. Jekyll creator's monogram: RLS.  Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh on November 13, 1850 and died 9,460 miles away in Samoa on December 3, 1894.  

33. Celestial sphere: ORB.

35. Belgium money: EUROS.

36. Heaven knows where, for short: MIA.  Missing IAction  

37. Subway in Washington, D.C.: METRO.  
I rode the Orange line to the Farragut West station for three years.

39. Flight safety org.: TSA.  

40. Casual hellos: HIs.

41. Lox fish: SALMON.  Lox is a fillet (or strip) of brined SALMON. Brining means to cure food with salt.  lox-a more about lox

46. Part of speech: NOUN.

47. Classic TV role for Ron Howard: OPIE.  Ron talks in depth about this period of his life in his book The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family (2021).

48. Millennium Falcon pilot: HAN SOLO.  Anyone with an iota of Star Wars background knew this one.
Harrison Ford, back in the day
BTW, Harrison Ford and Ron Howard acted together in American Graffiti,
a 1973 George Lucas film about cruising in Modesto, CA.

51. Surgery ctrs.: ORS.  Operating Rooms

52. Gain a lap: SIT.  This was my FAV clue today!  Not a lap on the track!

55. Renowned baseball family: ALOUS.  Here is the story of how three brothers from the Dominican Republic made MLB history by forming the first all-brother outfield back in 1963.  

59. Word after dime or dollar: STORE.

60. Early school yrs.: ELEM.  "Years" is abbrevieated, so is "ELEMentary".

61. __ and hearty: HALE.

62. Game piece: TOKEN.  

63. County fair attraction: RIDE.

64. Sign of the future: OMEN.

Down:

1. "The __ and the Furious": action film franchise: FAST.

2. Car: AUTO.  
AUTOs in The Fast and Furious  (2001)

3. U-shaped part of a drainpipe: TRAP.  
4. Spot for an AirPod: EAR.

5. Trailblazer: PIONEER.

6. Not feeling up to par: UNWELL.

7. Size up from med.: LGE.

8. Curve in algebra class: PARABOLA.  
This diagram shows why we say a PARABOLA is a conic section 
(the curve you get when a plane intersects a cone's surface).

9. Not wide: NARROW.

10. School reunion attendees: ALUMNI.

11. "Julie & Julia" writer/director Ephron: NORA.  

12. Spiced tea brewed in milk: CHAI.

13. Southern collective pronoun: Y'ALL.  I hope Y'ALL got this one correct today.

18. Bamboo-eating bears: PANDAS.  

23. Atomic particles that carry charges: IONS.

24. Hardly fooled by: ONTO.  ONTO is a preposition that can mean on top of or fully aware of.  

26. Drench: DOUSE.  This is that disgusting MAYO video we were talking about last week.  WVU coach gets DOUSEd in MAYO after bowl win

27. Wide variety: ARRAY.

28. From Donegal: IRISH.  CSO to our lovely IM☘

29. "Get anyone else": NOT ME.

30. Infielder's blunder: ERROR.

31. "Have we __?": MET.  

34. "__ voyage!": BON.

36. Inappropriate handle: MISNOMER.  The slang definition of "handle" is a person's name or nickname. We all use one on The Corner.

37. Oscar winner Tomei: MARISA.  She won for My Cousin Vinny in 1993.  
Love this styling!!
38. French feminine pronoun: ELLE.

40. Heist booty: HAUL.

41. Highest in rank: SUPREME.  
Stop! In the Name of Love
The Supremes (1965)

43. Big name in nutritional shakes: ENSURE.  

44. Undo a bit, as a tie: LOOSEN.

45. Not raw: COOKED.

48. Biblical verb: HAST.  archaic second person singular present of "have"

49. Voice range for some boys: ALTO.

50. Cozy reading spot: NOOK.  31 Dreamy Reading Nook Ideas to Curl up with a Book in 2024

52. Thailand, once: SIAM.  CSO to Lily, Husker Gary's SIAMese cat.  

53. Cruise ship stop: ISLE.

54. Back in the day: THEN.

57. "Sting like a bee" boxer: ALI.

