Kate is a custom furniture maker who is a proud non-whiz when it comes to solving and wordplay. Originally from Spokane, she has lived in San Diego, Brooklyn, London, and Brooklyn again before settling down in Oakland. She began solving crosswords in 2019 and
making them in 2021, and credits mentorship both formal and informal for her growth as a constructor. When not awash in words or sawdust, Kate loves to read, eat the food her partner cooks, snuggle with her hostile-to-everyone-else cat, and watch the Golden State Warriors. Here is her website
48. Unforced __: ERROR - Hitting the ball into the net is one
50. Pointillism elements: DOTS. Just such a painting of a56. Late gathering: SOIREE by Edmond Cross
52. They might be game: FOWL - A good friend skipped my daughter's wedding for the first day of pheasant season.
58. Not much at all: JUST A BIT.
60. Person to split a bill with: COSTAR - The playbill not the restaurant check
61. Age line?: I FEEL OLD.
62. Home and away, e.g.: TEAMS.
63. Braced: STEELED - We've all STEELED ourselves for possible bad news
Down:
1. Zebra mother: MARE - As it is for all equines
2. After: UPON - UPON further thought...
3. "I also have good news, though!": DON'T BE SAD.
4. Beseech: BEG.
5. MagSafe Charging Case inserts: AIR PODS.
6. Goals in a hat trick, e.g.: TRIO - A hat trick is accomplished when one player scores three goals in one game. Huh?
7. Features of some positive messaging: HAPPY FACE EMOJIS or...
8. Make a scene?: ACT.
9. Takes one's time at the mirror: PRIMPS
10. Capital west of Ha Long Bay: HANOI - About 2hrs west by car
11. Message during phone tag: IT'S ME AGAIN - Cell phones have helped with this issue
12. Believe: DEEM.
13. Opposite of trans: CIS - Short for CISGENDER - "Denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex." CIS is from the Latin for "on this side" as opposed to trans which means "on the other side"
15. Underhanded: SLY.
20. Family name on "Ugly Betty": SUAREZ.
23. Singles: ONES.
25. Hrs. at T-Mobile Park: PDT - Here we see the roof at this Seattle park closing and opening.
26. Journalist Gwen honored on a U.S. postage stamp in 2020: IFILL.
27. Tyler Perry persona: MADEA.
28. Standing order?: PLEASE RISE - "Here come da judge!"
31. Packed: DENSE.
32. Change one's skirt?: ALTER.
34. Like a pagoda: TIERED.
35. Hands-on experience, hopefully: TRUST FALL - No! Fall backward!
38. Enter: GO IN.
40. __ Bruin: UCLA mascot: JOE - Joe and Josephine
41. "Decisions, decisions ... ": LET'S SEE and 46. "Yes and no": SORTA as sung by our cwd friend Ella Fitzgerald:
First, you say, you do
And then you don't
And then you say, you will
And then you won't
You're undecided now
So what are you gonna do?
43. Twitch __: STREAM - Make your own STREAMing channel
48. F1 neighbor: ESC.
49. Daikon, e.g.: ROOT - Radish
51. Hairy bunch: TUFT - A combover challenge?
53. Thin reed: OBOE - It is a beautiful addition to the chorus of this song
FIW, with my lone Natick of 23-down and 23-across.
There were several unfilled squares throughout, as I worked from top left to bottom right. It was in the very bottom right corner where the reveal: (71-Across. Work on software, and work to make sense of the answers to the starred clues?) DEBUG, resided. Once I saw that answer, I thought, OK, now the circles make sense! As I continued working at the "southern border" of the grid, I got the "aha" moment when I filled in (67-Across. *Cherry variety:) BROACHING, as I saw that when you get rid of the ROACH, what's left is the word "BING", or a "cherry variety". Very clever.
Now, a brief commercial message from our sponsor, Johnson Wax:
Back to the blog ... Constructors Emet Ozar and Matthew Stock have collaborated on a Sunday puzzle @ Universal, but I think this is the first of theirs @ LA Times. Both Ozar and Stock appear to have found the crossword puzzle constructor "itch", post-pandemic. Kudos to you both, and I hope you'll visit our blog to offer some comments on what gave the seed idea for this; I promise I won't bug you further!
