Wednesday, August 18, 2021, Jerry Edelstein

Theme: THE BLOCKS STOP HERE

20. Longtime game show that features stunts and a time limit: BEAT THE CLOCK.

33. High-quality investment: BLUE CHIP STOCK.

43. Lose it: BLOW ONE'S STACK.

57. Megahits, and what the interior letters of 20-, 33- and 43-Across effectively are?: BLOCK BUSTERS.

Melissa here - but I had to ask C.C. about this, which I'm going to blame on lagging vacation brain because this is a very common theme gimmick that I missed: The word BLOCK is broken up in three different ways.

I got hung up on the crossword meaning of the word BLOCK. In a crossword puzzle, the black squares are also known as blocks. For LA Times puzzles, the maximum word count for a 15x15 is 78, and the maximum block count is 43. Today's puzzle has 76 words, and 40 blocks.

Across:

1. Inferior in quality: CHEAP.

6. Temple mascot Hooter T. __: OWL. Temple University, in Philadelphia, PA, was founded by Russell Conwell, who began tutoring working class citizens late at night to accommodate their work schedules. These students, later dubbed "night owls," were taught in the basement of Conwell's Baptist Temple (hence the origin of the university's name and mascot). A History of Hooter.

9. Edsel and "Ishtar," e.g.: FLOPS.

14. Gossipy Hopper: HEDDA. American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, her readership was 35 million.

15. Month in printemps: MAI. Printemps is French for spring. It is also the name of a famous department store in Paris.

16. "Chicago" showgirl: ROXIE. Played by Renée Zellweger in the 2002 film.

17. Singing the praises of: EXTOLLING.

19. "Tiny Alice" dramatist: ALBEE. Three-act play written by Edward Albee.

22. State as fact: ASSERT.

25. Parlor art, briefly: TAT. Tattoo parlor. 

26. Horror film director Craven: WES. Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream movies.

27. Website help sect.: FAQ. Frequently Asked Questions.

28. Résumés, for short: CVS. CV = Curriculum Vitae, a Latin term meaning course of life. Sting refers to this in his song, Nothin' Bout Me:

1:28
Check my records, check my facts
Check if I paid my income tax
Pore over everything in my C.V.
But you'll still know nothing 'bout me

31. Family nickname: SIS. All my family calls me Missy. Except my husband.

38. Quiet: STILL.

39. __ pay: NET.

40. Wynonna's mother: NAOMI. The Judds, a talented family.

46. Kalamazoo-to-Cincinnati dir.: SSE.

47. Only even prime number: TWO.

48. Ka __: southernmost Big Island point: LAE.

49. "Black-ish" network: ABC.

52. Weaken: EBB.

54. Pax __: ROMANA. A bit obscure for anyone else, or just me? The term "Pax Romana," which literally means "Roman peace," refers to the time period from 27 B.C.E. to 180 C.E. in the Roman Empire. This 200-year period saw unprecedented peace and economic prosperity throughout the Empire, which spanned from England in the north to Morocco in the south and Iraq in the east.

61. Sported: HAD ON.

62. Didn't stop behind in time: REAR-ENDED. I have a theory that people's driving styles mimic their personalities. In my IT days I knew a micro-manager who caused a number of accidents because he did not know when to back off.

66. Muscat native: OMANI.

67. Managed: RAN.

68. Corpulent: OBESE.

69. Router button: RESET.

70. Texter's "Yikes!": OMG.

71. Bit of hardware: SCREW.

Down:

1. Michael of "SNL": CHE. Co-Anchor on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update.

2. Spell: HEX.

3. Summer hrs. at Augusta National: EDT. Held April 8 - 11 this year. Winner was Hideki Matsuyama.

4. Acrobat maker: ADOBE.

5. Not as tanned: PALER.

6. Forget about: OMIT.

7. Crave, e.g.: WANT.

8. Tenth word of the National Anthem: LIGHT. O say can you see, by the dawn's early light ...

9. Elementary math subject: FRACTIONS.

10. Lounge around: LOLL.

11. U-shaped river bend: OXBOW. Learn how The Nature Conservancy is restoring oxbow wetlands to help wildlife and people in Iowa.

