L.A.Times Crossword Corner

Jul 5, 2025

Saturday, July 5, 2025, David P. Williams

Saturday Themeless by David P. Williams

This is my fourth puzzle from Dave and it was very entertaining, eventually. I've got to learn that PEAL, not peel, is the sound of a ringing bell!

Across:

1. Gets in over one's head?: SCUBAS.

7. Italian sports cars, colloquially: LAMBOS - Lamborghini prices range from $200,00 - $600,000

13. Vancouver team: CANUCKS.

15. Globe direction?: EXEUNT- Nope, Dave, you didn't get me on this one! I thought of the Globe Theater right away. EXEUNT is a stage direction where a group leaves the stage together and EXEUNT Omnes means everyone leaves the stage.

This iteration of The Globe Theater
was reconstructed in 1997
and is near the original 1599 site
in London's West End

16. Hand in the kitchen: OVEN MITT 😀

18. Flip (between): TOGGLE.

19. Duane __: NYC drugstore chain: READE.

20. Dynasty: REIGN.

22. Comb builder: BEE.

23. Jet stream heading: EAST.

24. Gambling swindle: BUNCO The radio dramatization of Joe Friday working BUNCO (29:00)

25. Ring: PEAL.

26. Dump: STY.

27. Word on some diplomas: MAGNA - MAGNA Cum Laude

28. Bob and __: WEAVE - Nobody did it better

29. "Don't give up!": HANG IN THERE.

31. Means of improving airflow: NASAL STRIPS - They didn't work for me. The next step was a CPAP machine

32. Professional writing?: LOVE LETTERS 😀 One who professes love might certainly write professional LOVE LETTERS. It was an easy fill but parsing it took me some time.

I wrote to Dave asking for help and he then confirmed what I thought was right:

Hi Gary,

The clue is a play on the phrase “to profess (one’s) love” — a ? was probably warranted to indicate the stretch.

Thanks for solving,

33. Part of a skin care regimen: TONER and 40. Target of a skin care regimen: PORE.

34. Displays obvious pride: BEAMS.

35. Global revolution?: DAY 😀 Oops, a nitpicky science teacher would say a DAY on Earth is because of a global rotation. A revolution is a year.

38. "Bonanza" brother: HOSS - I'll bet you can name all four of these members of the Cartwright family. If you can't, I have the names at the bottom of the write-up. *

39. Tremble: QUAKE - Hmmm... with_ _ A K E something else came to my mind.

41. Guitar kin, informally: UKE.

42. Caller ID?: IT'S ME - Much better than the recent IT ME.

43. Espagnole, for one: SAUCE - Espagnole is French for Spanish but this is a French SAUCE. Explanation of the name.

44. Words before a French kiss?: MON AMI 😀 - A French person might say MON AMI (my friend) to another French person before any kind of a kiss including an, uh, "French kiss".

My friend, my lover,
my soulmate

46. "Wait a sec": SIT TIGHT.

48. Double over laughing: BUST UP 😀

49. Hard nut to crack: TOUGHIE and 35. Like undercooked pizza: DOUGHY - These two fills have "G's" that pronounce as an /f/near each other.

50. Gets in hot water?: STEEPS.

51. Toed the line: OBEYED.

Down:

1. Makes a good point: SCORES.

2. Warning: CAVEAT.

3. Worried: UNEASY.

4. Trademarked pan: BUNDT.

5. Maker of jet-propelled transport: ACME.

6. Carving implement: SKI.

7. "Drop it!": LET GO.

8. Nerve fiber: AXON.

9. Gig part: MEG - There are 1,024 MEGabytes in a GIGabyte

10. Pet peeves: BUG BEARS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

11. Fresh off the boat, perhaps: ON LEAVE - Honolulu had thousands of sailors ON LEAVE in the 1940's while just days away from combat.

12. Wrestler George "The Animal" __: STEELE.

14. Bumpy ride, metaphorically: STRUGGLE BUS.

17. Couples in love?: TENNIS TEAMS 😀 - All tennis matches start at love - love (0 - 0)

21. "This is killing me!": I CAN'T TAKE IT - If you haven't seen the movie Network, you need to find it!

24. Tired: BANAL - A teacher's meeting at 4 pm after teaching all day.

25. Buds: PEEPS.

27. Atomic clock part: MASER - Wanna know more?

28. Sounds from fans: WHIRS.

29. Moneyed ones: HAVES.

30. Area adjacent to the French Quarter: TREME.

31. Baloney: NONSENSE.

32. One in the watch business: LOOKOUT - The result of a bad 1912 LOOKOUT job (2:49)

33. Digits on scales, maybe: THUMBS - Nobody did it better than Norman Rockwell

36. "Riverdale" redhead: ARCHIE - Here he is proudly wearing his Riverdale letter sweater

37. Tossed, slangily: YEETED.

39. Ear pieces?: Q-TIPS.

40. Wade Trophy winner Bueckers on the Dallas Wings: PAIGE - She won the trophy for being the best collegiate women's basketball player at U Conn and now plays pro ball in Dallas