It's not often that you'll see SIX entries AND a reveal in a 15x15 puzzle. I know that some critics would ding them for having 17+ three-letter words; or ding them for using circles; but c'mon! This had to have been extremely tough to fill while maintaining a tight and clean "feel". What struck me is that all SIX entries with the hidden bug are all quite common (as you'll see in the explanation below).
It also appears that Patti was lenient with Emet and Matthew in the clues, as none were too obscure for a Friday. Perhaps the puzzle was tough enough. Let's look at the other five entries:
15-Across. *Like sweater weather: CHANTILLY. Remove the ANT and the word "CHILLY" definitely refers to "sweater weather"
23-Across. *Spanish verb similar to the French "être": SMOTHER. OK. The word "SMOTHER" is quite common, but when I removed the "MOTH" the word SER did not make me "see the light". Guess I should've taken Spanish as my foreign language elective instead of German!! So Lucina, if Hamlet were done in Spanish, would the soliloquy be: "¿SER o no SER?"
29-Across. *Soft drink size: LITE BEER. Take the BEE from the LITE BEER and you're left with a "LITER" of (soda, pop, tonic, Coke) ... remember, we had that discussion of what people call a soft drink the last time I blogged?
48-Across. *River through Kazakhstan: G NATURAL. Swat the GNAT from this entry and you're left with URAL - the crosswordese answer for an Asian River. Not familiar with G NATURAL? Try this, but turn the volume down on your device before playing:
53-Across. *Top: LIMITED. I HOPE none of you were "ticked" off at today's puzzle, but I MITE understand if you were! OK, Moe, put a LID on it ... zip up your FLY ... show us the grid this time ... and 'splain to us all of the other clues!
Across:
1. Cheap kegful: PABST. Oddly enought, PABST is one of the domestic, non-craft BEERs that I'll drink. LITE BEER doesn't do much for me
6. Seal hunter: ORCA. Killer whale
10. Title for Horatio Magellan Crunch: CAP'N. They made this clue weirder than it had to be, TBH. How many other "CRUNCH's" do you know other than CAP'n?
14. "With any luck": I HOPE. Different meaning than when I used this phrase in the introduction
17. __ cut: PIXIE. The upper left corner was easy to perp today. Wanna see a PIXIE cut? OK:
18. Question that may elicit "Todo bien, gracias": ¿Cómo estás?. Are you "all good" with this clue and answer?
19. "Must you be like everyone else?": ET TU. "No, I'm not a BRUTE!"
21. __ card: SIM. Having recently upgraded my iPhone 7+ to a 13 Pro, I know all about SIM cards. I got two of them in this phone
22. Four quarters: ONE. A good "Friday" clue; four 25cent pieces = ONE dollar bill
26. "Latino USA" airer: NPR. WAG. I very seldom listen to any radio airers, but NPR seemed logical once I filled in around it
28. Choice word: EITHER. Moe-ku:
The two canoeist's Decision on who sat where? Your choice, EITHER oar
34. Sandwich not found in a kosher deli: BLT. And yet a lot of my Jewish friends LOVE bacon
35. Sap: DRAIN. I HOPE you weren't DRAINed by doing this puzzle - quite the opposite for me ... I am pretty amped up today
37. One of India's official languages: HINDI.
38. Footnote abbr.: ET AL. Moe ku:
Israel's airport Shows a list of carriers: There's El Al, et al
40. Rock collection?: ALBUM. Hmm not my most favorite clue today. "Rock", of course, refers to the music genre "rock 'n' roll". I still have several ALBUMs but no turntable
42. Slender: SLIM. Both of my SIM cards are quite SLIM
43. Crew member: ROWER. Only ONE bad ROWing pun allowed per blog
45. Rink ploys: DEKES. Are any of our male cornerites members of a college fraternity? Anytime I see the word DEKES I think of this fraternity, "Delta Kappa Epsilon", commonly known as DKE - or - Deke is one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active colonies across North America. It was founded at Yale College in 1844 by fifteen sophomores who were discontent with the existing fraternity order on campus"[Wikipedia]. Several past US presidents were DEKES, including the two Bushes and Teddy Roosevelt
47. PC pioneer: IBM. Did anyone else wonder if the "PC" in the clue meant "politically correct"? If so, FDR fits, yes?
50. Roughhouse: RASSLE. I had TUSSLE before RASSLE
52. "Real talk," from a texter: TBH. To Be Honest. Don't you hate when someone answers a question with "To be honest ..."?? My reaction is always, "well, haven't you been honest with me before?"
54. "It's all about me" attitude: EGO. Moe-ku:
You can shut down one's EGO, by telling them to: "Put an ID on it"!
57. Deli slice: RYE. HAM fits on RYE, too
59. Article: ITEM.
60. Sacred Buddhist symbol with heart-shaped leaves: BODHI TREE. So, isn't there one word/phrase that always seems to show up in a puzzle, just when you think you knew them all? What's a BODHI TREE? I think it's in the banyan family. This:
63. Gulf ship: OILER.
68. Petting zoo critter: LLAMA.
69. Light-footed: SPRY. There is a village by this name near to where I grew up. Misty might know it, too
2. Pacific tuna: AHI. SKIPJACK just wouldn't squeeze into those three squares
3. Check point?: BOX. Good mis-direction clue
4. Jordan who won the 2017 British Open: SPIETH. Golfers around the globe refer to this as The Open Championship; not the British Open, FYI ... Jordan SPIETH finished in the top ten of this year's OPEN, won by Cameron Smith
5. Raised canines, say: TEETHED. Did anyone else have a dog in mind instead of a tooth? My grandson (age two+) went through his TEETHing stage - see his canines??
6. Transpire: OCCUR.
7. Density symbol, in physics: RHO. Once again, only ONE RHOing pun per blog allowed
8. Nanny __: security devices: CAMS. If the editor/constructor had known ahead of time, this clue could've been: "Nicknames of the top two finishers at The Open Championship" (Cameron Smith - first; Cameron Young - second)
9. Formally choose: ANOINT.
10. Gender prefix: CIS. [Wikipedia] "Cisgender describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. The word cisgender is the antonym of transgender. The prefix cis- is Latin and means on this side of."
Moe-ku:
When a sheep explodes In front of straight cheerleader It goes: CIS, boom, baa
11. Type of flute: ALTO. [Wikipedia] "What is the difference between a flute and an alto flute? The bore of the alto flute is considerably larger in diameter and longer than a C flute and requires more breath from the player. This gives it a greater dynamic presence in the bottom octave and a half of its range"
12. Think ahead: PLAN. This was my PLANner of choice back when I was a working stiff
13. SEC concern: NYSE. When I first saw "SEC" I was thinking "SouthEastern Conference" of the NCAA (which would have fit into that space, BTW). But this SEC is the Securities and Exchange Commission
16. Vegan protein choice: TEMPEH. How does this compare to tofu, you ask? Well, here's what I found: "Is tempeh the same as tofu? Tempeh is like tofu that's been hitting the gym – hard. Like tofu, tempeh is still made from soy but the whole bean is used in a fermentation process. Using the whole bean gives tempeh it's chunkier texture which holds its shape better, making it ideal for crispy cubes or 'bacon' rashers"[tofoo.co.uk]
20. Veggie chip brand: TERRA. Perps filled this in
23. Actress Jean of French New Wave cinema: SEBERG. The other half of my Natick today. A brief bio
24. __ Bradley: MILTON. When I lived in Springfield, MA way back when, MILTON Bradley had a facility in East Longmeadow. I sold them some packaging materials ... click on the link to learn more about the games they created, as well as a short bio on MILTON
25. Home of the Senators: OTTAWA. NHL team, and a CSO to Canadian, Eh?
27. Clutch hitter's stat: RBIS.
29. Smear with ink?: LIBEL. TATOO didn't seem to fit
30. Arctic native: INUK. Singular form on Inuit. This word appeared just once before @ USA Today on April 24, 2021 by Erik Agard
31. Join up: ENLIST. What I would've done back in 1973 if the draft was my only other option
32. Consumer-friendly?: EDIBLE. Lots of play-on-word clues today
33. Horn-__ glasses: RIMMED.
36. Director of the final episode of "M*A*S*H": ALDA.
39. Baltic native: LETT.
41. __ badge: MERIT. Anyone know how many MERIT badges are required to make Eagle Scout?
