Friday, June 14, 2024 - Aiden Deshong

 Theme: Thaw? si? shit?  (Are you confused?)

Puzzling thoughts:

First off, please accept an apology for the expletive in the theme title.  But if you solved the theme of this puzzle - its reveal - you should easily see that it makes sense; and isn't a cuss word, after all

I relied on several of my colleagues (fellow bloggers) to assist me in tying the reveal, clues, and entries together.  The reveal's clue didn't register with me at first; even after finally figuring out how the clues fit the three entries.  Were you as confused as I?

17-across. TEN?: TANGLED WEB.  This perhaps?

My "Spidey-sense" had not yet kicked in

27-across. DIS?: SHUFFLED CARDS.  Maybe these?

This is what I envisioned

48-across. ORE?: SCRAMBLED EGGS.  Did you see what I saw?

I prefer eggs either poached, "over", or as an omelet

OK, Moe; so far all you've shown us is a mildly vulgur title, a picture of a book of anagrams, and three stock pictures of the entries.  So, what gives?  Here is what gives:

1)  Each of the clues - when anagrammed - reveals the entry answer:

        a) TEN = NET - a net can also be a tangled web (think of a fishing net)

        b) DIS = ID'S - ID'S can be an abbr. for identification cards

        c) ORE = ROE - roe is both the singular and plural of fish eggs

2)  The reveal is: 63-across. BAN, and an apt title for this puzzle?: GET MIXED UP.  In this case, BAN = NAB - nab is a synonym of the word "get", and if you extrapolate the reveal to all of the clues, it forms "the title".  Each of the clues are mixed up (literally), and each of the entry answers are synonyms of the word MIXED: 

TANGLED 

SHUFFLED 

SCRAMBLED

As you know, my ultimate source to confirm all of this is the Thesaurussaurus.  If he agrees then I agree:

When I checked the verb form of the word "mixed", it still disagreed with all three

As I reflect back to when I originally solved the puzzle, I was totally mixed up (confused).  The puzzle solved easily enough, no issues there.  Perps were fair, so the entries/reveal all emerged despite the odd clues.  It was a few minutes after - as I was emailing my fellow bloggers - that I saw that each of the clues was just an anagram.  I thought there was more to the reveal (that the word "nab" had some broader function) but my colleagues said I "got it" 

Their comments also confirmed my thoughts:  

        1) Yes, people who post here/solve the LAT puzzle will be mixed up (confused) about this one  

        2) I think it's way too much of a reach to get from the theme and reveal clues to the answers

My biggest "nit" is that the second entry clue used an abbreviation (IDs) instead of an actual word

Here is the filled-in grid.  I don't recall why I had a different letter in the crossing of OMAN and EMAIL but that was my lone mistake

Oh, and for those who are still seeing the "Theme" title containing a curse word, the unscrambled version:  What? Is? This?

Across:
1. __ code: MORSE.

6. Birthstone between sapphire and topaz: OPAL.

10. With 49-Down, creator, writer, and star of HBO's "Insecure": ISSA (49. See 10-Across:) RAE. Ms. RAE is becoming the "Mel Ott" of the 21st century crossword puzzles

14. @ home?: EMAIL.  Another stretch of a clue - guessing this means where the @ symbol makes its home (in an EMAIL address)

15. "I Love Me" singer Lovato: DEMI.  Lots of proper names in today's puzzle; so, what else is new?

16. Brick baker: KILN.

19. Juul, e.g.: ECIG.  I don't smoke e-cigarettes, so I am unfamiliar with this brand

20. Country music?: ANTHEM.  What's with all of the misdirection clues today?  Must be a Friday puzzle.  In this case, the word "country" refers to - for example - the US.  And our ANTHEM is aka "The Star-Spangled Banner" ... speaking of which, please don't forget that today is Flag Day (sorry Jinx, didn't mean to steal your thunder) ... which coincided with (8-down. The "thee" of "of thee I sing"): AMERICA.  This is a fitting video to play today:

21. Updated versions of classic video games, e.g.: REMAKES.

23. Former Indian prime minister Gandhi: INDIRA.

26. "All __ is but imitation of nature": Seneca: ART.  Thankfully, this answer did not have a clue that made it a proper name ... I guess Carney, Garfunkel, and Linkletter were too old 

33. French mathematician Poincaré: HENRI.  HENRI is his middle name

34. "Works for me!": DEAL.  It took them 24 hours to finally come down in price on the car I bought, so I could finally say, "Deal!"

35. "Othello" villain: IAGO.  Anytime you see a four-letter proper name connected to Shakespeare, pencil in Iago

38. Trip to the dry cleaners, say: ERRAND.  After retirement, it's been forever since I last went to the dry cleaners; I still run plenty of errands 

40. Groundhog Day omen: SHADOW.  Punxsutawney Phil and his partner Phyllis just had a male kit named SHADOW and a female kit named Sunny

42. Yemen coastal city: ADEN.

43. Analogy phrase: IS TO.

47. Combined: IN ONE.

51. NorCal hub: SFO.  OAK also fit, but SFO is the more familiar one; OAK is also not a hub

53. Waikiki welcomes: ALOHAS.  They're also Lahaina good-byes

54. "Time heals all wounds": I'LL BE OK.  

