Theme: Common Sense(s)
It was in 2015 when Joseph Groat first appeared in the L.A.T., and that was also my first attempt at blogging. This is his third appearance. For this outing, the theme is in the clues rather than the answers – no reveal required. The theme answers include three grid-spanners and two twelves. Impressive. Plus, it’s a pangram! For any newbies in the audience, a pangram contains all 26 letters of the alphabet. But like many puzzles with heavy themage, this one requires lots of gluey 3-letter abbreviations to make things work. Still, it was a fun solve.
17A. Sight : POINT OF INTEREST. A stopping point along the highway.
23A. Hearing : COURT INQUIRY. Law, not tennis.
39A. Smell : MINUSCULE AMOUNT. A tinge, a hint, a soupçon (always wanted to find a use for that word).
51A. Touch : I-POD COMPUTER. Apple model. I think of it as a tiny jukebox rather than a computer. Probably just me.
61A. Taste : ART CRITIC'S ASSET. At least the good ones.
Across:
1. __ salad : COBB. A WAG right off the bat, but a good one.
5. Maddux who won four consecutive Cy Young Awards : GREG. All perps. I remember Lester, but he spelled it with an O, not a U. So did my former BIL.
9. Prominent feature of toondom's Droopy Dog : JOWLS. That word evokes images of Leo G. Carroll. Remember him from Topper and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.? Don’t you think Thomas Gibson of Criminal Minds is starting to look a lot like him?
14. Efficient : ABLE. If you say so. Very loose equivalency.
15. Dunkirk dream : REVE. Sounds like “rev” as in reverend or engine. Dunkirk is in France.
16. 2003 LPGA Rookie of the Year : OCHOA, Lorena No idea, but there was an Ochoa in my boot camp company, so once the name appeared, I let it stand.
20. Cuttlefish pigment : SEPIA. “Sepia-toned” does have a better ring to it than “cuttlefish-toned.”
21. "Homeland" org. : CIA. A couple of years ago I received a free year of SHO as a loyalty reward from DirecTV. I chose SHO over another premium channel so I could watch “Homeland.” Turned out to be the show’s final season, and a short season at that. Bzzzzt!
Claire Danes (Carrie Mathison) and Mandy Patinkin (Saul Berenson) in “Homeland”
22. Wyo. neighbor : NEBraska I tried ORE and IDA first. Note the proximity to 9d.
28. Acting sister of Lynn : VANESSA . The British Redgrave sisters. She’s set to receive the Gielgud Award for her lifetime achievement.
15. Dunkirk dream : REVE. Sounds like “rev” as in reverend or engine. Dunkirk is in France.
16. 2003 LPGA Rookie of the Year : OCHOA, Lorena No idea, but there was an Ochoa in my boot camp company, so once the name appeared, I let it stand.
20. Cuttlefish pigment : SEPIA. “Sepia-toned” does have a better ring to it than “cuttlefish-toned.”
21. "Homeland" org. : CIA. A couple of years ago I received a free year of SHO as a loyalty reward from DirecTV. I chose SHO over another premium channel so I could watch “Homeland.” Turned out to be the show’s final season, and a short season at that. Bzzzzt!
Claire Danes (Carrie Mathison) and Mandy Patinkin (Saul Berenson) in “Homeland”
22. Wyo. neighbor : NEBraska I tried ORE and IDA first. Note the proximity to 9d.
28. Acting sister of Lynn : VANESSA . The British Redgrave sisters. She’s set to receive the Gielgud Award for her lifetime achievement.
31. Big biceps, at the gym : GUNS. Mine are more like pea-shooters.
32. Form 1040 calc. : AGI. Adjusted Gross Income – the number that appears at the bottom of Page 1 of Form 1040. You want it to be as low as you can get it. This is your gross income minus adjustments, but before deductions and credits. Got that?
33. Like law school trials : MOCK. Thought of Moot Court first, a la The Paper Chase.
36. Befuddled : AT SEA. Better than the frowned-upon ASEA.
43. Burns art? : POESY. Wasn’t fooled, but I did try POEMS first. You?
44. Omission in logic : LEAP. Faith, too.
45. Ltr. holder : ENV for the USPS
46. Macy's department : MEN'S
48. Sierra __ : NEVADAS. Home to Mount Whitney and Yosemite.
55. Led : RAN. Hmmm, that could be clued as “Led or bled.”
56. __ Park Lincoln of "Knots Landing" : LAR (short for Laurie, methinks). She played Linda Fairgate. I recall the title, but don’t think I ever saw an episode. Without the TV reference, I would’ve guessed that Lar Park Lincoln was a recreational area in Nebraska’s capital.