12. King or queen, perhaps: PIECE. As in chess.

13. Goes after: SEEKS.

18. Hold (onto): LATCH.

21. Part of 46-Across: EAST.

22. Dover and Edwards, e.g., briefly: AFBS. Air Force Bases.

23. "Pass the __": SALT. Not buck.

24. __ kick: tricky football ploy: SQUIB. A short, low, line drive kickoff that usually bounces around on the ground before it can be picked up by a member of the receiving team.

29. Asti product: VINO. Asti is a sparkling Italian wine. VINO is the Italian (and Spanish) word for wine. In French it's vin.

30. Used up: SPENT.

32. Order to go: SCAT. Ooooh, great misdirection.

34. Wings with rooms: ELLS. In architecture, an ell is a wing of a building, at a right angle to the length of the main portion. Ells are often additions to a building.

35. Tightly connected: CLOSE KNIT.

36. Hearty entrée: STEW.

37. It's not a bear: KOALA.

41. Classic name in shoes: MCAN.

42. Maker of BILLY bookcases: IKEA. In my last house I lined an entire wall with black Billies with the glass doors - like these.

 44. "MacArthur Park" songwriter Jimmy: WEBB.

45. More angry: SORER. It's a real word, but sounds awkward, right?

49. Detest: ABHOR.

50. Fault: BLAME.

51. Musical endings: CODAS. From Wikipedia: a concluding musical section that is formally distinct from the main structure. 

53. Grand Canyon animal: BURRO.

55. Thins, for instance: OREOS. Who knew? Less Oreo, same price.

56. Rachel Maddow's network: MSNBC. She might be leaving.

58. Volcano apex: CONE.

59. Ore source: SEAM. "A stratum of coal or mineral that is economically viable." Here's an image of an iron ore seam marker in Birmingham, Alabama.

60. Strong taste: TANG.

63. __ Spiegel: DER. The largest German news website.

64. Legal conclusion?: ESE. Legalese.

65. Morning moisture: DEW.

Notes from C.C.:

Here's a cute picture of Melissa's granddaughter Jaelyn on her first day of the kindergarten. She's with her sister Harper. Melissa says "She was disappointed that she couldn't read after the first day. "See all those signs? I can't read any of them!"  

Tuesday, August 17, 2021 Ed Sessa

A Visit to the Emergency Room:  The theme clues are all in the down position in this puzzle.  Notice that the first word of the theme answer begins with an I and the second word begins with a V.  Together, this gives us a hanging IV, or Intravenous (tube).  Fate presented me with this all too appropriate theme this week.  I have become the caretake to my elderly father, and he spent several days in the hospital with an IV line.

3-Down. Conscience: INNER VOICE.

8-Down. Come and go, e.g., grammatically: IRREGULAR VERBS.

14-Down. Essential worth: INTRINSIC VALUE.

And the Unifier:

28-Down. Greenery in suspended baskets ... or, phonetically, what 3-, 8- or 14-Down is?: HANGING IVY.

Across:

1. Where time is served: JAIL.

5. Hindu divinity whose name is a homophone for a herding dog: KALI.  Not a Tuesday clue and answer.

9. Spanish kiss: BESO.  Today's Spanish lesson.  Hello, Lucina!

13. River of Pisa: ARNO.  This Italian river often winds its way into the puzzles.

14. More under the weather: ILLER.  Awkward!

15. "If you ask me," to a texter: IMHO.  Textspeak for In My Humble Opinion.  Usually, when this is used, the texter is not being Humble.

16. Vase-making dynasty: MING.  Everything you wanted to know about the Ming vase, but didn't know to ask.

17. "I won't do this anymore": NEVER AGAIN.

19. BBC nickname, with "the": BEEB.  Affectionately known as The Beeb.

20. Scones go-with: TEA.  Yummers!

21. Mind-boggler: ENIGMA.  Alan Turing (June 23, 1912 ~ June 7, 1954) cracked the Enigma Code.

22. Lions' calls: ROARS.

24. "What a long week!": TGIF.  Thank Goodness It's Friday.  Wait!  Today is only Tuesday!  TGI Friday's is also a restaurant chain.

25. Copenhagen's __ Gardens: TIVOLI.  Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park in the city of Copenhagen.  It is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world.  It opened in 1843.  I visited there a few years ago.  There were some good restaurants in the park.

27. Chef lead-in: SOUS.  I provided you with the background of the Sous Chef a couple of weeks ago.

28. '50s dance party: HOP.

31. Grossed: TOOK IN.

32. Christmastime: YULE.  //  And 35-Across. Sleigh driver: SANTA.

33. What to buy to solve P_T S_J_K: AN A.  Pat Sajak (né Patrick Leonard Sajdak; b. Oct. 26, 1946) is the host of Wheel of Fortune.  Three A's will complete the spelling of his name.

34. Elevator guy: OTIS.  Elisha Graves Otis (Aug. 3, 1811 ~ Apr. 8, 1861) makes frequent guest appearances in the puzzles.  He didn't actually invent the elevator, but he did invent a safety device to prevent elevators from falling.

37. '60s civil rights gp.: SNCC.  I was not familiar with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

38. UCLA's __-12 Conference: PAC.  College Sports.

39. Fodder holder: SILO.

40. Cheap booze: ROT GUT.

42. Opposite of NNW: SSE.  Just take a look at your compass.

43. Kept in the loop, in emails: CC'ED.  It is a relic from the old typewriter days, when carbon paper was used to make a copy.

44. Fluctuates: VARIES.

45. Dallas NBA team: MAVS.  The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team.

46. Aired again: RERAN.  Lots of reruns on TV during the summer.

47. Actress MacRae who played Alice Kramden on "The Jackie Gleason Show": SHEILA.  Sheila MacRae (née Sheila Margaret Stevens; Sept. 24, 1921 ~ Mar. 6, 2014) was a British actress.  She took over the role from Audrey Meadows (née Audrey Cotter; Feb. 8, 1922 ~ Feb. 3, 1996) and was in 52 episodes of The Jackie Gleason Show in 1966.

50. Pro: FOR.

51. Role in "Son of Frankenstein": YGOR.

54. Dog breeders' group: KENNEL CLUB.

56. Go off the board: DIVE.

57. ESPN MLB analyst: A-ROD.  Alex Rodriguez (b. July 27, 1975) makes frequent guest appearances in the puzzles.

58. Military divisions: UNITS.

59. Range component: OVEN.  It is 95F as I type this in "sunny" New Hampshire.  I feel like I am in an oven.

60. Hardy's "___ of the D'Urbervilles": TESS.  Tess makes frequent guest appearances in the puzzles.  Maybe one of these days I will read this book and get to know her.

61. Tolkien creatures: ENTS.  These creatures are also frequent visitors to the puzzles.  Not being a fan fo Tolkien, I don't know if these critters are good or bad.

62. Greek sandwich: GYRO.  Yummers!

Down:

1. Door frame segment: JAMB.  Who knew there were so many parts to the door!

2. R&B vocalist India.__: ARIE. 

India.Arie (née India Arie Simpson; b. Oct. 3, 1975) 

4. Captain's records: LOG BOOKS.

5. Works by Swiss cubist Paul: KLEEs.  Paul Klee (Dec. 18, 1879 ~ June 29, 1940) has a very unique artistic style.

6. Thomas __ Edison: ALVA.

7. Martial artist Bruce __: LEE.  Bruce Lee (Nov. 27, 1940 ~ July 20, 1973) died of cerebral edema at age 32.  Sadly, his actor son, Brandon Lee (Feb. 1, 1965 ~ Mar. 31, 1993) also died young when he was wounded on the set while filming a movie.

9. Major condition: BIG IF.

10. Kindle download: E-MAG.

11. Carpentry wedge: SHIM.

12. Chaplin of "Game of Thrones": OONA.  Oona Chaplin (née Oona Castilla Chaplin; b. June 4, 1986) is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin (né Charles Spencer Chaplin; Apr. 16, 1889 ~ Dec. 25, 1977) and the great-granddaughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill (né Eugene Gladstone O'Neill; Oct. 16, 1888 ~ Nov. 27, 1953).  Her mother is actress Geraldine Chaplin (née Geraldine Leigh Chaplin; b. July 31, 1944).  She was named after her maternal grandmother, Oona Chaplin (née Oona Ella O'Neill; May 14, 1925 ~ Sept. 27, 1991) who was Charlie Chaplin's fourth wife.  Quite a pedigree!

