Thursday, August 10, 2023, Christina Iverson

 

Christina Iverson was Patti's assistant when the latter took over editing duties from Rich Norris.  Here's Husker's bio for Jeff Chen and Christina's Saturday themeless on May 21, 2022.  This will be her 20th solo or collaborative appearance on the Corner.

Before we start the review here is a related public service announcement [TL;DW] on

Toxic Cookware

[Too long; Don't Watch]

Christina's theme today concerns some not quite so toxic types of COOKWARE as in the above PSA, but they barely registered on the YELP* scale ...

18A. "Two stars! My spaghetti always sticks to the sides!": PASTA COOKER.  Maybe Christina should have given this a look instead -- an Oster Sangerfield Stainless Steel Cookware 5-Quart Pasta Pot w/Steamer & Strainer Lid -- 4.5 stars from 17,972 reviewers ...

Pasta Cooker

27A. "Half a star! The ceramic is flaking off the cast iron!": DUTCH OVEN.  Or how about this one? -- Lodge 6 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven with Lid – oven safe up to 500° F or on stove top - use to marinate, cook, bake, refrigerate and serve -- 4.8 stars from 30,583 reviewers ...

Dutch Oven

37A. "One star! Chocolate gets clumpy, and sauces always separate!": DOUBLE BOILER.   -- or this ExcelSteel 3 Piece Boiler, 2.5 quart, Stainless Steel --  4.5 stars from 3,855 reviewers.

Double Boiler

51A. "Zero stars! It spits hot oil everywhere!": DEEP FRYER. -- or go deep with this Presto 05420 FryDaddy Electric Deep Fryer, Black -- 4.7 stars from 24,366 reviewers ...

Deep Fryer

And as we might have expected, Christina finally reveals that each of those themers were PANS for POTS ...

61A. Kitchen array, or an apt title for this puzzle?: POTS AND PANS.  (I think that Christina is a great crossword constructor, but I wonder if she might need the help of a personal shopper? 😉)

Here's the grid ...

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Rain's counterpart: SHINE.

6. Bottomless pit: ABYSS.

11. Scoundrels: CADS.  The greatest CAD in opera was Don Giovanni.  Here's his servant Leporello, reading the catalogue of all the women his boss has seduced ...

15. Quartet voice: TENOR.  They say that Enrico Caruso's voice was like gold and Swedish TENOR Jussi Björling's was like silver.  Here is Björling as Rudolfo singing Che gelida manina  to Mimi, sung by SOPRANO Victoria de los Angeles, in the greatest recording of La Boheme ever made, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham (lyrics) ...

Three other famous voices in this recording are BARITONE Robert Merrill as Marcello and BASS Giorgio Tozzi as Colline.  There was no ALTO -- SOPRANO Lucina Amara sang the coquettish Musetta.

16. Quality: TRAIT.

17. Fly-fishing need: LURE.  The fish taste better if you tie your own flies.

Les Korcala tying flies

18. [Theme clue]

20. North __ Sea: Kazakh lake: ARAL.  So it's been downsized to a lake?  Here are the latest satellite photos ...

Pretty soon, despite its high vowel content, it might disappear entirely from crosswords.

21. Son of Hera: ARES.  Not the kinda' guy you'd wanna' run into on a cloudy night ...

Ares

22. Actress Ortiz: ANA.  ANA Ortiz (born January 25, 1971) is an American actress and singer. Having pursued a career in ballet and singing from a young age, she eventually attended University of the Arts. Ortiz began her acting career in theatre, in early 2000s.  Ortiz garnered widespread attention for her role as Hilda Suarez in the ABC comedy-drama series Ugly Betty from 2006 to 2010.

Ana Ortiz

23. Part of SCOTUS: SUPREME.  We don't generally discuss politics on the Corner, so how about this instead ...

25. Magnate: TYCOON.

27. [Theme clue]

29. Established: SET.

30. The Falcons, on scoreboards: ATL.

32. Munro pen name: SAKI.  Hector Hugh Munro (Dec 18, 1870 - Nov 14, 1916) was a witty British author who published under the pen name SAKI or H.H. Munro. The inspiration for the pen name "Saki" is unknown, it may be based upon a character in a poem or on a South American monkey.  As a writer, Munro (Saki) was a master of the short story form and is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. E.F. Benson shares his sardonic style.

H. H. Munro

33. Poem of homage: ODE.

34. Poolside piece: CHAISE.  Comme ça ...

chaise longue

36. Kit letters: DIY.

37. [Theme clue].

41. Not cool: OUT.

42. Planet Fitness payment: GYM FEE.

43. Conclusion: END.

44. SoCal school: SDSU.  San Diego State University, home of the Aztecs ...
 

47. Tanqueray, for one: GIN.

48. Behave: ACT.

51. [Theme clue]

54. Words mouthed while holding an imaginary phone to one's ear: CALL ME.

56. Like a colorful garden: IN BLOOM.  Here's Teri at Sherwood Gardens on a beautiful Spring day in Baltimore ...

57. "Now I see!": AHA.

59. One-named "Locked Up" singer: AKON.  AKA Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (/ˈeɪkɒn/).  I guess that's why he just goes by AKON.  Akon is an American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of Locked Up (featuring Styles P), the first single from his debut album Trouble (2004), followed by the second single Lonely. 

Akon

60. Spelling of "BH90210": TORI.  Nice misdirection.  For a minute I thought it might be in EBCDIC, but that alphabet stops with F.  It's actually a reality series about the reunion of the cast members of the original 1990 teen drama Beverly Hills 90210.  Here's a trailer for the reboot ...

