Notes from C.C.:
Today's official LAT puzzle is a re-run of the April 23, 2022 puzzle. Below is Husker Gary's write-up of that puzzle. A few other sites have the wrong puzzle.
Sorry for the confusion. New puzzles will resume tomorrow.
I’m a fairly regular contributor for my hometown (okay, home state) paper The New York Times, and a member of the in-house constructing team at The New Yorker. For those who may not be aware, The New Yorker recently upgraded their puzzle offerings to 5 puzzles per week (four themeless and one themed) and I contribute 2 each month, typically of the ‘easy’ themeless variety. Those two venues keep me pretty busy. When I’m not making puzzles I volunteer for The League of Women Voters, in a last ditch effort to save democracy. As for today’s grid, I made it a few years ago, so looking at it with older and wiser eyes there are a few entries in there I’d like to take back if I could. But the long stuff is all pretty fun—perhaps one might be so bold as to say a CROWDPLEASER—so hopefully that’s the part of the puzzle that solvers will enjoy and remember.
Happy solving,
Robyn
1. Cutting-edge name?: ATRA - Ginsu wouldn't work for this cwd regular
5. Scenery in Road Runner cartoons: MESAS.
10. Polite address: MAAM.
14. "Sorry, my hands are tied ... ": WHAT CAN I DO - Probably said by constructors when they have to settle for fill they don't like.
16. Price for hand delivery?: ANTE - Oh, a poker hand!
17. Musical arrangement?: RECORD DEAL - This shows a young truck driver from Memphis signing his first RECORD DEAL with RCA. How did that work out?
18. Revolution: GYRE - Same root for Elvis' GYRATIONS
19. "I rock!": YAY ME.
20. Class stat: GPA - Research is showing that a H.S. GPA is as good or even better predictor of college success as standardized tests.
21. "Can confirm": IT IS.
22. Mystery that may have a stirring message?: SECRET RECIPE - 23 products with SECRET RECIPES
26. Bon __: MOT - Example: ''I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.'' Clarence Darrow
29. Place: PUT.
30. Unpredictable jerk: SPASM.
31. Checked: ARRESTED - Synonyms for stopped
34. Aegean capital: ATHENS - The preferred capital in this capital is the Euro
38. Like all tigers: ASIAN - What could possibly go wrong here?
40. Draft status: ONE -A - In the 60's: Next stop - Vietnam
41. Continues: GOES ON.
43. Run ragged: OVERWORK.
45. "__ Gabler": HEDDA - One critic wrote: "Fans of Diana Rigg will enjoy a jackpot in her remarkable performance as Ibsen's icy, manipulating, despairing bitch."
47. U.N. agency: ILO.
49. Popular performer: CROWD PLEASER - Tiger Woods had no chance of winning on at the Masters last April but his galleries, in person and on TV, were very large
53. "Yeah, no": UH UH.
54. Bread machine: ATM - Here's one dispensing €'s "bread" in Europe
55. Source of some lumber: PINES.
59. Audio brand: BOSE.
60. Bridal store event: SAMPLE SALE.
63. Central German river: EDER - In red below
64. "Deep breaths ... ": TRY TO RELAX.
65. Ms. enclosure: SASE - Viking Press probably stuffed this rejection letter into a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope to Alice Walker when they rejected The Color Purple. Oops!
66. Unlikely assignment from a math teacher: ESSAY.
67. Pinch at the table: SALT.
Down:
1. A bit off: AWRY - Many of my schemes have oft gone AWRY or "gang aft agley".
2. Australian novelist Astley: THEA - Wikipedia's take on her
3. Somewhat blue: RACY and 58. Have a heated exchange?: SEXT - Be careful, the internet remembers everything.
4. Cyclotron units: ATOMS - This cyclotron at Cal Berkley was used to discover Plutonium, Neptunium and other transuranium ATOMS. in the 1950's
5. Publication credited to the "Usual Gang of Idiots": MAD - Mad Magazine Archive where you can find every edition and turn every page.
6. Wrap: END.
7. Military blockade: SIEGE - The 47- Day SIEGE at Vicksburg, MS gave the Union control of the Mississippi River at the same time the South fell at Gettysburg.
8. Makes fit: ADAPTS.
9. Array for catching rays: SOLAR PANELS - There is a 5 acre "farm" of SOLAR PANELS a quarter mile south of me.
10. Disappearing act?: MAGIC SHOW - I don't think he fooled the kitty
11. "I'm waiting ... ": ANYTIME NOW.
12. Aweigh: ATRIP - ATRIP is an obscure (to me) synonym for aweigh which both describe when the anchor is no longer touching the bottom.
13. "With Reagan" memoirist: MEESE - He held high positions in Governor and Presidnet Reagan's administrations
15. Advances slowly: CREEPS.
23. Relocation option: CUT AND PASTE - I type my daily musings in Word and then CUT AND PASTE them into the blog.
24. USPS assignments: RTES.
25. "Have some": EAT.
26. Helgenberger of "CSI": MARG - A mile from my golf course there is a sign showing she was raised in North Bend, NE
27. Cookie with the same colors as a crossword: OREO.
28. Construction projects guaranteed to get off the ground: TREE HOUSES - Wow!
32. Neither here nor there: ELSEWHERE.
33. "Rainbow in the Dark" metal band: DIO - Here ya go
35. Fictional Wolfe: NERO - The author's name dominated this early novel
36. Drink that may be served warm: SAKE.
39. Brand with Vanessa Hudgens workout collection: AVIA.
42. Like 2021: ODD.
44. Educator Annemarie who co-founded a school in Greater Detroit: ROEPER.
46. Sites for some rites: ALTARS.
49. Products with triple the power?: CUBES - 4³ = 64 (the product of 4 x 4)
50. Sitcom whose 1974 pilot episode was titled "Joe": RHODA - Rhoda leaves Minneapolis (and The Mary Tyler Moore show) and moves to NYC where she meets Joe
51. Awards won by 50-Down: EMMYS - Valerie Harper
52. Climbs: RISES.
56. Beyoncé voice role: NALA.
57. Airline whose first flight was from Geneva to Tel Aviv: EL AL - It returned Israels's prime minister to Tel Aviv from a conference in Geneva
62. "The Thin Man" star: LOY - Myrna LOY poses with Thin Man costar William Powell and a dog whose name appears here quite often too.
