Thursday, June 3, 2021, Parikshit S. Bhat

 

Good Morning, Curciverbalists!  Malodorous Manatee here along with a semi-aquatic-mammalian friend to wish everyone a positively special Thursday.  Today, our puzzle setter is Parikshit S. Bhat, a veteran of at least two other previously-published L.A Times puzzles, who seems to have riffed on his own initials with today's very straight-forward theme.  P. S. Bhat has taken five common word pairs that begin with the letter P and added his middle initial, S, at the beginning to create new, amusing word pairs that all start with SP.

Today, The SP awards go to:

17 Across:  Fish eggs seller?: SPAWN SHOP.  Or, perhaps, baby salmon hit the mall?

25 Across:  Command to Siri to read the clock?: SPEAK TIME.  It sounds like Tonto is making the request of Apple. 

PEAK TIME Energy Pricing

35 Across:  Public relations fund?: SPIN MONEY.  Pin MONEY is a small sum used to pay for incidentals and SPIN doctors, a slang term for public relations professionals, mold public images of persons and events.

50 Across:  Recreational libation?: SPORT WINE.  A SPORT is a form of recreation and port wine is a Portuguese fortified WINE.

59 Across:  Music for a feisty orator?: SPUNK ROCK.  . . . . and a previously-thought-of riff, apparently.

Unless this madescent marine mammal missed something more, that's it for the uncomplicated, yet clever, theme.

Now, with a nod to Paul Harvey, for the rest of the story:

Across:

1. Multiple choice test options, often: ABCD.

5. Researched item: FACT.  Isn't it a FACT only after the research confirms it?

9. It may be knitted: BROW.

13. "Mississippi Masala" filmmaker __ Nair: MIRA.

14. Many a map dot: ISLE.  Sometimes, the same clue is used for TOWN.

15. Skirmish: RUN IN.  There are several ways this might have been clued but the puzzle setter went the argument, or dispute, route.

19. Delete: ERASE.

20. Admit a mistake: OWN IT.

21. City ESE of Phoenix: MESA.  MESA, Arizona

23. Morning drops: DEW

.

Grateful Dead - Morning DEW

24. Tim who voiced Buzz Lightyear: ALLEN.  That's Tim ALLEN on the right, below.

27. Arranged: LAID OUT.

29. "You're on the right track": WARMER

.

30. North end?: ERN  North end.  South end.  East end.  West end.  F end.

31. Golf date ruiner: RAIN.  Or not.

Swinging In The Rain

34. She played Thelma in "Thelma & Louise": GEENA.  GEENA Davis

38. One of a 15th-century seagoing trio: PINTA.  In fourteen hundred and ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

41. Soft drink nut: KOLA.  In the 1880's, a pharmacist in Georgia, John Pemberton, took caffeine extracted from KOLA nuts and cocaine-containing extracts from coca leaves and mixed them with sugar, other flavorings, and carbonated water to invent Coca Cola.

42. Clamorous sound: DIN.

45. "Let me rephrase that ... ": I MEANT.

47. How Clint Eastwood usually delivers his lines: TERSELY

.

53. Copious: AMPLE.  I think of copious as being more than AMPLE.  Abundant, if you will.

• 

54. Top __: TEN.

55. "Too great a burden to bear": M.L. King Jr.: HATE. 

56. Food recall reason: E COLI.

57. Address with style: ORATE.  Not a calligraphy reference.

62. Drag racer's fuel, briefly: NITRO.  NITROmethane.

63. Word repeated in a combat term: MANO.  In this case, MANO A MANO - meaning hand to hand combat.

64. Scary-sounding lake: ERIE.   Right now, everyone in Cleveland is taking social distancing very seriously.  Even the walkway by the lake is deserted.  It's ERIE.

65. Tend: LEAN.

66. Hebrew for "skyward": EL AL.

67. __ date: SET A.