61. [Theme reveal].

64. School near Windsor: ETON.  See last Thursday.

65. Useless: INEPT.

66. Bowen of "Modern Family": JULIE.  JULIE Bowen Luetkemeyer is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Claire Dunphy in the ABC sitcom Modern Family, for which she received critical acclaim and six nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, winning in 2011 and 2012.  Another Baltimore success story.

Julie Bowen

67. Office fixture: DESK.

68. Razz: TEASE.

69. Some dance elements: SPINS.

Down:

1. Day when everyone's a little Irish, familiarly: ST PATS.  Faith and begorrah -- this clue brought this air to mind ...

2. Town crier's cry: HEAR YE.  A history of the Town crier.

3. Walking stick, e.g.: INSECT.  The Phasmatodea AKA "walking sticks" are an order of  INSECTS, who through a long series of accidental mutations have developed the perfect camouflage, making them virtually indistinguishable from the tree limbs they inhabit ...

Walking Stick
pretending to be a skinny little sloth

4. False: NOT SO.

5. Memorable span: ERA.  Here's a very memorable span ...

6. Buckets: A TON.

7. Wide: BROAD.

8. Source of Tibetan butter: YAK.  Yak butter is butter made from the milk of the domestic yak . Many herder communities in China, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan and Tibet produce and consume dairy products made from yak's milk, including butter. Whole yak's milk has about twice the fat content of whole cow's milk, producing a butter with a texture closer to cheese.

Domestic Yak

9. Afternoon rest: SIESTA.  Today's Spanish lesson and a reminder that it's time for my nap.  I'll be back in an hour.

10. Occurred to: STRUCK.

11. Mild cigar: CLARO.  CLARO is Spanish for "clear" or "light" and refers to the color of the leaf used to wrap the cigar. For those of you who are cigar aficionados, here are the meanings for some common cigar terms.

Claro

A pale-green to light-brown wrapper,
usually shade-grown.

12. French farewell: AU REVOIR.  One of several actually -- today's French lesson.

13. Genre portmanteau: DRAMEDY.   DRAMA/COMEDIES are the stock-in-trade of many British mysteries, e.g. Midsomer Murders, The Queens of Mystery, The Brokenwood Mysteries, and Agatha Raisin -- here's the trailer for episode 1 of Agatha's The Quiche of Death ...

14. Greek moon goddess: SELENE.  In ancient Greek mythology and religion, SELENE (/sɪˈliːniː/; Greek: Σελήνη pronounced [selɛ̌ːnɛː], meaning "Moon" is the goddess and personification of the Moon. Also known as Mene, she is traditionally the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and sister of the sun god Helios and the dawn goddess Eos.  She also fell in love ...

19. Soda opener: CAN TAB.  AKA POP TOP, the BANE of Jimmy Buffett in Margaritaville -- for all the parrot heads and guitar geeks on the Corner ...

24. Chi preceder: PHI.

26. "The Gathering Place" island: OAHU.  The nickname for the largest Hawaiian island.  Here are some others.

Oahu Island

28. Date line?: USE BY.

31. Tiny, made tinier: LIL. E.g. a lot of tiny RAP singers.

34. Barracks bed: COT.

35. Transition: SEGUE.

36. Kaitlin's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" role: DEE.  Also the 4th letter in the alphabet.  The 16 season comedy series has been described as "like Seinfeld on crack".  You're welcome. 

37. Disparaging term for some frat guys: DUDE BROS.  Hand up if you were a frat guy?  Did any uncool dudes ever call you DUDE BRO?

38. "Holy wow!": OMG.

39. Not exactly promising words: IF I CAN.

40. Actress Headey: LENA.  Lena Kathren Headey (born 3 October 1973) is a British actress. She gained international recognition and acclaim for her portrayal of Cersei Lannister on the HBO epic fantasy drama series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), for which she received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award nomination.

Lena Headey

41. Flat, in a way: ONE NOTE.  Well it's certainly not going anywhere ...

43. Improved, hopefully: EDITED. Teri EDITS these reviews, and almost always improves them.

44. NorCal airport: SFO.  San Francisco International Airport in Northern California.

San Francisco International Airport

45. "You need to let this go": DROP IT.

46. 2021 winner of "RuPaul's Drag Race": SYMONE.  I guess she was the fastest runner in the posse.

48. Acid neutralizer: ALKALI. 

49. Informal invitation at the door: C'MON IN.

50. Stiffens: TENSES.

52. Toy piano sound: PLINK.  Even grown up pianos can go PLINK ...

53. Carpentry files: RASPS.  BASTARDS was too long.

55. Drink like a kitten: LAP UP.

58. "Stop the __": protest sign: HATE.  Start the LOVE instead!

62. Oolong or rooibos: TEA.  Today's Chinese and Afrikaans lessons.  For the latter see last Friday.

63. Club VIPs: DJS.

A related topic ...

We do a lot of cooking and have a small kitchen.  We really don't have the cupboard space for all of our cookware, but have found the  DIY POTS and PANS organizer shown below to be very useful. It hangs over the kitchen sink and consists of a open box attached to the ceiling, with a metal rack held in place by dowel inserts, and metal hooks to hang the pots from.   The dishwasher is to right below the sink counter and as soon as the pots are dried they can be quickly hung in their proper places ...

Pots and Pans Organizer

Cheers,
Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley