This marks the 138th puzzle that Dr. Ed Sessa has had published in the LA Times, including the one that appeared this past Sunday, the day of after Boomer's passing.
As soon as I saw that Dr. Ed was today's constructor, I
knew that many Cornerites would wonder how he is faring in the aftermath of
hurricane Ian. I immediately got in touch with Husker Gary and asked
him to contact Dr. Ed for an update. This is the reply Husker received a few days later:
Hi Gary,
Like countless others down here our home got hit with a storm surge:
damaged roof and six feet of muddy water in the house destroying pretty
much everything. My wife and I are now in our third apartment which will
be home for up to a year, giving us a chance to decide where to go on a
more permanent basis. But certainly not back into any flood zone. Thanks
for asking and warm regards to all the wonderful people on the LA Times
site.
My heart goes out to Boomer for all that he has gone
through.
Regards.
Ed
And special thanks to Gary. We are still praying for Dr. Ed and all of
the victims of hurricane Ian, and also for Boomer and C.C.
On to the review ...
As our Tuesday blogger might tell you, when it comes to themes,
"There's more than one way to skin a
חתול". And as is usual for me, in my initial attempt to explain this
one I immediately got down in the weeds, but then thought better of it, came
up for air and decided to title this puzzle
Seoul Train
Puzzle themes are a major interest of Dr. Ed
(per C.C.'s 2/4/2011 interview with him) and today he presents us with what
appears at first to be a simple rhyming scheme: 4 two-word themers (2
across, 2 down) with one of the words rhyming with the first word of the title above.
On closer inspection we see however that there are
3 different letter sequences used to rhyme the theme words.
One obvious lesson that Dr. Ed gives us here is the vagaries of
English spelling and pronunciation. Perhaps another (which I
found down in the weeds) is to give us a short course in
the International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA (no not the ALE)). Despite the differences in spelling, the IPA code for each of the theme fill rhyming parts is the same:"oʊl". We usually see IPA codes following the definitions of words in a dictionary to tell us how to pronounce them. The following clue explanations each start with the IPA code for the
theme word in each fill, which were generated with this
online translator
(try it, it's fun!).
18A. K-pop, e.g.?: SEOUL MUSIC.
soʊl, i.e. music from Korea. Here is Jung Kook (né
Jeon Jung-kook) of BTS (a.k.a. the Bangtan Boys) singing his song
Dreamers (lyrics) at the opening ceremony of the recent
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
(the victor of which will be decided 3 days after this puzzle drops):
62A. Survey of hairdressers?: BARBER POLL. poʊl. The really funny thing about this clue is that such surveys actually do exist: questionnaires designed for gathering hairdresser best practices and making them available to those interested in becoming hairdressers or barbers, or in improving their services. Of course this is not a new idea. In olden days the services of the barber were provided by the town factotum, who doubled as the dentist, minor surgeon, and all around dogsbody. Here's the classic description of how the job was done, brought to us by the late, great Russian baritone Dimitri Hvorostovsky, with Largo Al Factotum from Rossini's Barber of Seville:
4D. Golfer who's too afraid to make a putt?: HOLE CHICKEN.
hoʊl. First he's got to get to the green!
27D. 1982 film job that kept an actor on his heels?: TOOTSIE ROLE. ɹoʊl (don't ask me what the funny lead in is). Dustin Hoffman played her. The hardest part was learning to walk on high heels (as a kid I tried wearing a pair of heels while trick-or-treating one Halloween - I had blisters for a week!):
Here's the grid:
Across:
1. Indulge the munchies: NOSH. Also a noun.
5. French friends: AMIS. Last week this was clued with "Inside Story" novelist Martin.
9. "It's Good" root beer brand: BARQS. Barq's /ˈbɑːrks/ is an American brand of root beer created by Edward Barq and bottled since the beginning of the 20th century.
|
|
Bozo the Clown |
16. Lose strength: ABATE.
17. Pedestrian street: MALL.
20. Cat voiced by Debra Messing in "Garfield: The Movie": ARLENE. Debra Lynn Messing (born August 15, 1968) is an American actress who found her breakthrough role as Grace Adler, an interior designer, on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace (1998–2006, 2017–2020):
|
|
Debra Messing |
23. Suitable: APT.
24. Come down: DESCEND. "What ASCENDS must DESCEND", or something like that.
26. Catch sight of: SPOT. Or maybe another often seen four letter noun, clued as "Teenager's concern".
28. Cannot stand: HATES.
30. Give comfort to: SOOTHE.
34. Implied: TACIT. "silent, unspoken" from French tacite and directly from Latin tacitus "that is passed over in silence". NOD was too short.
37. Preserve, in a way: CURE. Five ways to cure meats at home. Not good for people on low-sodium diets however:
|
| Salami |
40. Desktop since 1998: IMAC. The iMac G3, originally released as the iMac, is a series of Macintosh personal computers sold by Apple Computer from 1998 to 2003.
|
|
iMac G3 |
41. Leaves in the library: PAGES. We have a Kindle, but I don't use it much. Perhaps because I read mostly non-fiction, I find real books much easier to navigate and search, and I frequently thumb back to the index. Hand up if you prefer real books?
