Puzzling thoughts:
Doug Peterson is a widely published and well-known crossword constructor. He should need no introduction here as he's created countless LA Times puzzles; probably one for every day of the week
I was literally on the EDGE of my seat today when I saw the 16x15 grid. After solving, I noticed the perimeter of *key words that go with the reveal: 40-across. Situation that occurs under extreme conditions, and a description of the answer to each starred clue: EDGE CASE. Confused? Well, just follow the 12 words around the border (EDGE) of the grid (I've highlighted them in red on the solved puzzle picture below), add the word CASE to them, et voila! The result is a dozen words that fit with a CASE:
CIGAR CASE (Moe has one or two of these, as he's a CIGAR smoker); JEWEL CASE (a now antiquated term for a plastic CD container); SLIP CASE (or is it SLIPCASE, one word?) - not to be confused with a SLIP Cover (a slipcover has 2 openings: top and bottom. A slipcase generally only has 1 opening: the right side); PHONE CASE (mine has protected my iPhone 13 Pro on many occasions, and should probably be replaced); SEED CASE - wait; there's a crossword entry for that "clue" ... "Seed case": ARIL
Next, is MEAT CASE - a feature that Moe appreciates in his grocery store shopping ... maybe I am thinking of a MEAT COUNTER instead? WORST CASE (a phrase which is almost always followed by the word "scenario"); GLASS CASE - the one entry that Moe is a bit confused by ... is it a CASE made of GLASS or a CASE that is built to hold GLASS?? Sorry, Doug, but this was the weakest of the 12, IMO; TEST CASE - a tribute to the IT geeks here - "A test case usually contains a single step or a sequence of steps to test the correct behaviour/functionality and features of an application"[Wikipedia]; COURT CASE - they come in four flavors: Civil, Criminal, Family, and Probate. Don't believe me? Look it up ... or better yet, SUE ME!! Then, of course, there is the DELI CASE ... which surprisingly is almost never located next to the MEAT CASE (nor MEAT COUNTER) in a super market; last but not least is the COLD CASE (an unsolved criminal investigation which remains open pending the discovery of new evidence) which led me to today's puzzle title: CASE CLOSED
The evidence is in, and while EDGE CASE is not one of those terms that many use on a daily basis, it certainly describes today's puzzle. Well done, Doug, but there'll be a few nits to pick with you as I review the clues and all ...
The MHS for today's puzzle is 6.2; mostly for the clues
Here is the solved grid:
Across:
1. *Pipe alternative: CIGAR. Moe-ku #1:
Nude smoker burned self[ok, that one's a stretch]
With lit ash. The end result:
Clothes, but no CIGAR
6. *"You Were Meant for Me" singer: JEWEL. Her (or is it she/they/them??)
11. *Minor mistake: SLIP. This, perhaps? Ladies, you'll understand ... or is a SLIP showing OK nowadays?
15. 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Tony: OLIVA. Tony OLIVA was a star right fielder for the Minnesota Twins [click on the link for his stat's]. I searched for his "rookie card" and found it interesting and coincidental that he and Pete Rose had to "share" their rookie cards with other ballplayers. That year, Topps (a major player in the sports collecting card business) perhaps wanted to save a few $$ and chose to combine a quartet of rookie players on one card. OLIVA is in the Baseball Hall-of-Fame; Rose would be had he not been caught gambling on baseball games when he was a player and manager ...
16. Savory quality: UMAMI. Think of the flavor of sauteed mushrooms
17. Soft food: MUSH. Soft food = MUSH is just the noun definition; no dogsled driver EVER yelled to his team of Huskies "SOFT FOOD", "SOFT FOOD" ...
18. Hybrid big cat: LIGER. A zoo-bred hybrid. Read all about it
19. "No __!": SIREE. Moe-ku 2:
iPhone assistant
Was being belligerent
I said, "No, SIREE"!
20. Spot's pal in Pixar's "The Good Dinosaur": ARLO. Mr. Guthrie is not pleased ... I had no clue about the clue that Doug used here. Good possibility that this clue was edited for a Friday. Did anyone else know this from "The Good Dinosaur" reference?
21. Most precious: DEAREST.
23. Like Frederick the Great's kingdom: PRUSSIAN.
25. Skin bump: WART.
26. Jedi played by Daisy Ridley: REY. Her
27. Unifying idea: THEME.
28. Boring situation: DRAG. Moe-ku 3:
What Ru Paul's called when
He gets ennui from smoking?