Down:

1. Early hrs.: AMS.  Ante Meridian, although everyone just uses AM.

2. Like Earth: BIPOLAR.  The earth is indeed BIPOLAR.  But it's not a disorder."  Neil deGrasee Tyson

3. Enter on hands and knees: CRAWL IN.

4. Finally occurred to, with "on": DAWNED.

MST3k

5. It may be pumped in victory: FIST.

6. Stuff in a tray: ASH.  Remember ASH trays?

7. Tread noisily: CLOMP.

8. Tent made of skins: TEPEE.  Also spelled TEEPEE.

9. Fragile goods concern: BREAKAGE.

10. Play that gave us the word "robot": R.U.R.  Rossumovi Univerzalni Roboti (Rossum's Universal Robots).

11. Instantly: ON A DIME.

12. Biblical trio: WISE MEN.  The Three Wise Men.

Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar

16. Exclusive MLB cap supplier: NEW ERA.  The NEW ERA Cap Company, founded in 1920, is headquartered in Buffalo, NY.

18. Boy of la casa: NINO.   NINO is, of course, Spanish for boy.

22. Spotted: SAW.  A tool for cutting.  An old saying.

24. Golden brew: ALE.

25. Smelled really bad: STANK.

The Grinch's Take On Last Year

26. Three-pointer, in hoops lingo: TREY.

28. Ocean State sch.: URI.

32. Texter's "I feel": IMO.  In My Opinion

33. "Tropic Thunder" actor Nick: NOLTE.

Down and Out in the Golden Triangle

35. Rating unit: STAR.  Often, one to five STARs.

36. Temple of the gods: PANTHEON.

The PANTHEON, Rome - Photo by MM

37. Scot's refusal: NAE.

38. Moving engine part: PISTON.

39. Leave vulnerable: IMPERIL.

40. Recent delivery: NEONATE.

42. Regret strongly: DEPLORE.

43.Under-the-table:  ILLICIT

.

44. Bill promoting science?: NYE.  Not an act by the legislature.

46. Defunct flier: TWA.

48. Bike storage aid: RACK.

49. Marshmallow treats: SMORES.

51. Response at the door: IT'S ME.

52. Site of many a climber's goal: NEPAL.

56. Hydroxyl compound: ENOL.   The name is a contraction derived from alkene alcohol.  More formally, Alkenol.

58. La-la preceder: TRA.

60."Sonata Quasi __ Fantasia": Beethoven's "Moonlight": UNA  My mother's favorite pianist was Murray Perahia.

.

Moonlight Sonata - 3rd Movement  Murray Perahia

61. New Zealand parrot: KEA.  Alternatively, a bird sometimes seen in crossword puzzles.

_____________________________________________________

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Wednesday June 2, 2021 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: Rhyming Time- The first word is a country, the second word rhymes with the first word.

16. Quito apron-like dress?: ECUADOR PINAFORE. 

25. Sana'a citrus fruit?: YEMEN LEMON.

37. Suva car wash implement?: FIJI SQUEEGEE.

52. Bamako dog?: MALI COLLIE.

61. Yerevan flower?: ARMENIA GARDENIA.

Boomer here again, filling in another blogging gap. Today's constructor Jeffrey came to Minnesota in 2016 & 2017 for our local crossword tournament. Here's a picture. A brilliant wordsmith. 

Left to right: George Barany, Jeffrey Wechsler, Victor Barocas, David Hanson, C.C., Andrew J. Ries, Chris Adams, Tom Pepper &  David Liben-Nowell.

This tournament was an incredible success as money was raised for charity.  I could hardly believe how quickly the contestants solved the puzzles and I believe everyone in the above picture as well as others provided donated the puzzles to the hosts every year. I normally accompanied C.C. to the tournament in a historic and interesting old post office building in St. Paul. A great day was spent in Minnesota. 

Across:

1. Many veggie dishes: SALADS. We are looking forward to buffet life after Covid to put together some of those green veggies.

7. No: LACK OF.

13. Go places: TRAVEL.  Also looking forward to the Graybar retirees get-together in Las Vegas next February.  They have lots of buffets there.

14. Type of eyeglass spray: ANTI-FOG.  I have several pairs of glasses for reading and such but I have never needed the spray.

19. Alt. spelling: VAR. Variation.

20. ORD postings: ETAS.  I think this is Estimated Time of Arrival.  Pretty sure it is not EXACT. 

21. "Off with her head!" head owner: ALICE.  Shame on the Queen of hearts.  Very Mean.

23. Fed. power dept.: ENER.  Energy.  I have not heard too much lately about the troubles that Texas had a few months ago.  Our gas company here in Minnesota said they were going to add a surcharge to our bills in the fall.

29. Tubular hangers in delis: SALAMIS.

32. "Either thou, __ ... must go with him": Romeo: OR I.

33. Spanish Surrealist: DALI. Followed by 36. Legendary Spanish knight El __: CID.

34. Yoga surface: MAT.  Lots of High School wrestling also.  I always had to compete with someone my own size.

35. Grand in scale: EPIC.

41. When doubled, amply covered New Orleans classic: IKO.

43. Chowder, e.g.: SOUP.  "Today is Wednesday!  Wednesday SOUP! Is everybody Happy. All you Hungry children, come on eat up."