18. Cordial flavoring: ANISE.

23. "The Greatest": ALI.  Muhammad Ali (né Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; Jan. 17, 1942 ~ June 3, 2016).

24. Promote big-time: TOUT.

25. Sporty sunroofs: T-TOPS.

26. Teensy amounts: IOTAs.

27. Church assembly: SYNOD.

29. Perfectly timed: ON CUE.

30. Agreements: PACTS.

36. Brewpub orders: ALES.  Since I am currently in New Hampshire, and it is excruciatingly hot, here are some places I can get a nice cold ale.

37. Unowned, free-ranging pooch: STRAY DOG.

39. Weigh station?: SCALE.

41. Galley implement: OAR.

45. Gives a hoot: MINDS.

46. Beats but good: ROUTS.

47. Three-handed game: SKAT.  In case you are curious about the game of Skat.

48. "Psst! Over __!": HERE.

49. Grandson of Eve: ENOS.  Enos is supposedly the son of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve.  Very little is known about him other than Seth was 105 years old when Enos was born.  (See Genesis 5:6-11).

50. Move like a bee: FLIT.  Butterflies can also flit.

52. Finished: OVER.

53. City near Tahoe: RENO.  Reno is also the home of the National Judicial College.  I took some classes there about 20 years ago.

55. "Inside Politics" airer: CNN.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה

 

Monday, August 16, 2021 Kurt Krauss

Theme: PLAYMATES (66A. Sandbox sharers ... and a hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues) - The first part of each theme entry can follow "Play".

17. *Vacation condo, perhaps: TIME SHARE. Play time.

21. *Foldable whittling tools: PEN KNIVES.  Play pen.

33. *Nickname for Batman's Robin: BOY WONDER. Playboy.

46. *News article starters: DATELINES. Play date.

59. *Roadside ad medium: BILLBOARD.  Playbill. My favorite was the Burma Shave sequence.  "Rip a fender off your car, mail it in for a half pound jar. Burma Shave"

Boomer here.

Is this Heaven ?  No it's  Crossword Corner.  PLAY Ball!

 

Across:

1. Delhi dress: SARI.  Sorry. It's SARI.

5. Wants to know: ASKS.  Yeah, I have tried this, but never seem to get a helpful response.

9. Morocco's capital: RABAT.

14. Like much brandy: AGED.  Also like a Crossword Corner blogger from Minnesota.

15. Feed, as hogs: SLOP.  I suppose, if that's all you have.  I don't know why they eat it.

16. Primer mes del calendario: ENERO.

19. French states: ETATS.  Yes it's French for STATE.  They just spelled it wrong.

20. Crème de la crème: A LIST.  Santa makes one and checks it twice.

23. Took home after taxes: NETTED.  We used to pull a Northern Pike into the boat up On North Star Lake.

25. Going __: bickering: AT IT.

26. Prefix with natal or liberal: NEO.  It's NEW to me.

28. Get a hint of: DETECT.

39. Concrete support rod: REBAR.

40. Poet Khayyám: OMAR.  Mindful of Ilhan OMAR, a representative from Minnesota.  She has not received the negative press she got in previous years.

41. Leaf under a petal: SEPAL.

43. Double Dutch need: ROPE.  For a Liberty Mutual Commercial.

44. Scrabble pieces: TILES.  Usual trivia question.  Which is higher value - a J or X.  If you have a Q, Z, and K in your rack, how many points?

48. Artery inserts: STENTS.

50. Caribbean or Aegean: SEA.

51. Guthrie of folk: ARLO.  "You can get any thing you want, at Alice's Restaurant."

54. Not family-friendly, moviewise: R RATED.  "Field of Dreams" movie was rated PG.  Last Thursday's broadcast on Fox was the most watched baseball game (maybe of all time).  I do not know how they decide this stuff.  No one called me to ask what I was watching.