A DRAG DRAG DRAG's DRAG
[or something like that!!]
30. Tara of the "Sharknado" films: REID. I counted only 8 proper names today, so that's not too bad for a Friday puzzle. I didn't know Ms. REID, so perps saved the day ... here is what she looks like:
32. Novelist Santha Rama __: RAU. And of course, one proper name follows another ... another save from perps ... Ms. RAU
33. Bistros, e.g.: EATERIES.
35. Zombies, essentially: CORPSES.
39. Inebriated: LIT. Surprise, surprise! This one came to me lickety-spLIT!!
42. __ kwon do: TAE.
43. Guts: INSIDES.
45. App's customers: USER BASE. Not a term with which I am familiar. An example of its use in a sentence [according to Wikipedia]: "In time, a small user base who created and made their add-in applications available on-line for free or for profit emerged." MEH.
47. Rx writers: MDS. DRS also fit ... I am not a big fan of pluraled abbreviations ... and in the Google world, when you search for MDS you get this
48. Developer's map: PLAT. Interesting information from Realtor dot com
49. Eagle-__: EYED. One thing I hope Margaret is when she proofreads my blog! ;^)
50. Title in a Dumas title: COMTE. Perhaps if the clue were in French, we would know that the word for COUNT (as in The Count of Monte Cristo) was supposed to be in French. A minor nitpick, but a fair one. Regardless, I originally inked in "THREE", so I had the wrong book
More on Dumas and his writings [Biography dot com]: "Dumas was a prolific writer of essays, short stories and novels, as well as plays and travelogues. His interests also encompassed crime and scandals and wrote eight volumes of essays on infamous cases in history such as that of Lucrezia Borgia and Cesare Borgia, and names more contemporary to his time, like Karl Ludwig Sand. But he achieved widespread success with his novels The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, initially published as serials. The Three Musketeers was one of three novels in his D'Artagnan Romances, the others being Twenty Years After and The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. The story "The Man in the Iron Mask" from Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, also stands out as one his most widely known."
53. Sewer scamperer: RAT.
54. Some quinceañera attendees: TIAS. Unlike the clue for COMTE, this one was much more correct. Why? A quinceañera is a celebration of a girl's 15th birthday in Latin American cultures, marking her transition from childhood to womanhood. So naturally, possible attendees would be her TIAS - the Spanish plural for Aunts. And a place where this celebration could be held is found in 35-down (Asunción abode:) CASA.
56. Party bowlful: ONION DIP. I prefer guacamole, and I make a killer one
58. British actor who played Bilbo Baggins: IAN HOLM. Moe-l'ick 1:
Bilbo Baggins was recently scarred,
And the news really caught us off guard.
He expired from infection
After getting erection ...
Guess it's true that old hobbits die hard
[sorry if this offended anyone, but this was created in honor of Wilbur Charles, our recently departed blogger who coined the term "Moe-l'ick" and "Moe-ku" ... Bill loved a good limerick, especially ones that were a bit risque ... I know he'd be grinning right now ... RIP, sir ... you will be missed]
61. Gabrielle Union's alma mater: UCLA. This was a WAG but easily perped. Who is Gabrielle Union, you might ask?
62. Do the trick: AVAIL. "WAVE A MAGIC WAND" didn't fit
64. Flood guard: LEVEE. The ones that failed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina came onshore made news. Tragic event
65. Wants to take back: RUES. Should I RUE what I said about Ru in my Moe-ku??
66. 2022 role for Pattinson: WAYNE. Robert Pattinson (British actor and model) stars as Bruce WAYNE (aka, Batman) in the 2022 motion picture (for those who were stumped by this clue)
67. __ rock: ARENA. [Wikipedia] says: "Arena rock (also known as album-oriented rock or AOR, melodic rock, stadium rock, anthem rock, pomp rock, corporate rock and dad rock ) is a style of rock music that originated in the mid-1970s."
68. *Challenge: TEST. DARE also fits
69. *Tumbler: GLASS. Hey! A clue that we "old farts" recognize!!
70. *Least satisfactory: WORST. Moe-ku 4:
At hot dog cook-off
I finished in last place. Was
The WORST of the wurst
Down:
1. *On a losing streak: COLD. Do you ever see a word (COLD, in this case) that immediately brings a song into your head? Well, I did ... and I am going to share it with you, right here:
[is this an example of 67-across??]
