L.A.Times Crossword Corner

Aug 17, 2024

Saturday, August 17, 2024, Kyle Dolan

Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan

Kyle returns with another challenging Saturday exercise for us. This is my 16th Saturday puzzle authored by Dr. Dolan. As usual, his clever cluing was ~~frustrating maddening~~ enjoyable. 😀

My last two fills were the two cells in red you see in the grid. Two "educated" guesses turned out to be correct to finish the 3-letter words. Arrggghhh! I got a well-earned "got 'er done".

Dan Whitney from
Pawnee City, NE

Across:

1. Croc or moc: SHOE - 😀

5. Not tons: A FEW - Kyle and/or Patti had more than A FEW clue head scratchers

9. Bank: MOOLA - MOOLA and bank are used as slang for each other. Hmmm...🤔

14. Olivia of "The Newsroom": MUNN.

15. Vessel for Anne Bonny or Zheng Yi Sao: PIRATE SHIP - The light finally came on for me as I did not know either of these women. After a few cells filled, the rest was obvious.

17. Quakers' rivals: ELIS - An Ivy League contest

18. Image concerns?: PR AGENCIES - I struggled mightily and had to finally parse the fill. PR AGENCIES are concerns whose job is making good images.

19. Spoken: ALOUD.

21. Acronym to which an "A" is sometimes added: STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Some insert an "A" adding Art to make STEAM. I put SPCA first because I know an A is sometimes added to it.

22. Tops: A-ONE.

23. Rampaged: RAN RIOT.

25. Scorecard standard: PAR - The standard against which we golfers compare

27. Indulgent meal: BREAKFAST IN BED - BREAKFAST was obvious but IN BED took me some time as I thought about the contents of the meal rather than the courtesy being offered.

33. Language in which "hello" is "sabaidi": LAO.

34. Stinger?: NARCO - 🤨 Okay, a NARCO participates in drug stings, so...

35. Code name: MORSE 😀

36. Word in some pasta dish names: ALLA - We have all seen Penne, ALLA and Vodka in crossword fills.

38. "__ see!": YOU'LL.

40. Outdoor game, slangily: DISC - One variation

41. Jumps out of one's skin?: MOLTS 😀

43. Provider of outdoor seating: STOOP -STOOPS in NYC were necessitated by the enormous piles of horse manure in the streets.

45. __ Paulo: SAO - All the McDonalds in SAO, Paulo, Brazil. (Saint Paul 😀)

46. Historic brew-haha?: BOSTON TEA PARTY 😀

49. Important figure in Shia Islam: ALI 🤔

50. Entertains grandly: REGALES.

52. __ bowl: ACAI.

55. Point: GIST - As I said earlier, the GIST of Kyle's (or Patti's) clues can be, uh, difficult

58. Screen print?: E-TEXT.

59. Dressy attire that sounds casual: LOUNGE SUIT.

62. Bygone autocrat: TSAR - The [tsar/czar] [avered/avowed] he was at the [acme/apex] of power.

63. "Basically": MORE OR LESS.

64. Teacher of the Dharma: LAMA - Lama (Tibetan: བླ་མ་, Wylie: bla-ma, lit. 'boss') is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru, meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. Okay...

65. Taquería option: ASADO - I knew ASADA and dutifully filled it in. Who knew this is an alternate spelling I needed to finish GOO?

66. Place dear to the Sundance Kid: ETTA - 😀 My favorite clue!

67. Amazon Handmade competitor: ETSY.

Down:

1. Smudge: SMEAR.

2. Brouhaha: HULLABALOO - A salute to the TV show of the same name. This video shows many of the 60's music groups it featured.

3. Deli basketful: ONION ROLLS.

4. Guarantee: ENSURE - The most famous and controversial guarantee in sports history

5. Slack, e.g.: APP - Guessing the second "P" and parsing PR AGENCIES finally ended my puzzle. I stared at AP_/_RAGENCIES for waaaayyy too long.

An APP not familiar to me

6. End of a growing season, typically: FIRST FROST 😀

7. "In principio __ Verbum": John 1:1: ERAT - In the beginning was the word.

8. Carry on: WAGE - There are far too many countries WAGING war

9. Fellows: MEN.

10. Film score?: OSCAR NOD - Groan 😖. Patti or Kyle came out of left field with this one. To "score" means to get something. Here a film (not necessarily the film's score) hopes to get (score) an OSCAR NOD.

11. Place-name that comes from the Seneca for "good river": OHIO - The name "Ohio" comes from the Seneca language (an Iroquoian language), Ohi:yo'(roughly pronounced oh-hee-yoh, with the vowel in "hee" held longer), a proper name derived from ohiːyoːh ("good river"), therefore literally translating to "Good River". "Great river" and "large creek" have also been given as translations. 😗

12. Claim: LIEN - I almost had to file a LIEN against a customer when I was a landscaper.

13. Cathedral area: APSE.

16. Bait: TEMPT.

20. Conservationist Fossey: DIAN.

24. "All right": OKAY.

26. Get ready to drive, say: AIM 😀 - Uh, AIMING does not guarantee success.

28. 80 on a math test, maybe: ACUTE - Kyle!! On a math/geometry test, an 80^o angle is an ACUTE angle! 🙄

29. One without a backup plan?: SOLO ARTIST - I remember a wonderful John Denver concert where it was all him with no other acts.

30. Is put off by: BRISTLES AT.

31. Tests that are hard to guess on: ESSAY EXAMS - Correcting them, uh, correctly is a pain!

32. Style with a Streamline Moderne offshoot, informally: DECO.

33. Petting zoo baby: LAMB

37. Got: ATTAINED.

39. Canter: LOPE.

42. Estrella del día: SOL - La estrella del día de la Tierra es el SOL. (Earth's day star is the Sun).

44. Unit attached to a spine: PAGE 😀 Kyle! Yeah, I guess every PAGE of a book is attached to the book's spine.

47. Niamey's country: NIGER - Niamey is the capital city of NIGER and has a population of over a million. It is NNW of a cwd fav - Accra. If you knew this straight up, my hat is off to you!

48. Reason to consult a mechanic: RATTLE.

51. Adoptee, at times: STRAY.

52. "Resurrection" and "Watusi (Hard Edge)" painter Thomas: ALMA.

ALMA and "Resurrection"

53. Baby talk: COOS.

54. Lighting effect: AURA - Yeah, I'm the only one who first saw lightning. 😛

56. Bridge side, perhaps: ISLE - Hurricane Ian knocked out this bridge that ran from the mainland of Florida out to Sanibel Island where our friend Dr. Ed Sessa lost his house.