L.A.Times Crossword Corner

Jun 12, 2021

Saturday, June 12, 2021, Kurt Krauss

Saturday Themeless by Kurt Krauss

A nice note from Kurt about himself and this puzzle: I am a retired business executive. I had a very successful career as a management consultant - first as a partner at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and then as the founder and Managing Partner of my own firm, The Mead Point Group, where I served a number of large, national and multinational corporations. I ended my professional career as the Chief Financial Officer of Burson-Marsteller, the then largest public relations and marketing communications firm in the world. I retired at fifty (it's better to be lucky than good) and have spent the past twenty years serving on company boards of directors, writing, constructing crossword puzzles and enjoying life. My first puzzle was published in the New York Times in 2010. Since then, I have had forty-nine puzzles published in the NYT, LAT & WSJ. This will be #50!

This is my first themeless puzzle. They are tough to construct. Rich Norris gave me some help and coaching and I was able to get one over the finish line. Finally!

Kurt's cluing and word selection made for a fun puzzle for me but, as you can see below, I had two vowel coin flips and I missed one where I puta a "Y" instead of the correct "I". On the other one I put in a correct "E". Sigh...

Across:

1. Made a seat-of-the-pants mistake?: BUTT DIALED - I did this to my sister-in-law yesterday and we had a great half-hour conversation

11. Spunkmeyer of cookie fame: OTIS - OTIS bakes here often

15. As it happens: IN REAL TIME

16. "Hmm ... don't think so": UH NO.

17. It's undeliverable: DEAD LETTER.

18. Tibiae supporters: TALI - The talus (pl. TALI) is shown here below the tibia (pl. tibiae)

19. "Done!": TADA.

20. Symbol on a Heineken label: RED STAR.

22. Request sweetener: PLEASE.

25. Word of agreement: LIKEWISE.

26. Palmer of "The Boys From Brazil": LILLI - As mentioned above, the I or Y coin flip came up wrong for me

COUPLED WITH

5. Monetary unit of The Gambia: DALASI - You could get in your 2¢ worth with a DALASI because that is what it is worth in US money. The bill below would pay for a McDonalds combo meal in Banjul, Gambia and you'd get 60 GMD in change

27. Electric __: EEL - Yikes!

28. Refuse: WASTE - Lines 10 and 11 in Emma Lazarus' The New Colussus, "Give me your tired , your poor, your huddles masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched REFUSE of your teeming shore."

29. Crazily: AMOK.

30. Filling material: AMALGAM - Some countries have banned this substance because it contains some mercury. The ADA has not banned it in America.

32. Appetite: YEN.

33. Keyboard in a Bach title: CLAVIER - CLAVIER (kluh VEER) is French for keyboard. Bach's original title was Das Wohltemperierte Klavier

34. Besides: TOO - If someone gets TOO tired to continue compressions in 54. Hosp. areas: ERS., he might ask someone to 37. Spell: RELIEVE him as he 45. Breaks: RESTS.

38. Soul singer Franklin: ERMA - ERMA and Carolyn provide backup as their sister Aretha sings Respect

ERMA, Carolyn and Aretha Franklin

39. Hog's little cousin: MOPED - I'm not sure if a MOPED rider would get the motorcycle "wave" from a rider on a Harley (called a Hog).

42. More than a stretch: LIE - When you've stretched the truth too far

43. Depressing: BLEAK.

44. Showing ingenuity in: CLEVER AT - I could list all our wonderful constructors

46. Queen of fiction: ELLERY - ELLERY Queen is the main fictional character created in 1929 by Manfred Lee and his cousin Frederic Dannay. Queen helps his police inspector father solve baffling murders.

47. The Acropolis, in its time: CITADEL - A CITADEL is the core, fortified part of a city. While many Greek cities had one, the most famous CITADEL is here on the Acropolis (high point) at Athens. The Parthenon is one of the surviving structures on it.

48. California city name meaning "tar": BREA - The smell of the Tar Pits when we got of the car was overwhelming.

49. Female gamete: OVUM.

50. Tentacled marine creature: SEA ANEMONE - Most stay attached catching passing food in their tentacles but some can move to escape danger.

55. TripAdvisor rival: YELP - A YELP review of our fav small town steakhouse

56. Industry-specific publication: TRADE PAPER - Also called TRADE Journals

57. Span. titles: SRAS.

58. Responds to anxiety, in a way: STRESS EATS - Did you put on the COVID 15?

Down:

1. Nod, maybe: BID - 15 auction bidding tips

2. Nice article: UNE - Un chapeau (a hat) is correct because un is used before masculine nouns in French. UNE chapeau would not be right because UNE is used for feminine nouns. You have to memorize the differences.

3. Song syllable: TRA.

4. Address limited to 18 minutes: TED TALK - Choose one from this list

6. __-France: Paris region: ILE DE - Literally Island Of France but no one knows exactly why. It is the most populous of the 18 regions of France.

7. Encouraging start?: ATTA - "ATTA Boys/Girls" are nice but they don't buy any groceries

8. Started burning: LIT.

9. Old cooking show that often had a Creole theme: EMERIL LIVE - EMERIL and his famous catchphrase

10. Literature Nobelist Walcott: DEREK - Here ya go. Is NY Yankee DEREK Jeter too easy for Saturday?

11. Lapped, perhaps: OUT SWAM - Getting lapped means that not only is a swimmer ahead of you but that they have caught and passed you

12. In other words: THAT IS.

13. Having the worst record: IN LAST - Sorry Boomer!

14. Evening do: SOIREE - Here is a place you could celebrate a SOIREE in Paris

21. Big name in Scotch: DEWAR.

22. Latitude: PLAY - Politicians try to leave some PLAY in their positions so as to not get pinned down to specifics

23. Key __: LIME - A pound of conventional LIMES compared to a pound of Key LIMES. Key LIMES take their name from being grown in the Florida Keys but since hurricane wiped them out, Key LIMES are now mostly grown in Mexico.

24. Tar Heel State university: ELON - Last month, ELON University grad Joe West broke the record for most MLB games umpired at 5,376.

25. "Don't bother": LEAVE IT - Not Rover!

27. What an online beep may signify: EMAIL ALERT

30. Bar none: ALL.

31. "Fancy that!": GEE.

33. Relinquished: CEDED

34. Ring bearer: TREE - Fun clue! This tree lived from 550 A.D. to 1891 A.D. when it was cut down

35. "The Wire" antihero __ Little: OMAR - Here ya go.

36. Oenophile's adjective: OAKY - Wine aged in OAK barrels take some characteristics from the OAK