Her name reminds me of this song in a Virginia Woolf stream-of-consciousness sort of way.
57. Playgroup demand : GIMME. Was this a gimme for you?
66. Reno-__ Intl. Airport : TAHOE. Reno is near Lake Tahoe on the Nevada-California border.
67. Magnate : CZAR. That was my first thought; I was surprised when it turned out to be right.
68. Goddess of discord : ERIS. Evokes memories of the Mirror of Erised from the Harry Potter books. Erised is desire spelled backwards. You see in the mirror what you want to see.
69. Cape Ann's county : ESSEX. Perps to the rescue. My knowledge of New England geography is sketchy, at best. But I still remember, “Maine – Augusta, New Hampshire – Concord, Vermont – Montpelier, Massachusetts – Boston, Connecticut – Hartford, Rhode Island – Providence” from my grade school days. I could do all 50 back then...well, ok, 48. South Carolina’s capital was the toughest to remember. Do you know it without looking it up?
70. Bottom lines : HEMS. Inked it right in – didn’t even consider NETS.
71. Energetic : SPRY. Not so much as I used to be.
Down:
1. Crosswords are often solved in them : CAPS. Tried CARS first, but ROINT__ wasn’t going anywhere.
2. Black wind : OBOE. Another first guess that turned out to be correct.
3. Observation in a tower : BLIP. And another.
4. Playgroup warning : BE NICE. Usually an admonishment to a cat at our house.
5. Garden product word : GRO.
32. Form 1040 calc. : AGI. Adjusted Gross Income – the number that appears at the bottom of Page 1 of Form 1040. You want it to be as low as you can get it. This is your gross income minus adjustments, but before deductions and credits. Got that?
33. Like law school trials : MOCK. Thought of Moot Court first, a la The Paper Chase.
36. Befuddled : AT SEA. Better than the frowned-upon ASEA.
43. Burns art? : POESY. Wasn’t fooled, but I did try POEMS first. You?
44. Omission in logic : LEAP. Faith, too.
45. Ltr. holder : ENV for the USPS
46. Macy's department : MEN'S
48. Sierra __ : NEVADAS. Home to Mount Whitney and Yosemite.
55. Led : RAN. Hmmm, that could be clued as “Led or bled.”
56. __ Park Lincoln of "Knots Landing" : LAR (short for Laurie, methinks). She played Linda Fairgate. I recall the title, but don’t think I ever saw an episode. Without the TV reference, I would’ve guessed that Lar Park Lincoln was a recreational area in Nebraska’s capital.
Her name reminds me of this song in a Virginia Woolf stream-of-consciousness sort of way.
57. Playgroup demand : GIMME. Was this a gimme for you?
66. Reno-__ Intl. Airport : TAHOE. Reno is near Lake Tahoe on the Nevada-California border.
67. Magnate : CZAR. That was my first thought; I was surprised when it turned out to be right.
68. Goddess of discord : ERIS. Evokes memories of the Mirror of Erised from the Harry Potter books. Erised is desire spelled backwards. You see in the mirror what you want to see.
69. Cape Ann's county : ESSEX. Perps to the rescue. My knowledge of New England geography is sketchy, at best. But I still remember, “Maine – Augusta, New Hampshire – Concord, Vermont – Montpelier, Massachusetts – Boston, Connecticut – Hartford, Rhode Island – Providence” from my grade school days. I could do all 50 back then...well, ok, 48. South Carolina’s capital was the toughest to remember. Do you know it without looking it up?
70. Bottom lines : HEMS. Inked it right in – didn’t even consider NETS.
71. Energetic : SPRY. Not so much as I used to be.
Down:
1. Crosswords are often solved in them : CAPS. Tried CARS first, but ROINT__ wasn’t going anywhere.
2. Black wind : OBOE. Another first guess that turned out to be correct.
3. Observation in a tower : BLIP. And another.
4. Playgroup warning : BE NICE. Usually an admonishment to a cat at our house.
5. Garden product word : GRO.
6. Call the game : REF. Crossword-friendlier letters than UMP.
7. Throw out : EVICT
8. Powerful lamp contents : GENII. We usually see it as Genie. She can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, but she can open garage doors with a single click.