56. Informants, in spy lingo: ASSETS.  This is a 2-minute read about ASSETS

62. PBS science show: NOVA.  Also, an erstwhile Chevy compact car

66. "¿De dónde __?": ERES.  Soy de Pensilvania a través de Ohio.  Actualmente soy de Arizona

67. Latin for "bear": URSA.  I checked; we have only seen the word "URSA" in xword puzzles for about 16 years, so clearly, this Ursa is a minor ...

68. Dimple maker: SMILE.  Hmm ... which actor with a dimple(s) should I choose?  Irish Miss, is this guy ok?? 

Dimples galore

69. Slog (through): WADE.  I don't associate the word wade with "slog through"

70. Network that airs the Slippery Stairs World Championships: ESPN.  I am speechless ...

71. Brandish: WIELD.  I had a co-worker once whose last name was spelled WEILD (pronounced the same) and at the time was dating a gal named Brandice ... 

Down:
1. WhatsApp's parent company: META.  Neé, Facebook

2. Country on the Strait of Hormuz: OMAN.  Now I recall my mistake.  I realize I was thinking of Oran a city in Algeria.  E-rail had no meaning, but at the time, the clue "@ home?" was not making any sense

3. All-caps post, probably: RANT.  

4. Long exhale: SIGH.
 
5. "The Great" actress Fanning: ELLE.  ELLE Fanning is currently the #1 most famous actor named ELLE

6. Uneven?: ODD.  Speaking of odd ... are you noticing lately that the word eerie is not being used as often as it used to be in crossword puzzles? 

7. Laser tag sound: PEW.  I'm pretty sure I can find an appropriate video clip with this sound 

9. Left-leaning voters: LIBERALS.  Another eight-letter word fits but political discussion here is verboten (also an eight-letter word)
 
10. Maker of Sektion cabinets: IKEA.  Somehow, the "k" in the word "Sektion" gave it away (maybe they should have used Ektorp, instead?).  

It's been a while since Margaret and I took a trip to Ikea.  I know that one item we bought - oddly - was a better performer than we expected:  their "ziplock" freezer/storage bags!

11. Really under the weather: SICK AS A DOG.  To Steven Tyler's credit he put this song out there to admit to and identify his struggles with drug addiction.  Any Aerosmith fans?

12. More foxy: SLIER.  Aidan Deshong was perhaps a bit slier today with his anagrammed clues

13. Deep anxiety: ANGST.  

18. Jannings who won the first Best Actor Oscar: EMIL.  "Read all about it!"

22. Render imperfect: MAR.  Or, by anagramming the answer, you could have this clue and answer: Rear-ender imperfect: RAM

24. Actor Beatty: NED.  Discussing his first movie ... 

Note:  the preview for this indicates that it might not open.  If that's the case, try this link

25. Pres. between HST and JFK: DDE.  Former PsOTUS

27. __ butter: SHEA.  

28. Round up: HERD.  

29. To be determined: UNRESOLVED.  I almost came into today's blog with an unresolved description of the puzzle

30. Swiss cheese?: FRANC.  In this case, the word "cheese" is slang for money.  The Swiss currency is the franc, currently trading @ 1 CHF fr = $1.10 USD

31. Word at the end of some films: FIN.  More Frawnche ... I wonder if the French translated version of the movie "Jaws" ends with the word "Fin"?

32. Youngest daughter on "Black-ish": DIANE.  Played by actor Marsai Martin

36. Hanging instrument: GONG.  Any Chuck Barris fans here??

37. Is in the red: OWES.  I am briefly back in the red as car payments returned to my "budget"

39. Back-and-forth: DIALOGUE.

41. Got behind something, maybe: HID.

44. Backyard chef's array: SMOKERS.  I can see having one SMOKER maybe: not an array of them.  BTW, were all of the chef's guests smokers, too?  Were they vaping an e-cig named Juul??

And playing off of the Jumble from Saturday June 8 (and the clue for 10 down):  Where is it OK to use an ecig @ Ikea? In the Smoker's Sektion

45. "Frankly," in texts: TBH.  

46. Rio greeting: OLA.

50. Actor Morales: ESAI.  Issa / Rae / Esai => all "crossword-ese"

51. Tendon: SINEW.

52. Fauna counterpart: FLORA.

55. High scorer on a pH test: BASE.  Interesting clue; acids and alkalis (bases) make up the numbers on the pH scale (1-14).  Numbers above 7 are considered the bases

57. Annual Austin festival, familiarly: SXSW.  Short for "south by southwest"

58. Big rig: SEMI.  We had both DEMI and SEMI in the same puzzle, and neither was referred to as a number (in the clueing)

59. Actress Falco: EDIE.

60. Prog rock band Jethro __: TULL.  One last video

61. Raced: SPED.

64. Recipe amt.: TSP.

65. __ cave: MAN.  It could've been clued "Cave follower" with the same answer

See you in July.  I probably won't be answering too many questions on the blog today as I am visiting family, but please feel free to add comments below

My overall "rating" for this puzzle is: ⭐+ 1/2 ⭐