L.A.Times Crossword Corner

Aug 19, 2023

Saturday, August 19, 2023, Wendy L. Brandes

Saturday Themeless by Wendy L. Brandes

Wendy has had several puzzles in the LA Times but they were all weekday or collaborative puzzles. Today is her first LA themeless Saturday.

Wendy is a lawyer, professor and children’s book author. Her puzzles have appeared in the Inkubator, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Boswords and Universal Crosswords. When she is not thinking about crosswords, she can be found knitting, engaging in vicious games of Catan, or rooting on the Yankees, Rangers, Giants and Swarthmore Garnet.

All in all it was very doable and a fun solve for this camper. Let's jump in and see what Wendy has for us today.

Across:

1. Bulb that rarely needs to be replaced: TULIP - This was my first thought but I waited for crossings.

6. Steel (oneself): GIRD - I knew the fill and was glad to learn the origin of the phrase.

10. Verge: CUSP.

14. Weigh in: OPINE.

15. Mideast leader: EMIR.

16. Purnell of "Yellowjackets": ELLA.

17. Repetitive sonata movement: RONDO - The RONDO is a musical form that contains a principal theme which alternates with one or more contrasting themes. Fur Elise has been called the "ultimate RONDO" and is illustrated in both auditory and visual fashion here:

18. Shuriken: NINJA STAR - A shuriken is a Japanese concealed weapon that can be used as a hidden dagger.

20. Topping: ONE UPPING - Betty Hutton and Howard Keel sing a song with this theme in Annie Get Your Gun. (3:00)

22. Fixes holes in hose: DARNS 😀

23. Where to save for a rainy day?: CLOUD STORAGE 😀 - I guess "rainy day" is a metaphor for when your computer loses something you had stored. Hopefully, your work is saved/stored "in the cloud".

25. Makes a difference: MATTERS.

28. Alley-__: OOP.

29. Too green: UNRIPE.

30. Film lengths: RUN TIMES - Cleopatra - Run Time: 4 hrs, 8 min. However, Dick and Liz's stormy relationship ran for years.

35. Spot for a toaster?: STOOL 😀 - Oh, a bar STOOL!

36. Simple bed: COT - A lesser blogger might write, "The unfaithful soldier got caught in the COT!"

37. Square things: ATONE.

38. Stella alternative: HEINEKEN.

40. Modest response to compliments: OH STOP.

41. Melody: AIR.

42. Member of a sorority founded at Boston University, familiarly: TRIDELT - Maybe so, but meanwhile on SNL...

43. Mark of a decent student: B-PLUS AVERAGE.

48. Kicked off the covers, say: AROSE.

49. "Riverdance" numbers: IRISH JIGS.

53. Airport transport, maybe: LIVERY CAB - Livery rides and fares must be prearranged and may not be street-hailed. Does this sound somewhat like Uber to you?

55. W-2 information: WAGES.

56. Palm reader: SEER - Ed McMahon's introduction: "And now, the great SEER, soothsayer, and sage, Carnac the Magnificent."

57. Simplicity: EASE.

58. Stave off: AVERT.

59. Puts two and two together: ADDS - Yesterday we had ADDENDS

60. Cold drafts: ALES.

61. Steppes tents: YURTS - A luxury one

Down:

1. Rafael Nadal's logo: TORO.

2. Atop: UPON.

3. Prompter's cue: LINE - If an actor has a memory lapse, he might call out, "LINE, LINE?" to a prompter

4. Entry to the Hall of Fame, e.g.: INDUCTION - Worst MLB players to be INDUCTED into baseball's HOF

5. One who may find it hard to say no: PEOPLE PLEASER and 7. Rare response from a 5-Down: I MIND. Sometimes you have to say no.

6. Bar tender at an Apple Store: GENIUS.

8. Tolls: RINGS OUT - The first and last lines of this Donne poem are very familiar

9. Hall of Famer whose no. was retired by the Nets and the Sixers: DR J - Julius Irving

10. France : __ :: United States : Oscar: CESAR - All you want to know.

CESAR OSCAR

11. To the nth degree: ULTRA.

12. "Dope" and "gucci," e.g.: SLANG - Both slang for good, cool, great

13. Pick apart, in a way: PARSE - A daily chore for us puzzlers

19. Own the road?: ADOPT A HIGHWAY.

21. Sponge feature: PORE.

24. Long or short amount: TON - If you must know why there's a difference

25. Soft stuff: MUSH.

26. Penny-__: ANTE - Very low stakes poker

27. Riker's spouse on "Star Trek: TNG": TROI - Okay...

30. "Game 7, 1986: Failure and Triumph in the Biggest Game of My Life" memoirist Darling: RON.

31. "I've been here before": IT'S DEJA VU.

32. Dust in the wind?: MOTE.

33. Hydroxyl compound: ENOL - If you must

34. Equinox mo.: SEPT - On Sat, SEPT 23, 2023 at 1:49 AM (CDT) the sun will be directly over the equator.

36. Neck-related: CERVICAL.

39. Forte maker: KIA.

40. Hours, in Italy: ORAS - TV shows usually last an hour. (I programmi TV di solito durano un'ORA.)

42. Clans: TRIBES.

43. Model material: BALSA - I had many a BALSA Testors™ airplane in my yute.

44. Got a bit too personal: PRIED.

45. Thought the world of: LOVED.

46. App purchasers: USERS.

47. Backspace over: ERASE - Our typing teacher would get upset if she saw a backspace/strike over "correction" in our work on a manual typewriter.