44. Guide for grading: RUBRIC. [Utah Education Network] "a RUBRIC for an essay might tell students that their work will be judged on purpose, organization, details, voice, and mechanics. A good rubric also describes levels of quality for each of the criteria"
46. "The usual": SAME OLD.
49. Blues partner: RHYTHM. I'm thinking that several of us Boomers remember this single that reached #3 in the Top 100 tunes in 1967 and made "The Happenings" a lot of money, I suspect. And they made a George and Ira Gershwin song from the 1930's "retro"
51. Literary device: SIMILE. A CSO to Yellowrocks. How does a SIMILE compare to a METAPHOR? [Merriam-Webster says] "A SIMILE is a figure of speech that compares two otherwise dissimilar things, often introduced by the words like or as ('you are like a summer's day'). A metaphor is when a word is used in place of another to suggest a likeness ('you are a summer's day')"
53. Feudal lord: LIEGE. One definition (as an adjective): concerned with or relating to the relationship between a feudal superior and a vassal. Wonder if this is the root of the word "allegiance"?
54. Dwindles: EBBS.
55. Trail mix: GORP. An acronym for "Good Old Raisins and Peanuts"
56. Compost bin emanation: ODOR. But composting truly makes the best dirt/soil
58. Lake whose name comes from Iroquoian for "long tail": ERIE. A crossword puzzle editor (not from the LA Times) once told me "hard clues can't be made hard with factual references that many/most won't know". Sage advice
61. Part of a stable diet: HAY. OAT fit, too. Note the play-on-words in the clue. Well, TWO can play THAT game! Moe-ku, and a CSO to Boomer, an erstwhile Grainger guy:
Bostitch employees Get a free lunch at work. A True, staple diet
62. Thyroid specialist, for short: ENT.
64. Where lots of cultures come together: LAB. Ha Ha
65. Aussie bird: EMU.
66. Dust cloth: RAG.
Well, look at me! I'm all "bug-eyed" from looking up word meanings and images!! Don't forget to comment below ...
Good morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with this morning's recap. Today's puzzle exhibits a wistful choice of themes for one published on a midsummer's day. As she did with her recent (last June 17th) LAT puzzle, at places within the grid our puzzle setter, Amie Walker, has added a letter or two at the beginning of common expressions and, thereby, created new and different expressions. In today's puzzle she has added two letters - BR as in "Brrrrrr it's cold". We can only wish.
The reveal comes at:
55 Across: Harbingers of lower temperatures, and a hint to the answers to the starred clues: COLD FRONTS. A COLD FRONT is the leading edge of a cold air mass. In the puzzle, BR is the COLD FRONT appended to the start of the answer.
The theme is applied at (starred for our convenience):
17 Across: *Lord of the grill?: BROIL BARON. Oil Baron.
Lord of the Grill - Stephen Raichlen
26 Across: *Some spring newlyweds?: BRIDES OF MARCH. Ides of March. Beware!
43 Across: *Warning words from one holding the reins?: BRIDLE THREATS. Idle Threats.
The balance of the clues/answers:
Across: 1. Furnish funds for: ENDOW. For example:
6. Sleep restlessly: TOSS. _____ and TURN. _____ a coin. ____ one's cookies.
10. Three-time Olympic gold medalist Devers: GAIL. One of only two women to successfully defend an Olympic 100 meter championship.
14. Jeweler's glass: LOUPE.
15. Dance that tells a story: HULA. What did the animal control officer ask the Hawaiian dancer? "HULA the dogs out?"
16. "Breaking Bad" Emmy winner Gunn: ANNA. Consistent with the current fashion there are many proper nouns in the puzzle. Depending on which answers you wish to count, there are a dozen or so. This is the first.
19. Wine list heading: REDS.
20. Small batteries: AAS.
Third From The Left
21. Subdivision divisions: LOTS.
22. Fake eyelash, informally: FALSIE. Eyelashes? Today's "I had best not go there" moment.
24. "No warranties": AS IS.
25. Went around: ORBITED. AVOIDED was briefly a working guess. Literally to go around (and around and around).
30. Borrower: LENDEE. Not too hard to suss out but a word rarely seen/heard.
31. "The Chi" creator Waithe: LENA. Unknown to me. Another day of the week it might have been Horne, Olin or the Hyena.