9. Average beverage? : JOE. Wow, SO if I ever saw one!
10. Text-scanning technology, briefly : OCR. Optical Character Recognition.
11. Like some conditionally ordered stock : WHEN ISSUED. Got it, but not sure I understand it. The “stock” is apparently company stock, not merchandise, and it’s not yet for sale.
12. Mr. Wrong? : LOSER
13. Didn't act : SAT BY. This was my keyway to New England.
18. __ Ski Valley, site of Kachina Peak : TAOS. Another fortuitous WAG. I knew that a kachina is a Hopi doll – the Heard Museum in Phoenix has a large collection.
19. Sharpness : TANG
24. Camp Pendleton letters : USMC. Main West Coast base of the Marine Corps, not far from San Diego.
25. "The Phantom of the Opera" role : RAOUL. I knew Erik and Christine, but not Raoul. Vowel-friendly, though.
26. Esse __ videri: North Carolina motto : QUAM. “To be, rather than to seem” (to be). Yeah, I had to look it up. Interesting fact: Although North Carolina was one of the original 13 states, it didn’t adopt a motto until 1893 – 118 years later.
27. Biblical preposition : UNTO
28. Siren : VAMP. Theda was the original.
29. Currency exchange fee : AGIO. Hello, old cw friend. Long time, no see.
30. Three quarters : NINE MONTHS .Not 75 cents.
34. A.L. Central team : CLE. Cleveland, I’m guessin’. This from the guy who thought S.D. in baseball was South Dakota.
35. He played Kevin in "The Devil's Advocate" : KEANU Reeves. Al Pacino played a great Satan.
37. Lombardy Castle city : ENNA. Perps, four in all.
38. Off-rd. rides : ATVS. All-Terrain Vehicles.
40. Discounted, perhaps : USED. You bet it’s discounted, if I’m gonna buy it.
41. Four-fifths of a pop band? : SYNC. Missing the initial N. I was gonna link a song, but suddenly realized I didn’t recognize any of them.
42. Adopt-__.com: humane online gp. : A PET. Inferable.
47. Songs for singles : SOLI. Sorta grates, doesn’t it? Or is that just my east Texas redneck mentality?
49. Chevy named for a star : VEGA. Also the NOVA, affectionately known as the “no-go.”
50. Pops up : ARISES
51. Steamed : IRATE
52. Law office workers : PARAS. Merriam-Webster doesn’t recognize this as a stand-alone word, except as a unit of Turkish currency.
MedicineNet says, “Para- (prefix): A prefix with many meanings, including: alongside of, beside, near, resembling, beyond, apart from, and abnormal.”
The workers are paralegals – you pick which of those meanings fits.
53. Contest : MATCH
54. Contest lure : PRIZE
58. Car sticker letters : MSRP. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price – always dicker up from dealer cost, never down from MSRP.
59. Prime minister before Rabin : MEIR. Interesting woman. Born in Kiev, but lived in Milwaukee. She was the third woman in history to be named a Prime Minister.
60. "Whoever you are, find whatever you're into" website : ETSY. Had to double-check to make certain this wasn’t a C.C. puzzle.
62. Iowa campus : COE. As I’ve mentioned before, I used to work just up the street from the campus. Could’ve been bad, but the sandbags held in Cedar Rapids this week. City hall is on an island in the middle of the river. Normally, the island resembles a ship.
63. T. __ : REX
64. Pic taker : CAM
65. Jun. gown wearers : SRS. In these parts graduation is held in May, and the gowns are back in the rental house by June.
As you’ve surely guessed by now, Lemonade took today off – his firm has been switching offices this week, so I got a chance to sub. It’s been fun. You’ll find him back next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel.
desper-otto
64. Pic taker : CAM
65. Jun. gown wearers : SRS. In these parts graduation is held in May, and the gowns are back in the rental house by June.
As you’ve surely guessed by now, Lemonade took today off – his firm has been switching offices this week, so I got a chance to sub. It’s been fun. You’ll find him back next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel.
desper-otto
Note from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to Pje (Pat) and her husband! They were born in
the same day and same year. Pat was born in the morning, her husband in
the afternoon. Have a fantastic birthday celebration, Pat!
