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

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Feb 3, 2024

Saturday, February 3, 2024, Grace and Greg Warrington

  Saturday Themeless by Grace and Greg Warrington

What a lovely Saturday puzzle by high school student Grace Warrington and her  University of Vermont math professor father Greg. I zoomed through this one and really enjoyed the clever cluing and the very helpful long and "gettable" fills. Here is a very nice article about Grace, her dad and getting their first puzzles published.

Across:

1. Tells: BLABS.

6. Randall Munroe webcomic: XKCD  - I had no idea but this looks really fun! XKID made more sense to me at first.   
 

10. In a tizzy: AGOG.

14. Instant success?: RAMEN - I don't remember these being popular when I was a struggling college student.

15. Move, informally: RELO.

16. Athletic brand that makes Scoot Zeros: PUMA.


17. "So ... you're not saying no ... ?": IS THAT A YES?

19. Conditionally give: LEND.

20. "My mistake": OH SORRY - Not always sincere...


21. Contamination process: OSMOSIS.

23. Drab shade: OLIVE 


25. Pet brand since 1946: IAMS.


26. "Rock'n Me" group: STEVE MILLER BAND - A very worthy musical interlude. Rock on!


32. Worked on the road: PAVED or tarred like they did in Cool Hand Luke


33. "Good thinking!": SMART.

34. Congressional auditing org.: GAO - Their charge is to monitor and limit government spending. No, really!


35. Squeezes (out): EKES.

36. Devout: PIOUS.

37. Some recyclables: CANS.
38. __ Lingus: AER - There appears to be a dominant color inside and out


39. For company: ALONG.

40. Actress Tazel of "Justified": ERICA.


41. Correct: RIGHT ON THE MONEY It had to do with surveyors placing a shiny coin on top of a time aged marker to help them view their target. When the coin was centered in their sights, they knew they were on target - or “right on the money”. You're welcome.

44. Thé addition: LAIT - Thé indicates the French word for tea, LAIT is French for milk and so we get tea with milk. (correction - hg)


45. Singer who never toured outside North America: ELVIS "Colonel" Tom Parker was the reason Elvis never toured

46. Spots for fireside chats: HEARTHS.

49. "You must let me": I INSIST - The initial two "I's" took some parsing

53. Actor who hosted "Scientific American Frontiers" from 1993 to 2005: ALDA.


54. Editorial piece, perhaps: OPEN LETTER.

56. Side hustle option: UBER.

57. Peignoir frill: LACE.

58. __ wafers: NILLA.

59. Hit with an intense beam: LASE - Name 

Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!

60. First asteroid landed on by a NASA craft: EROS - NASA's NEAR Shoemaker vehicle traveled the 160 million miles to EROS and landed within three feet of its target. It has remained there in the dark and cold for over twenty years.


61. Wimbledon set?: TELLY - British television. I did not bite on the red herring of Wimbledon tennis. 


Down:

1. Con __: with vigor, in music: BRIO - Allegro also means cheerfully


2. Word in some mascara names: LASH.

3. Receipt figs.: AMTS.

4. Is incumbent upon: BEHOOVES.


5. Congested, in a way: SNARLED.

6. Penetrating gaze?: X-RAY VISION - A PSA for the man from Krypton


7. Escape room find: KEY - Here's such a game room in NYC


8. Jazz singer Laine: CLEO - Name the 1940 Disney cartoon that had a character named CLEO (*answer below)


9. Files: DOSSIERS.

10. Grace under pressure: APLOMB.


11. "Still wrong": GUESS AGAIN.

12. Hotel chain headquartered in Dallas: OMNI - A pretty good guess for a 4-letter hotel chain

13. __ about: GADS - What my wife says I do at parties

18. Short cut: TRIM.

22. Outlet: MART.

24. San Gabriel Valley city north of Whittier: EL MONTE  - It's about a 23 minute drive from EL MONTE to Pasadena for the Rose Parade


26. Pike, e.g.: SPEAR - Standard issue to the Vatican's Swiss Guard


27. "Oh Myyy! There Goes the Internet" memoirist: TAKEI - Mr. Sulu's catchphrase 

28. Largest subtropical wilderness reserve in North America: EVERGLADES.

29. Wrinkles in time?: LAUGH LINES - Getting rid of them


30. Actor Jack who often collaborated with David Lynch: NANCE.

Lynch (director) NANCE (actor)

31. "If I __ so myself": DO SAY.

36. Glitch in "The Matrix," maybe?: PLOT HOLE.


37. Rail yard piece: CROSS TIE - Replacing without moving the rails


39. Busy, busy, busy: AT IT.

40. Celebrated: EMINENT - It is not necessarily imminent that you will become EMINENT


42. Capital of Zimbabwe: HARARE - A 19-hr flight from NYC


43. Pernicious: EVIL.

46. Spoils: HAUL.


47. Heimdall player in Marvel's "Thor" films: ELBA.

Idris ELBA
48. Box: SPAR.


50. "__ come to me ... ": IT'LL - Wait a minute, IT'LL come to me.

51. Pitch well?: SELL 😀

52. Buffet surface: TRAY.

55. Prefix with footprint: ECO.



*Cleo was Gepetto's goldfish in 1940's Pinocchio