32. Text an embarrassing screenshot to the wrong person, say: ERR.
35. Pre-K basics: ABCS. The basis for a pop song.
36. Sports radio host Patrick: DAN. So many Dans from which to choose.
37. H.S. exam: PSAT. We sit for the PSAT quite often in our puzzles.
38. "Caught you!": HAH. OHO, the answer is not AHA!
39. Rip-off: SCAM. "This is an ugly word, this SCAM." - Carmine Sabatini
41. __ solution: SALINE.
46. "Please let me give it a go": MAY I TRY.
48. Pond plant: REED. The clue was likely going to be either pond or oboe-related, n'est-ce pas?
49. "The Ranch" actress Cuthbert: ELISHA. Another unknown. Thanks, perps.
50. Apple variety: GALA. Not an electronics reference this time.
51. Rio automaker: KIA. KIA recently adopted a new logo.
54. Skating site: RINK. THIN ICE was too long.
58. Peniston with the Top 10 hit "Finally": CECE. CSO to C.C.
CeCe
59. __-slapper: KNEE. Ha Ha.
60. Wed: UNITE. Not a dy of the wk.
61. How most TV shows air: IN HD. High Definition.
62. Tournament ranking: SEED.
63. Triumphant April Fools' Day cry: GOT YA. Crosses ITTY at 52 Down. See 26 Down.
Down:
1. Island in a classic palindrome: ELBA.
2. Comedy Central's "Awkwafina Is __ From Queens": NORA. Does she have to pay royalties to Pepsico?
3. Pairs: DUOS.
4. Big name in nail polish: OPI. This proper noun is now part of the Croswordese lexicon.
5. "Maybe yes, maybe no": WE'LL SEE.
6. "Oh, really?": THAT SO. Is it?
7. Sharing word: OURS.
8. "__ Pitch": Canadian web series about softball: SLO.
9. Bay city, briefly: SAN FRAN. The folks who live there don't usually take too well to this sort of thing.
11. Prime number?: ANESTHESIA. As in to make NUMB. This muttonheaded marine mammal initially missed the context. Thanks, Cat.
12. Not mainstream: INDIE. Usually used in a show-biz context.
13. Cut with light: LASED. Crossword constructors, and editors, love verbs that are the same in present and past tense - Cut, put, shed, cast, quit, hit, etc. etc. etc.
18. Capital known as "The City of Trees": BOISE. State Capital of Idaho.
23. Syllables in an incantation: ABRA.
24. Throws in: ADDS.
25. Black cat, to some: OMEN. Having passed on the Steve Miller Band possibility a couple of clues above, I shall attempt to redeem myself:
Howlin' Wolf - 1961
26. Meh: BLAH. 'Nuff said
27. "Queen of Country" McEntire: REBA.
28. Slowly but surely: INCH BY INCH.
29. Moth attractor: FLAME.
A moth goes into a podiatrist’s office. The doctor asks, “What’s the problem?” The moth replies, “Doc, let me tell you. I hate my job. Every single day I have to go but I hate my boss and I hate my work. I wake up every day next to a woman that I once loved, but I stopped loving her long ago. Last week my dog died. I don't know what to do." The doctor says, “Those are some serious problems. You need help. But you need a psychiatrist. Why in the world did you come into a podiatrist’s office?” The moth says, “Because the light was on.”
33. Harangue: RANT.
34. GPS lines: RTES. We never know if it will be Roads, Route, Avenues, Streets, Highways, etc. I love working with GPS devices. I do not love the clues/answers that they have brought us.
36. Tyne of "Judging Amy": DALY. The actress.
37. Begged: PLED. A robot accused of stealing his neighbor's electricity PLED guilty as charged.
39. Jedi enemy: SITH. A Star Wars reference.
40. Classic music libraries?: CD RACKS. In the age of Mp3s, Compact Discs qualify as "classic".
41. __ life: SHELF. Some items are marked with those dates that are overly pessimistic.
42. Accent piece: AREA RUG.
44. Gambled: RISKED.
45. Available on the stock exchange: TRADED. Hand up for first trying LISTED,
46. "__ beaucoup": MERCI. Today's French 101 lesson.