44. Set on fire: LIT.  My sisters all live in California.  No one seems to know where all the fires came from.

45. Bjorn with five Wimbledon wins: BORG.

47. "Bird Set Free" singer: SIA.

48. Live wires: DYNAMOS.

55. Rob of "9-1-1: Lone Star": LOWE.

56. Move about, as water in a pan: SLOSH.  Move about in Minnesota in March and sometimes later.

57. Campus sports org.: NCAA.  This year Baylor clipped Gonzaga.  I hope you filled out your bracket and pocketed a little money.  We always had these going at work.  I never won.

60. "What's more ... ": AND.

66. Big name in electric shavers: NORELCO.  When I first started at Graybar (1970) we sold Norelco shavers to department stores.  But we gave it up.  I guess it was not terribly profitable or the small electrics went around us.

67. Gift of the gifted: TALENT.

68. Pulls a chair up to, as a table: SITS AT.

69. Slight amount: SMIDGE.

Down:

1. Rick who tours Europe on PBS: STEVES.

 

2. Little-known information: ARCANA.  There is something in a Tarot pack of cards called an ARCANA.  Don't ask me what, I have never played Tarot.

3. Winner's wreath: LAUREL.  Ollie's buddy Stan.

4. Actress Gardner: AVA.  She had 20 husbands, three of them hers, What kind of life is that?

5. __ Gardner, co-producer of "Moonlight" and "Selma," among others: DEDE.

6. Vending machine feature: SLOT.  I know of other kinds of machines that have that feature.

7. Go unrenewed: LAPSE.

8. What the names of three contiguous U.S. states begin with: AN I.  Illinois, Indiana, Iowa.

9. USPS delivery: CTN.

10. Source of Souls: KIA.  Brand similar to Hyundai. And easier to spell.

11. Butcher's waste: OFFAL.

12. Pulled a switcheroo on, say: FOOLED.  The clue of 8-Down FOOLED me.

15. Pained expression: GRIMACE.  Golf is not so bad, but I have GRIMACED with the 15 pound bowling balls.

17. 2020 World Series team: RAYS.  Tampa Bay lost to the Dodgers but it never seemed to be like a real World Series to me.

18. Food safety concern: E COLI.

22. City west of Tulsa: ENID.  Tulsa was in the news this week for its history in 1921.  I had never heard about it before.

24. Malek of "Mr. Robot": RAMI.

26. Attend to a spill: MOP UP.  Our Twins have not had to MOP UP any of those "winning by 10 runs" games this year, but sometimes their opponents do. 

27. One of a "Great" five: ERIE.  I have only ever seen Superior and Michigan, but I am awed by the great lakes.

28. "__ done!": NICELY.

30. Rank above capt.: MAJ.  I worked in a clinic with a MAJOR.  I also read CATCH-22 where I think there was a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR.  They get an oak leaf. 

31. "I'm telling the truth!": IT IS SO.  I played golf on Monday and missed every par putt I had.

35. Part of ERA: EQUAL.

37. Down in the dumps: FORLORN.  This is the maiden all FORLORN That milked the cow with the crumpled horn that lived in the house that Jack built.

38. Garden base: SOIL.  I call it Dirt.

39. Singapore Sling liquor: GIN.  Never had a Sling.  Sometimes I mixed it with Tonic.

40. End-of-list abbr.: ET AL.

41. PCs, originally: IBMS.  International Business Machines made the big computers for companies.  I don't remember that they were in the PC business.

42. Critter in old Qantas ads: KOALA.

46. Gadgets: GISMOS.

48. Ten: Pref.: DECA.  So why is December our 12th month?

49. Complained: MOANED.

50. Renting alternative: OWNING.  I was a renter until 1997.  It was not too bad.  Then I became an owner.  Bigger living and taxes to pay, but it's an improvement. 

51. Tranquil: SEDATE.

53. "SNL" alum Oteri: CHERI.

54. Pricey bar: INGOT.  I invested in some silver coins but never owned an INGOT.

58. Muses may represent them: ARTS. Carney and Garfunkel?

59. Genesis guy: ADAM.  Yesterday we visited A DAM that crosses the Mississippi here in Minnesota.

Boomer, 6/1/2021

62. Word with profit or weight: NET.

63. They, in French: ILS.

64. Obamacare, for short: ACA.

65. Quarterback Manning: ELI.  I wonder why we have not seen him in Medicare commercials yet.

Boomer