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

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Jun 9, 2017

Friday, June 9, 2017, David Alfred Bywaters

Title: G, take T and see!

Our second puzzle from David, with his LAT debut a Friday in December last year. He began then by adding "EX" to phrases, and returns with a replace a letter - G becomes T -  which is revealed by the perfect G IS T (gist).  We have no other consistency, with three 3 letter second words, one with the first letter changed in the first word, one with the last letter in the first word and one with a middle letter.  We have six themers and the reveal to give us a packed puzzle, with little room for long sparkly fill.  This filled without any complete unknowns and the long non-theme fill, CRAYOLA, SEATTLE, RAMPANT, SARCASM, PRECINCT and IT'S A DEAL were all gettable.  let's look at the puzzle.

17A. Sports geek get-togethers? : STAT PARTIES (11). StaG Parties are no longer PC.

25A. Halloween decoration? : PAPER BAT (8).  Paper BaG. Want to make your own?

32A. Longhair cat's monotonous routine? : PERSIAN RUT (10). Persian RuG.  Very cute.

43A. Last one left angrily carrying on? : LONE RANTER (10). Lone RanGer. The only soft G.

48A. Imperfection in a pointillist painting? : STRAY DOT (8). Stray DoG

61A. Moral? : TALE WARNING (11). Gale warning. 

The reveal

69A. Essence ... and, read differently, a hint to six puzzle answers : GIST (4). 62 theme squares.

 Across: 

1. Dirt removal method : BATH. Very fun clue, so simple but like the soap, very slippery.

5. Like much religious music : CHORAL. Choral, chorale, choir, and chorus stand in obvious relationship to one another and are in some respects used interchangeably when a body of singers, for example, is referred to as a choir, a chorus (Latin noun derived from the Greek word choros), or a chorale, which properly is a Lutheran hymn tune. (Britannica).

11. Uncooked : RAW.

14. It replaced the Cypriot pound : EURO. I did not even know Cyprus used the Pound.

15. Go back : RENEGE. A word I learned playing bridge, which has nothing to do with the clue here.

16. Stumble : ERR. "To stumble is human", just does not have the same ring.

19. Gardening tool : HOE. I wonder if Santa uses one in his garden.

20. Upper part : TOP. Tempting to link something, some would like to...

21. Keep an __ : EYE ON.

22. Pesters online, in a way : SPAMS.

24. Wall St. event : IPOInitial Public Offering.

27. Western city named for a Suquamish chief : SEATTLE. Apparently he was Chief of this TRIBE.

31. Witness : SEE.

35. Throw : CAST. Your bread upon the water....

39. Early computer : ENIAC. You must know this by now.

40. Hound over a debt : DUN. Do people still refer to dunning letters?

41. Agile : LITHE.

42. Group of two : DYAD. From Latin and Greek root.

45. Job ad abbr. : EOEEqual Opportunity Employer.

47. Feature of many negative reviews : SARCASM. Sarcasm is not always negative.

53. Corp. leaders : MGT. Management.

54. Greets : HAILS.

55. Feel around : GROPE.

57. Printemps month : MAI. French for Spring and May.

60. Addams family cousin : ITT. I could not find one with Fester wearing a Fez.

64. Tasseled hat : FEZ.

65. Pair of ones? : ELEVEN. I have seen it before but still tricky.

66. Wary of : ON TO.

67. Test : TRY.

68. Fight against : RESIST.


Down:

1. Leading : BEST. The beginning was slow for such easy words, but the nearby fill was fiar.

2. Car : AUTO.

3. Door in the floor : TRAP. Did any of you fall for this clue?

4. Sweating, maybe : HOT. Perfect clue for summer.
5. Tropical Rain Forest seller since 1993 : CRAYOLA. Is this a single color or a set of greens?

6. "__ we go!" : HERE.

7. Leading : ON TOP. See 20A, 21A, 66A....

8. Spanish queen : REINA. I learned this Spanish word from puzzles.

9. Birthday count : AGE. How many put the correct number of candles on the cake?

10. Car user, maybe : LESSEE.

11. Detox locale : REHAB. I guess, since people are always going to rehab.

12. Draw from the oven : AROMA.

13. Take forcibly : WREST.

18. Digestive : PEPTIC. "...relating to digestion, especially that in which pepsin is concerned." Pepsin being a key digestive enzyme.

23. Administrative district : PRECINCT. There are voting precincts, police precincts....

24. Words spoken while shaking : IT'S A DEAL. Handshaking. Nice clue.

26. Winter hrs. in Berkeley : PSTPacific Standard Time.

27. Went fast : SPED.

28. Bitty : EENY. My thought...LINK.

29. "Nessun dorma," e.g. : ARIA. I never saw this clue until I was doing the write up; as stated it means nothing so...


30. Prefix with scope : ENDO. Endoscopy is a very important tool in modern medicine.

33. Race : RUN.

34. Quelques-__: a few, in French : UNES. If you do not speak French this is difficult.

36. "__ boy!" : ATTA.

37. Females : SHES.

38. Period : TERM.

41. Like L vis-à-vis XL, in some cases : LARGER. Did you size this one up?

43. Set the pace : LED. In the race...

44. Widespread : RAMPANT.

46. Bivalve at a bar : OYSTER. I spent way too much time trying to come up with the punch line to, " A bivalve burrowed in to an oyster bar...."

48. Nine to five, e.g. : SHIFT.

49. Spud : TATER.

50. Posh : RITZY.

51. Looks at in a bad way? : OGLES. Okay this matches with 57A. Revealing attire : MINI. LINK.

52. Rome's Fontana di __ : TREVI. This has appeared in many movies.

56. Is indebted to : OWES.

58. Social climbers? : ANTS. More like anti-social.

59. "__ Rhythm" : I GOT.. This was one of the musicals my sons appeared in during high school.

62. Pub offering : ALE.

63. Frothy quaff : NOG. Frothy? RECIPE.

Well another Friday in the record books; I found it very doable but YMMV. Have a great week end and then get ready for Father's Day and the U.S. Open without Phil, who will be at his daughter's high school graduation. Thanks David.


Note from C.C.:

Here are a few pictures of Lemonade's beautiful granddaughters Charlotte and Harper. You can also click here for all the Charlotte/Harper pictures we've shown on our blog. I smile every time I look at that lemonade stand.


Charlotte 2017 Dance Recital

Harper Does Slow Down
The Girls 2016

The Girls, June 2017