2. "Would __ to you?": I LIE. Hope not
3. Power grid measures: GIGAWATTS. I had MEGA WATTS inked in at first
4. Bowler's statistic: AVERAGE. Every time I see a reference to bowling I remember Boomer ... RIP, Doug
5. More valuable, perhaps: RARER. This word is also a reference to how I prefer my T-Bones or Ribeyes
6. Merely: JUST.
7. Classic record label: EMI. Here is a link to their artists
8. Bent out of shape: WARPED. If it wasn't already obvious, this word is an appropriate adjective for Moe's mind ... ;^)
9. Pedicure abrasive: EMERY. Not to be confused with EMORY - the name of an Atlanta-based University ... there is probably a Moe-ku that should be inserted here ...
10. Substitution word: LIEU. Moe-ku 5:
The actress who played
O-Ren (Kill Bill) had stand-in.
Her name's Lucy LIEU
11. Demolition derby collision: SMASH UP. Here is a video with over 26 minutes worth of SMASH UPs - watch as much or as little as you please ...
12. "Foreign Affairs" Pulitzer winner: LURIE. The last of today's proper names
13. Mullah's faith: ISLAM.
14. *Call: PHONE.
22. Walks purposefully: STRIDES.
24. Impolite observer: STARER. OGLER was too short to fit
26. Gentle hill: RISE. A perfectly fine Friday clue - nice misdirection
28. *Sub supplier: DELI. Do you call your "long sandwich" a SUB? I've called them that as well as a HOAGIE. When I lived in New England they called them "GRINDERS"
29. Reason for indoor recess: RAIN. "Aw c'mon teach! Why can't we go out and play in the RAIN?" Nothing like a good rainstorm to form puddles to stomp in
31. Brain tests, briefly: EEGS. So, this could've been ECG or EKG, too ... what is the difference you ask? It is all explained here
32. Stone discovery site: ROSETTA. [Encyclopaedia Brittanica] says: "The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian stone with inscriptions in three languages and scripts. It was discovered by a Frenchman in 1799 near Rosetta, Egypt, and deciphered by Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion in 1821–22"
Not to be confused with Rosetta Stone the learn-a-language software
34. Blush: REDDEN. It would take quite a bit to make Moe REDDEN ... not surprised, are you??! ;^)
36. Spends the night: STAYS OVER. Margaret and I recently STAYED OVER with MM and Valerie in Colorado - thanks again, brother!
37. Relieve: EASE. Moe-ku 6:
What are certain words,
Like apse, Afta, and Ott called?
Methinks, Crossword-EASE
38. *Germ of an idea: SEED.
41. Rock's Blue Öyster __: CULT. One of their iconic tunes in an iconic parody:
44. "My goose is cooked": I'M TOAST. Moe-ku 7:
Foie gras and baguette
Were overheard saying, "My:
Goose is cooked!" "I'M TOAST"!
46. Save the day: BE A HERO.
48. Smoothie fruit: PAPAYA. BANANA fits here, too
50. *Server's spot?: COURT. As in tennis ... and perhaps the best name for a tennis player was none other than this Aussie woman
51. When expected: ON CUE.
52. Some credit card rewards: MILES. POINTS and CASH BACK didn't fit here
53. Uber, to Lyft: RIVAL. I've known some folks who've driven for both ... at the same time
55. Holiday visitor: IN-LAW. Nice Friday misdirection; I had SANTA inked in here
57. University of Georgia athlete, familiarly: DAWG. Go DAWGS! Their mascot:
As a side note, my daughter is beginning her 15th year as a Professor at the University of Georgia!
58. Tahiti et Martinique: ILES. Clues in French = entry in French ... and no, just because the name Dumas appeared in clue for 50-across, does not imply that the word should be in French!! [rant over]
59. Periscope part: LENS.
60. *Charcuterie fare: MEAT. Or foie gras ... or baguette ... ;^)
63. Progressive business: Abbr.: INS. Progressive as in the insurance company? Is that what INS is referring to here? Moe-ku 8:
Abbreviations
Aren't always clear. I guess I'll
Just go with the Flo
Well folks, that's a wrap; CASE closed. Please offer your comments and criticism below. See you in September