58. "Doctor __": BBC series starring Ncuti Gatwa: WHO.  Ncuti was born on October 15, 1992 in Rwanda. He is the 15th incarnation of the Doctor. Here he is with the latest sonic screwdriver.  

Here's today's completed grid:

Thanks in advance for your comments! I'll be off-line this week but I'll see you next Monday. I wish you a good day!

Mar 18, 2024

Monday March 18, 2024 Mary Crane

  

Theme:        
Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here with a fresh and fun puzzle idea from Mary Crane. As far as I can tell, this is a debut for Mary at the LA Times. (Her NY Times debut was last July.) Congratulations, Mary!
Unfortunately, your puzzle fell on a Monday and this Monday blogger is not a fan of MAYOnnaise. I avoid all of your themed foods. Nevertheless, I am a fan of your puzzle! Well done!

The four themed answers all feature mayonnaise (a.k.a. MAYO) as a prominent ingredient:

17 Across. Hors d'oeuvre often seasoned with paprika: DEVILED EGG.

28 Across. Picnic side dish: POTATO SALAD.

36 Across. Creamy dip for buffalo wings: RANCH DRESSING.

43 Across. New England seafood sandwich: LOBSTER ROLL.

And the reveal:

59 Across. Minnesota medical center, or where one might learn how to prepare 17-, 28-, 36-, and 43-Across?: MAYO CLINIC.  The Mayo Clinic is the largest integrated, not-for-profit medical group practice in the world.

The themed clues were straightforward and without wordplay. However, revealing MAYO CLINIC as an instructional class on how to prepare recipes which contain MAYOnnaise was a delightful spin! I only wonder how Mary managed to leave out XWD favorite "aioli".

The other clues:

Across:
1. Gave a darn: CARED.  

6. Personal bearing: MIEN.  Def.:  a person's look or manner, especially one of a particular kind indicating their character or mood.
MIEN likely came to English from a French word meaning "expression".
BTW, mein is a German possessive pronoun meaning "my".

10. Spongy earth: MIRE.

14. __ and kicking: ALIVE.  

15. Like a quaint shoppe: OLDE.  

16. Unknown author, for short: ANON.  
Destiny's Child  ~  Say My Name  (1999)

19. Looped in, on email: CC-ED.  I liked how this was an almost-reflection across the black square.  
See the full grid below.

20. Corp. VIP: EXEC.  "Corporation" and "Very Important Person" are abbreviated, so is "EXECutive".

21. Quite: VERY.  Our constructor Mary is quite clever.

22. Infant's cry: WAH.

23. Skin pictures: TATTOOS.
"A rad little tidbit you may not know, the word “tattoo” actually comes from the Samoan word "tatau" which was an onomatopoeia for the sounds that were made when turtle shells tapped boar's teeth loaded with ink into the flesh. Now you know."  source

25. Calm and dignified: SEDATE.  
Ramones  ~  I Wanna Be Sedated  (1978)
I've heard this song in my head during the last eight miles of every marathon I've ran.

31. Double-reed woodwind: OBOE.

34. Charged particle: ION.

35. Helena's st.: MONT.  
where you can see Canada from your front porch

40. __ mater: ALMA.

41. "__ moved on": I'VE.  ...and so should you.

42. Parrot in Disney's "Aladdin": IAGO.  He was voiced by Gilbert Gottfried in the 1992 movie. (Robin Williams voiced the genie in the lamp.)

47. Securities backed by the govt.: T-NOTES.  Since we are in tax season, I will remind you that interest income from U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds is subject to federal income tax but is exempt from all state and local taxes. Make sure to subtract this income from your state returns!  IRS site

48. Fought: BATTLED.

53. Raw mineral in a mine: ORE.

54. Supermarket area with fresh cheeses: DELI.  This was a fresh take on an old staple ... and a possible Easter egg. What do you think, C-Eh! ?