64. Accused's "I was somewhere else" story: ALIBI.  Yup, I was on the golf course.

65. Onetime default Word typeface: ARIAL.

68. Starbucks choice: LATTE.  I have heard that the price of coffee is going up.  I may have to borrow money from C.C.  I never go to the rip off places like Starbucks or Caribou.  I brew my own on coffee grounds from Aldi.

69. New Rochelle campus: IONA.

70. Artist Chagall: MARC.

71. Leg joints: KNEES.

72. Break loudly, as a twig: SNAP.  Add Crackle and Pop, and coffee and you have breakfast.

73. Not fooled by: ON TO.  Football Season.  Quarterback (On Two) Hut, Hut.

Down:

1. Prince of Darkness: SATAN.  I know a long story about Tony Bennet visiting (SATAN) Sam Fink.  St. Peter gave him a Harp and he went to visit Sam Fink who actually owned a Disco in hell.  When he got back to the pearly gates, St. Peter asked if he forgot something. Bennet said "Oh my gosh, I left my harp in Sam Fink's Disco."

2. Nimble: AGILE.

3. Send payment: REMIT.  Not too often nowadays.  ACH is great!

4. Latin "that is": ID EST.  I took four years of Latin in High school and this is about all I remember.

5. Baseball bat wood: ASH.  I wonder if the major leagues will ever adopt aluminum.  They would have to move back the corn.

6. Waves-against-dock sound: SLAP.  Also ASH against leather baseball sound.

7. Divided land: KOREA.

8. Disbursed: SPENT.  $12.50 on 9 holes of par 28 on a cart.  I found out last Friday that bowling will be starting before Labor Day.

9. Confirm, as a password: RE-ENTER. I hate when the computer asks me to do this.

10. Against: ANTI.

11. Wally's little bro, in old TV: BEAV.  Jerry Mathers was a great kid actor.  He never made the height of Ronnie Howard, though.

12. Prado display: ARTE.

13. Mix, as salad: TOSS.  Or a bowling ball.  A little tougher, and it doesn't taste as good.

18. Court figure, briefly: STENO.

22. Josh: KID.  A favorite word of John Michael Higgins, of America Says.  "I'm not Kidding !" 

24. Homes for bears: DENS.  Or Cub Scouts.

27. Had too much, briefly: OD'ED.

29. Garr of "Tootsie": TERI.

30. Poetic black: EBON.  I suppose EBONY was too many letters.

31. Cod or Hatteras: CAPE.  "You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod".  Patti Page.

32. Half of seis (6): TRES.

33. Sources of much spam: BOTS.

34. Leave out: OMIT.

35. Harvard rival: YALE.  Yale has beaten Harvard over the season series.  Next game is around Thanksgiving.

36. Small songbird: WREN.

37. Govt. antipollution org.: EPA.  Environmental Protection.  We needed that here in Minnesota a few weeks ago when Canada was burning.  I hope everyone is safe because the news is not so good with forest fires everywhere. 

38. "Darn it all!": RATS.  I call the squirrels in our yard "RATS".  They don't listen.

42. Lascivious look: LEER.

45. Horses' houses: STABLES.

47. West Coast NFLer: LA RAM.  I am sure that those guys will be starting up soon.

49. Sign of a sellout: SRO.  I really have not seen a sellout (except maybe for the Iowa game.)  Out field seats are still available for most games after the Covid sanctions were lifted.

52. __ lazuli: blue gem: LAPIS.

53. Crease-resistant fabric: ORLON.

55. Rent-a-car biggie: ALAMO.  High up Santa Anna, We're killing you soldiers below, so the rest of Texas will know.. And remember the ALAMO. Johnny Cash.

56. Industry bigwig: TITAN.

57. Movie critic Roger: EBERT.

58. '70s music genre: DISCO.  I was around in the 70's but DISCO never caught me.

59. Pitcher's false move when on the rubber, e.g.: BALK.

60. Persia, now: IRAN.

61. Beer for dieters: LITE.  Diet PEPSI for me.

62. After the deadline: LATE.

63. Comedian Carvey: DANA.  I used to love his skit as the Church Lady.

67. Talk and talk: YAP.  I could go through Harold Hill's "You can talk, you can bicker" but I am too tired. 

Notes from C.C.:

Happy birthday to dear 6-Across! So lucky to have you on our little corner.