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

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Sep 24, 2015

Thursday, September 24, 2015 Timothy L. Meaker

Theme: How about a LIFT?

The only question on this fine puzzle was whether Timothy was going to group the first or second words of the starred clues below for the theme.


Across starred clues


1. *Subject of a San Francisco museum : CABLE CAR - A mobile National Landmark


37. *Unpretentious : OLD SHOE - The billionaire "Oracle of Omaha" fits this description


Down starred clues

12. *Torque-providing component : DRIVE SHAFT - Gets the RPM's from the engine to the wheels


28. *Big band genre : SWING MUSIC - Miller, Kaye, Goodman, et al

It turns out he was going for the second words using this reveal:

66. Office building feature, which can precede the ends of the answers to starred clues: ELEVATOR - (LIFT to our resident Brits)


ELEVATOR CAR - Here's one for your, uh, car




ELEVATOR SHAFT - Bruce Willis in just such a place in Die Hard




ELEVATOR MUSIC - Upscale version



ELEVATOR SHOE - Vive la différence



Across         

9. Speculate : WONDER - "I WONDER, WONDER who, be-do-do who, Who wrote the book of love"


15. Intimate meeting : ONE-ON-ONE - Kobe in an intimate ONE-ON-ONE



16. Reluctant : AVERSE


17. Five-pointed, say : STARLIKE


18. Coordinated health program : REGIME - I prefer the word REGIMEN here. Harvard comma redux, anyone?


19. Ticked-off state : IRE


20. Honorary law deg. : LLD - Doctor of Laws (Canon and Civil), hence the two L's. Can also be honorary


21. Debussy contemporary : RAVEL - Most of all remember what happened in this scene with RAVEL's Bolero in the background




22. December purchase for many : TREE - It's been artificial TREES for us our entire marriage


24. Singer Lenya married to Kurt Weill : LOTTE - Kurt's wife LOTTE LENYA is immortalized in his most famous song Mack The Knife




26. Stood the test of time : LASTED


29. Damage : MAR


30. "¿Cómo __?" : ESTA - My Hispanic friend always answers "Muy Bien". She's aware I probably wouldn't understand any other response.


33. Egyptian city on the Nile : ASWAN - Its dam as seen from space 




34. Clever : CUTE


35. Laugh syllable : HAR - End of a Ralph Kramden line


36. Deflategate letters : PSI - Per Sq. In. As it turned out, much NFL ado about nothing this off season

40. 1970 Jackson 5 chart topper : ABC - "Simple as ABC, 1, 2, 3, Do Re Mi, Baby You and Me"


41. __ Andreas Fault : SAN - The plate on the ocean side is carrying LA north @ 1.3 "/yr. It could  be a suburb of San Francisco in a few million years!




42. Works in un museo : ARTE - Art in a Spanish Museum


43. M16, for one : RIFLE 


45. Sharpen : EDGE - At the nursery, we used honing stones to put an EDGE on our knives


47. Half a Western couple : ROY - Roy and Trigger?


48. Less than broadcast : HINTED - Literal me prefers not to have something HINTED at


49. Polite title : MADAM - Dolly played a MADAM named Miss Mona in this film




51. Fermented beverage usually served warm : SAKE


52. Take five : PAUSE 


54. N.L. East team : ATL - BOS Braves, MIL Braves and now ATL Braves


55. Nutritional stat : RDA


58. Steal, Western-style : RUSTLE - Even today in Iowa




60. Random way to decide : COIN TOSS

63. Bay windows : ORIELS - Not a stranger here


64. Arrived at, Western-style : RODE INTO - Silly riddle - "A cowboy RODE INTO town on Friday, stayed three days and rode out on Friday" How? Answer below.


65. Rite-related : SACRAL


Down


1. Right triangle ratio: Abbr. : COS - COSINE = Adjacent side/Hypotenuse ratio


2. Naysayer : ANTI - The word that drives our partisan Congress


3. Really hard test : BEAR


4. Lynn with the album "I Remember Patsy" : LORETTA -  Before she played Mrs. Clark Griswold, Beverly d'Angelo was Patsy Cline in Coal Miners Daughter




5. Phot. lab request : ENL - Enlarge


6. Ready to strike : COILED


7. Bracelet site : ANKLE - Yeah, I put WRIST first too


8. Sax, e.g. : REED 


9. Simple card game : WAR - High card wins




10. Out in the open : OVERT - As opposed to HINTED


11. Prove false : NEGATE 

13. Salinger title 13-year-old : ESME - For ESME - With Love And Squalor


14. Rod attachment : REEL


23. Clinton's attorney general : RENO - Janet got the high profile Elian Gonzalez and Waco Compound cases


24. Shop class fixture : LATHE - C.C.'s favorite use of a LATHE




25. Longtime Hydrox competitor : OREO


26. Run out : LAPSE 


27. Syrian leader : ASSAD - He seems unable to stop the horrors going on in his country

29. Dank : MUSTY - Crank up that dehumidifier


31. Set aside : TABLE - Where legislation goes to die


32. Moved like a pendulum : ARCED


34. Data storage medium : CD ROM - The more likely modern choice below



38. "Good Morning America" co-anchor Spencer : LARA - I don't do morning TV "news shows"

39. Composer Satie : ERIK - French composer and pianist unknown to me


44. Sluggishness : INERTIA - Newton's first law of motion - Objects at rest want to stay at rest


46. Parade time : EASTER


48. Silver __, compound used in film : HALIDE



50. Perry's secretary : DELLA - Was his relationship with Miss Street strictly platonic?



51. Bar patron's option : STOOL

52. J.B. Holmes and Bubba Watson, e.g. : PROS - Pro golfers. Bubba has made over $6,000,000 so far this year


53. Atmosphere : AURA


54. Part of a plot : ACRE


56. "Stop it!" : DON'T 


57. About : AS TO


59. Immigrant's subj. : ESL - English as a Second Language is a big deal here with our influx of Hispanic workers


61. Ariz. neighbor : NEV - That's how they share the Hoover Dam


62. Campus org. : SOR - My daughters were in the same 
∏ßØ Sorority

Riddle Answer - His horse was named Friday. Note to self - "Keep day job!" 

I'm sure your comments on the next page will give us all a LIFT!

Husker Gary




Notes from C.C.:

Crosswords LA Tournaments will be held on Oct 24, 2015 (Saturday) at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. You don't need to be a wizard solver to participate. As you can see, they have four brackets for different skill levels. Or you can just be a spectator, solving at the same time with other competitors but your grids won't be scored.

It's an annual charity event Elissa Grossman started in 2009 to raise money for Reading to Kids.  I'm honored to be one of the constructors this year. The editor (Puzzle Wrangler) is the amazing Todd McClary, a regular contributor to the CrosSynergy puzzles.

I hope our readers in LA area will attend the event and mingle with your favorite constructors, bloggers & fellow solvers. Will you be there, Steve?