56. Hitchhiker's hope: RIDE.  Remember your towel! After all, it "is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have."

57. Foggy state: HAZE.

61. Scat legend Fitzgerald: ELLA.

62. Brick __ pizza: OVEN.  
63. Tiny spot: SPECK.  

64. Overly compliant: MEEK.

65. Floating ice chunk: BERG.  
66. Auto body blemishes: DENTS.  
This is what hail can do to cars in Colorado.

Down:

1. Military academy enrollee: CADET.  

2. Name said to activate an Amazon Echo Dot: ALEXA.  

3. Fastener in a girder: RIVET.  

4. Kick out: EVICT.

5. Oscar winner Benicio __ Toro: DEL.  He won for Traffic (2002).

6. Not showy: MODEST.

7. Actor Robert who hosts the podcast "Not Today, Pal" with former co-star Jamie-Lynn Sigler: ILER.  ESP. The extra-long clue makes me think nobody expected us to know this one.

8. Envelope-pushing: EDGY.  It's a peculiar saying because what could be less hip than an envelope?  

9. Opposite of pos.: NEG.  

10. Expensive nut from Hawaii: MACADAMIA.  So 'ono ("delicious" in Hawaiian)!

11. Advance slowly: INCH ALONG.  Def.:  to move by small degrees.  

12. Fish-to-be: ROE.  I loved this sushi-less angle!

13. Conclude: END.

18. Sauteing acronym: EVOO.  Rachael Ray fans know this is Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  
She usually says, "Add a tablespoon of EVOO," as she pours in half a cup.

22. Director Craven: WES.  He's one of my FAVs ... oh, wait, NO! WES Anderson is one of my FAVs. Oh well, it all worked out in the end.

24. Oil cartel acronym: OPEC.  Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

25. "The Brady Bunch" trio: SONS.  I got this one with a little "more than a hunch". 🎵

26. Dance that takes two: TANGO.  

27. NYC summer hrs.: EDT. New York City summer HouRS are Eastern Daylight Time.

29. TV station, e.g.: AIRER.     and     
55 Down. Watchful sort: EYER.  These two feel a bit too crosswordese to me (more common in crosswords than in language).

30. Shoe front: TOE.

31. Wrinkle-resistant synthetic fabric: ORLON.  DuPont created the first acrylic fibers in 1941 and trademarked them under the name ORLON. It was first developed in the mid-1940s but was not produced in large quantities until the 1950s.

32. Hoodwink: BAMBOOZLE.  I'm going to take this opportunity to share a song I love:  Red is Blue by Ben Folds from the animated movie Hoodwinked (2005). The film is a Little Red Riding Hood derivative.  

33. Winning game after game: ON A STREAK.  Awesome fill!

37. Makes haste: HIES.  Sure thing, Willy Shakes.

38. Binge-watcher's device: DVR.

39. River sediment: SILT.

40. PC key near the space bar: ALT.

44. Casual shirt: TEE.

45. Like a kiwi: OBLONG.  An OBLONG is a shape that is longer than it is wide. We can get pedantic about weather or not "roundness" is a requirement and 2D vs. 3D. In the end, I think we knew what the constructor was going for.  
(l to r)  kiwi bird, kiwi fruit, Kiwi actor Jemaine Clement
46. Not of the clergy: LAIC.

49. Utter nonsense: TRIPE.  

50. Lightweight fabric: LINEN.

51. Formal decree: EDICT.

52. Cruise ship levels: DECKS.  
Julie, Doc, Gopher, and Isaac will meet you here.

54. Singer Grohl who founded the Foo Fighters: DAVE.  This is Dave on vocals and guitar in Best of You (2005).  

57. __ and haw: HEM.  To HEM and haw is to hesitate, to be indecisive.  
Homer, hemming & HAWing

58. Hoppy beer: ALE.

59. Disorderly crowd: MOB.

60. 1960s hallucinogen, for short: LSD.


That's a wrap for today. I think I'll go make a sandwich....