47. Unrecognizable: ALIEN. Used as an adjective not as a visitor from another galaxy.
50. Sheer delight: GLEE.
51. Work on a muffler, say: KNIT. Not an automotive reference.
52. __-bitty: ITTY. ITSY BITSY wouldn't work with the perps, I suppose. A musical moment missed.
53. Between ports: ASEA. Where we may sometimes find ourselves, metaphorically.
56. Low digit: ONE. The number this time (see 11 Down). Not (here) a part of the anatomy.
57. Artist Yoko: ONO. The last of today's proper nouns . . . and a frequent visitor.
Here is how all of this looks in the grid:
Amie, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or whatever in the Comments section. We'd love to hear from you.
Well that wraps things up for today's puzzle recap. I am presently in Victoria British Columbia helping to celebrate two dear friends' 50th wedding anniversary. The scary part is that I was at the wedding. The temperature could not be considered to be cold but it is pleasantly closer to "brrrr" than it is presently in SoCal.
Have a great Thursday, everyone. And a great weekend, t00.
59. Misinterpret, or what is hidden in each of the answers to the starred clues?: TAKE THE WRONG WAY.
TAKE straddles two words, and is scrambled ('the wrong way') four different ways.
Melissa here. Besides the clever theme, lots of fun stuff today - lets get on with it.
Across:
1. Manicurist's tool: FILE.
5. Windex target: PANE.
9. Blackjack stack: CHIPS.
14. Black Card co.: AMEX. American Express.
15. "Hey, sailor!": AHOY.
16. Largest city on the Red River: HANOI. Capital of Vietnam.
20. Some pore minimizers: TONERS. Skin care product applied after cleansing to remove residue, close up pores, and prime the skin for moisturizer.
21. Chowder head?: CLAM. Haha.
22. "Outlander" cable network: STARZ.
28. Sit for a portrait: POSE.
30. More iffy: DODGIER. Funny word.
31. Pool toy: RAFT.
34. Orecchiette shape: EAR. Pasta. Good for trapping thick sauces.
36. Henrik whose last play was "When We Dead Awaken": IBSEN.
37. Tetris shape: ELL. A "falling block puzzle" video game. Ell is one of the block shapes - I bet you didn't know that they have personalities. Play free online.
41. Mormons, initially: LDS. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
42. Prom queen topper: TIARA. Sometimes clued as "crownlet," or small crown.
58. Stuff one's face: PIG OUT. I was just in Portland, Oregon, and saw a bbq place by that name.
64. String quartet instrument: VIOLA. String quartet: A chamber music ensemble consisting of first and second violins, viola, and cello. Here's an unconventional one.
65. Get just right: NAIL. I've never seen this show but it looks entertaining.
66. Old Italian bread?: LIRE.
67. Poetry fests: SLAMS.
68. General __ chicken: TSO'S.
69. Pulls the plug on: ENDS. Sometimes you have to know when to call it quits.
Down:
1. Trivia quiz fodder: FACTS.
2. "Can we turn on the ceiling fan?": I'M HOT. That's me, every day.
3. "Glassheart" singer Lewis: LEONA. Title track from her third studio album.
31. Adjust a paragraph setting: RETAB. Remember these?
32. Defensive line?: ALIBI. I like it.
33. Lab container: FLASK. Wikipedia lists five distinct kinds of lab flasks.
35. Iron-pumping unit: REP.
38. Some Bach creations: CANTATAS. From Italian cantare, “to sing,” originally, a musical composition intended to be sung, as opposed to a sonata, a composition played instrumentally; now, loosely, any work for voices and instruments.
39. Puts a glove on, in a way: TAGS. Baseball. For a legitimate tag, the fielder must have the ball held securely in either the hand or the glove. Nowhere else. With the ball held securely in hand or glove, the fielder can, in a force situation, touch (tag) a base with any portion of his body, including his gloved hand, foot, non-glove hand, and so forth.
40. Wrath: IRE.
43. Food writer Drummond: REE. She lives on a working ranch outside of Pawhuska, Oklahoma with her husband.
45. Squirm: WRIGGLE.
47. "Ring of Fire" singer: CASH. I never knew all this about the song.
