Thanks to my fellow blogger MalMan who reminded me of this song from my youth. I like this all instrumental version ...
Puzzling thoughts:
You might recall a few weeks ago I blogged a Zachary David Levy puzzle, so I kind of know his "style". His, and most other Friday puzzles use a combination of witty puns and/or homophones. This seems to be the trend at LA Times, as the one MalMan did on the 17th had a similar "feel".
Today's reveal is pretty short and sweet and is located dead-center in the grid: 39-across. Conclude with, and a phonetic hint for the answers to the starred clues: END IN.
Zachary gives us 6 - count 'em - 6 entries to support his reveal. Two of the 6 intersect each other as 4 of the entries lie horizontally, and 2 of them vertically [it'll be clear once the grid is inserted into the blog]. Let's see how this happened:
17-across. *Obstacle encountered at dawn?: EARLY BURDEN. The more common phrase "early bird" is the first part of the pun's phonetics; the second (as it fits the reveal) is at the END, where the letters "EN" are pronounced "IN". BURDEN is pronounced "bird-in"
Next is: 24-across. *Plot where blue bars of soap grow?: COAST GARDEN. Coast is a brand name for a bar soap; Coast Guard is a branch of the US military
Intersecting 24 across is: 11-down. *Everyone's favorite fire-breathing monster?: MAIN DRAGON. OK, so this is where the puns and homophonics got me a bit confused ... the term "main drag" = the most prominent road in a city. Unlike the previous two entries, the punned homophonic part of the answer was not misspelled
47-across. *Time when tall, thick grass covers a golf course?: ROUGH SEASON. Rough seas are unpleasant for recreational boaters; rough, as in the area of grass just outside of the fairway on a golf course, is more lush and thick when the growing season is current
Intersecting 47 across is: 29-down. *Controller part that gets worn out playing "Mortal Kombat"?: KICK BUTTON. The phrase "kick butt" gets a phonetic "in" ending when it describes a feature of a popular video game
At lastly, 58-across. *Shoutout to a ride-hailing app?: UBER MENTION. This is a complete outlier, IMHO, as the word "Übermensch" is taken from Friederich Nietzsche's idea of the Ubermensch, or the superman, as an idea of humans who create their own values based on their experience of life. He presents this idea prominently in his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra [various internet sources]. Phonetically, I suppose, the word "mention" could be spelled: "mensch-in"
Four entries that end in "ON"; two entries that end in "EN"; 6 entries whose endings phonetically sound like "IN"
One thing I can say is that Zachary didn't ZHUZH us today!! 😜
One of Zachary David Levy's entries that didn't make the cut today ...
Clue: "Head nurse for the hospital's delivery rooms?" --> MATERNITY WARDEN
On one or two previous occasions where I questioned the theme/reveal/entries, I reached out to my fellow bloggers for assistance. Maybe, as I alluded to on November 16 when I commented on waseeley's blog, I am looking for more than what is just there on the surface. But if any of you, who solved this puzzle and are reading this blog, want to add your thoughts below, please comment. Here is the grid, and then off to the rest of the clues ...
Across:
1. Chuckleheads: BOZOS. If there was something I missed in today's puzzle, then you may call me a BOZO
6. Marcus Aurelius, for one: STOIC. ROMAN fits, too; [Wikipedia] "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a STOIC philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ..."
11. Distraction in a dr.'s waiting room: MAG. MAG, as in MAGazine. The abbr. in the clue gave this away, but I'm gonna say "meh" for this one
14. Meet part: EVENT. Not like the "meet" in "meet and greet" ... like a track meet ... where the 4x400 relay race is one of the EVENTs
15. Confection typically flavored with saffron and rosewater: HALVA. [wikipedia] Recipe for HALVA: "Sesame. Sesame halva is popular in the Balkans, Poland, Middle East, and other areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The primary ingredients in this confection are sesame butter or paste (tahini), and sugar, glucose or honey". Looks like they left out the saffron and rosewater ... maybe that's why I needed perps to solve this one
16. Make public: AIR. Like this blog, perhaps
19. Letters before a take: IMO. The clue for this seemed odd to me ... anyone else?
20. Ruse: PLOY. Let's see what the Thesaurussaurus says about this one:
21. Flamenco shout: OLE. Also heard at Ryder Cup matches ...
22. Sleep study subject: APNEA. Click here for more information
27. Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy: AIKMAN. QB #8 for the Dallas Cowboys. My favorite HOF football player named Troy is this guy:
31. __ roll: HONOR. Moe-ku #1:
Rodney Dangerfield's
Least known quote from "Back to School"
Is "I'm HONOR roll" ...
32. Certain cross-country traveler: SKIER. I cross-country skied when I lived in New England many decades ago. I enjoyed the workout as well as the lack of speed, unlike my Friday counterpart, MalMan who prefers to downhill ski
33. Two or three, say: A FEW. Two = a couple; three or four = A FEW
35. Setup punches: JABS. A pugilistic term
38. Chest muscles, briefly: PECS. PECtorals; here you go, ladies!! 😉
40. Four-award acronym: EGOT. This acronym is quickly becoming a part of crossword-ese
41. Big Apple store: SAKS. A NYC landmark
42. Fibber: LIAR.
43. "Pride Is the Devil" rapper: J COLE. Here is the "official" trailer ... it's "rap" so listen to it if you want, or skip it if you'd rather
44. Soaks up the sun: BASKS.
46. Short revitalizer: CATNAP.
51. "It's open!": ENTER.
