Theme: The world is upside down.
Each of the six theme answers take two blocks to complete, reading from the bottom of the clued answer to the top, and then down the adjacent unnumbered fill. Visually this is a very creative and fun puzzle by one of the many young people out there. This is my second effort at deciphering an Ian Livengood special, having blogged the second of his two LA Times efforts back in February, both published in the same week. His theme then was too subtle for me, and if you read this LINK you will see the opinion is subtle themes are what make his puzzles special.(Sadly, this compendium only includes regular NY Times constructors). Much of this was easy once you got the gimmick.
1D. Weather forecast data : REPMET (start with the T and then head down from the empty square to get TEMPER (REPMET) ATURES. They can rise and fall quite quickly here.
10D. Transporter in a shaft : ELEV (VELE) ATOR. The operator complains about his work being up and down.
29D. Two-person plank : SEE (EES) SAW. Be careful if you seesaw with a little one.
33D. Financial index : THE (EHT) DOW. The volatility of the stock market's ups and downs has made many rich and many poor. I always told my customers I could guarantee them a small fortune, if they started with a large one.
46D. Treatment seen in bedrooms : WINDOW (WODNIW) SHADES. Keep them down during your examinations Dennis.
51D. Oscillating curve : SINE (ENIS) WAVE. I will let Fermat or Bill G. describe this smooth repititive wave.
and the unifier:
6D. What the six puzzle answers graphically represented in this puzzle have in common : THEY GO UP AND DOWN.
Across:
1. "Gnarly!" : RAD. Surfer world word.
3. In a mood : TESTY. I hope most of you did not get testy when you looked at REMET and said Wednesday Thursday, Friday!
8. Bean variety : FAVA. Used extensively in Egyptian and Greek cooking not my fave. Really COSTLY.
11. Sorority character : ETA. I love it when a three letter clue is clever, I am sure many of you thought of some wacky girl you knew back in the day.
12. Drug giant behind Valium and Klonopin : ROCHE. The USA division is part of the international Hoffman-Roche, Ltd.
13. Posh bathroom fixture : BIDET. Speaking of behinds, how many of you first saw one in a fancy hotel and had no idea what it was, turned it on and got squirted in the eye? 13D. IQ test pioneer : BINET. he did not invent the Bidet.
14. Puts out : PUBLISHES. Speaking of behinds, publishing is not what I think of when I see puts out.
16. "If on a winter's night a traveler" writer Calvino : ITALO. never heard of this JOURNALIST.
17. Top banana : MR BIG.
18. Longtime Rolling Stones bassist Bill : WYMAN. The guy playing bass. he is 76.
20. Each : PER.
21. Sushi options : EELS.
22. Feature of an old mattress : SAG. Not to be associated with Bill Wyman.
23. Dollars for quarters : RENT. A really fun play on words.
25. Fly out of Africa? : TSE TSE. Another nice play on an old regular, which is not cut in half.
27. Acorns, someday : OAK TREES. They should be MIGHTY.
30. Liqueur made from elderflowers : SAMBUCA. Elder flowers yield elderberries, but the Italian liqueur favored by my paisans is flavored with anise. It was part of my birthday gift to my friend on his 80th last weekend.
32. Realm : AREA.
33. O staff, briefly : EDS. Editors of Oprah's magazine.
35. Cravat holders : TIE PINS. We have been through the tie tac, pin controversy enough.
37. Las Vegas-to-Tijuana dir. : SSW.
38. Distort, as with false data, with "up" : HOKE. "to alter or manipulate so as to give a deceptively or superficially improved quality or value (usually followed by up ): a political speech hoked up with phony statistics." Oh, I get it, from HOKUM.
40. Scroll source : DEAD SEA. Both misleading and accurate. Papyrus also fits.
42. Like part of a special delivery? : TWIN BORN.
44. "I'm With Stupid" T-shirt markings : ARROWS. Fun clue.
47. Linguist Chomsky : NOAM. A very important person in the 60's and 70's LINK.
48. Headphone wearers, usually : DJS. Disc Jockeys.
50. Literary honey lover : POOH. Winnie.
51. Flock member : EWE. But not you.
52. "You can ___ horse..." : LEAD A. Horse to water but you can't make him do the dishes.
54. Nintendo princess kidnapped by Ganon : ZELDA.
55. Alvin, Simon and Theodore : NAMES. Chipmunks just will not fit!!!
57. Tinseltown : MOVIE LAND. eh.
59. The Donald's first : IVANA. Mother of model Ivanka.
60. Whacks : SWATS.
61. Concern on the course : LIE. A double entendre, the lie of the ball on the grass, as well as the lie of how many strokes your opponent had.
62. Canonical hour : SEXT. From the Latin for the SIXTH hour.
63. First stage : ONSET.
64. Pet store reactions : AWS. I am speechless.
Down:
2. Work casually : DABBLE. I often dabble.
3. Pre-calc course : TRIG.onometry. More for our math whizzes, not related to Whizzer White.
4. Goddess of the morning : EOS. We just had her two weeks ago.
5. Unstressed vowel sound : SCHWA.
7. Backwoods agreement : YES'M. Hey, it is just respect, not backwoods.
8. Match : FIT. This simple fill gave me fits.
9. Aids for a bad 8-Down : ADAPTERS.
15. Rolls at sea : LISTS.
19. Where Hope may be found : ARKANSAS. The LIST.
22. Feature of some apses : SEMI-DOME.
24. Gp. with many hunters : NRA. National Rifle Association.
26. Picked up a lap? : SAT. Cute.
28. Alkali neutralizer : ACID.
31. Keg filler : BEER. Obligatory shout to my boys.
34. Late-night adult programming airer, facetiously : SKINEMAX. really fun clue for soft core Cinemax.
36. Sunday msg. : SERmon.
39. Roxy Music alum : ENO. Watch and LISTEN.(4:08)
41. Adrien of cosmetics : ARPEL. Estee, Helena and on and on.
43. Hobbyist's wood : BALSA. Dennis can explain why this wood is a favorite.
45. "Yowzah!" : OO LA LA. This is how I learned FRENCH. (3:57).
49. Diner cupfuls : JAVAS.
53. Playground reply : AM SO. AM NOT!
54. Twist at a bar : ZEST. The appealing name for the peel.
56. Med. specialty : ENT. Ear Nose & Throat
58. Mineral suffix : ITE. Not sure why, but BAUXITE comes to mind.
Thank you Ian for a new twist on the grid, and standing us on our heads to get this one done. For the rest, January is going quickly so go out into the 80+ weather and enjoy. Oh, that is only here, my bad. See you all next time, thanks for the week off C.C. ladies, I did my best. L714 out.