52. Soup container: CAN. Moe-ku #2:
The favorite dance of
Campbell's soup containers is,
Of course, the CAN CAN
53. Western gas chain: ARCO. Western CANADA gas chain would be: ESSO
57. Avocado discard: PIT. The word PIT has several synonyms and meanings; oddly, I found very few that lists it as an avocado (or peach) discard:
62. System starter?: ECO. SOLAR didn't fit
63. "They were no match for me!": GOT 'EM.
64. Center of Renaissance art: ITALY. Read all about it!
65. Actor Cariou: LEN. A CSO to CanadianEh! "Leonard Joseph Cariou OC OM is a Canadian actor and stage director. He gained prominence for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd in the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street alongside Angela Lansbury for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical" [wikipedia]
66. Pert: SASSY.
67. Anti-anxiety drug: XANAX. Not for those who are "palidromicphobic" 🤣
Down:
1. Appliance alert: BEEP. Unusual clue for this word, but it works
2. Not quite round: OVAL. aka, an ELLIPSE. Have you ever wondered how to calculate the area for an OVAL?
3. Round number?: ZERO. On my computer keyboard, the number "ZERO" looks like an OVAL, while the letter "O" looks more round ... and "ONE" is the loneliest number if you believe in Three Dog Night [this is what happens when you're into your third hour of writing a blog ...]
4. Merely: ONLY.
5. Porcine pen: STY. Porcine = french for "pig"; pigs live in a STY
6. NFL coach with the most career wins: SHULA. Don SHULA
7. Scale allowances: TARES.
8. Not fresh: OLD.
9. Secret suffix: IVE. "IVE" could've been clued as: "___ Got a Secret" (former game show). Secret is also a brand you can use on your PITs
10. Ancient land on the Dead Sea:) CANAAN Looks a bit like modern-day Israel!
12. Mann of pop: AIMEE. When I googled the word "AIMEE", AIMEE Mann comes up in the 4th position on the list of AIMEEs. I'm pretty sure that this filled via perps
13. [But I don't wanna do my homework!]: GROAN. You want a GROAN? Moe-ku #3:
Peruvian owl
Becomes friends with mockingbird
Are they Inca hoots?
18. Windfall: BOON.
23. Cast: PROJECT. Verb form of the clue word
24. Jaguar, for one: CAR. XKE could've fit (that's a Jaguar model)
25. His and hers: THEIR. All of these gender pronouns ... 😕
26. Gala garb: GOWN.
27. Egyptian cobras: ASPS.
28. Maker of BILLY bookcases: IKEA. These:
30. Text, e.g.: MESSAGE.
33. Star __: expensive spice: ANISE. And another clue whose solve sounds "similar" to ANISE: (48. Waiting in the wings:) ON ICE.
34. Rx overseer: FDA. Prescription drug watchdog
36. Whirled weapon: BOLA. I always get BOLA and BOLO mixed up. One you wear and one you whirl
37. Pedometer unit: STEP. I track mine (STEPS) either on my iPhone or Apple watch. I should be doing more
39. Large deer: ELKS. Is this a more difficult clue than "Fraternal order, familiarly" ... ?? Some folks would argue that the plural of ELK is ELK, not ELKS
43. "SNL" alum Hooks: JAN. I hate to admit, but SNL passed me by many decades ago. This was a complete unknown. I will bet that the J COLE crossing with JAN (Hooks) tripped up more than one solver today
45. "I dunno" gestures: SHRUGS. 🤷 🤷
46. Post-op wear for some pets: CONE. One of my favorite SNL sketches was the foibles of the CONEheads; they seemed funnier back in 1978 ... 😅
47. Drive away: REPEL.
49. Surveyor's units: ACRES.
50. __ the Owl: Rice University mascot: SAMMY. College mascot
53. Naan flour: ATTA. Interesting and fun fact: the flour used (ATTA) for the Indian bread (NAAN) is also a palindrome. How weird?
54. "Glass Onion" filmmaker Johnson: RIAN. Another proper name solved via perps. Glass Onion teaser/trailer:
55. Bar mixer: COLA. Believe it or not, I can count on one hand the number of times I have had a COLA this year, and have fingers left over. The only carbonated beverage I drink (as a bar mixer) are Tonic Water and Ginger Beer
56. Black gemstone: ONYX. Odd assortment of letters on the border of the puzzle. Not that many choices of words that could fill this section that end in O, N, Y, and X
59. Campy scarf: BOA.
60. UFO aviators: ETS. The CONEheads, perhaps?
61. Squash: NIX. GOURD didn't fit
So how did you fare today? Hope y'all had a Happy Thanksgiving 🦃 🍗 🍠 🥧