42. Work long and hard: TOIL.
43. NPR's Tiny __ Concerts: DESK. Tiny Desk Concerts is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. Not all of them are available on YouTube. This one is, and it features 3 short works performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra. The first two are by Maurice Ravel and the last is an original work by one of the performers. The playlist is in the first YouTube comment:
44. "Watchmen" comic book writer Moore: ALAN. The characters in the series are a part of the DC Comics Universe that we visited a few weeks back.
|
| Watchmen |
46. Jumps in: ENTERS.
48. Torah teacher: RABBI. The word RABBI originates from the Hebrew meaning "teacher." The term has evolved over Jewish history to include many roles and meanings. Today it usually refers to those who have received rabbinical ordination and are educated in matters of halacha (Jewish law). They are the ones knowledgeable enough to answer halachic questions. Most countries have a chief rabbi they rely on to settle halachic disputes
50. "Darn it!": NUTS.
52. Generous: LIBERAL. I don't think we can infer from this clue/fill an antonym of "Stingy: CONSERVATIVE".
56. "Fire away": ASK. Anything!
59. Fighting chance?: BOUT. You have to fight to win or lose.
61. Rio Grande city: LAREDO. Something very sad happened there long ago ...
65. Sign to take out the trash: ODOR.
66. Perrier rival: EVIAN.
67. Shallowest Great Lake: ERIE. For some reason I get the chills every time this appears in a crossword puzzle.
68. Euro forerunners: LIRE. It's still the currency of Turkey.
69. Dry runs: TESTS. I used to do laboratory TESTS, but most of them involved liquids.
70. Rip to bits: REND.
71. Unimprovable place: EDEN. It had its faults methinks.
Down:
1. One without a permanent address: NOMAD. By one estimate is that there are approximately 89,000,000 of them worldwide.
2. One end of the Chicago L's Blue Line: O'HARE.
3. Soprano dubbed "America's Queen of Opera" by Time magazine: SILLS. Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929 – July 2, 2007), (nicknamed "Bubbles"!), was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s and was especially renowned for her performances in coloratura roles in live opera and recordings. Here she plays party girl Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata, singing Sempre Libere ("Always Free"):
5. Missing: ABSENT.
6. Server of Duff beer in Springfield: MOE. MOE's, the place where everybody knows your name ...
7. Polo brand: IZOD. Their logo is a little creepy too, although it doesn't surface here as often as that erie lake.
8. Turns in a bad way: SOURS. This usually doesn't turn out so bad, but that doesn't mean its good for you ...
9. Panda fare: BAMBOO. BAMBOO forests in China are in decline, and because they are such picky eaters, so are PANDAS.
10. __ Dhabi: ABU. The capital of the United Arab Emirates.
11. Tabula __: RASA. More LATIN: "Clean slate". And also a tenet of some philosophies.
12. Makeup kit item: Q-TIP.
13. Offshoot group: SECT. For some reason I always thought that the Mennonites, being more LIBERAL were an offshoot of the Amish, who were more CONSERVATIVE. It turns out to have been the other way around.
19. Runs out: LAPSES. Not to worry. Eventually this review will LAPSE.
21. Clutter-free: NEAT. Here's a tip from Teri's favorite NEATNESS maven the "Minimal Mom", entitled 3 Bins That Will Transform Your Home:
25. Tattoo alternative for the squeamish: DECAL. HENNA didn't perp.
29. Rock candy, essentially: SUGAR.
31. "Iliad" city: TROY. Myth has it that the cause of the Trojan War was The Judgement of Paris, which has a tie in to 47D.
32. Heavy downpour?: HAIL.
33. Purnell of "Yellowjackets": ELLA. A Showtime series which premiered in 2021. A fictional account of a team of New Jersey high school soccer players traveling to Seattle for a national tournament. While flying over Canada, their plane crashes deep in the wilderness and the remaining team members are left to survive for nineteen months. The series chronicles their attempts to survive while also tracking their current lives in 2021.
34. Laundry detergent in an orange container: TIDE.
35. "That's so true!": AMEN.
36. Playbill list: CAST.
38. Kidney related: RENAL.
41. Church leader: PASTOR. The Christian equivalent of 48A.
45. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" pop group: ABBA.
47. Flemish artist Peter Paul __: RUBENS. Sir Peter Paul Rubens (/ˈruːbənz/; Dutch: [ˈrybə(n)s]; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Two of his most famous paintings depict The Judgement of Paris, which as we saw in 31D was one of the causes of the Trojan War. Here is the first:
49. Sent an invoice to: BILLED.
51. Splendid: SUPER.
53. Made over: REDID.
54. Put on a pedestal: ADORE.
55. Actress Sophia: LOREN. Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren (/ləˈrɛn/ lə-REN, Italian: [ˈlɔːren]), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood cinema.
56. Stand watch for, say: ABET.
57. Squirrel away: SAVE. The clue phrase is derived from the propensity of squirrels to SAVE acorns for the winter months. A lot of people find them cute, but as they can easily get over a garden fence to take bites out of your ripening tomatoes I think of them more as bushy tailed rats.
58. Kardashian matriarch: KRIS. Kristen Mary Jenner (née Houghton /ˈhoʊtən/ HOH-tən, formerly Kardashian;
born November 5, 1955) is an American media personality, socialite, and
businesswoman. She rose to fame starring in the reality television
series Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–2021).
60. Moved fast: TORE.
63. Carlsbad Caverns dweller: BAT.
64. "In the Heights" creator __-Manuel Miranda: LIN. In the Heights is a musical with concept, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story is set over the course of three days, involving characters in the largely Dominican American neighborhood of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It has also been made into a movie.
Cheers,
Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism. And thanks for her more than minimal effort in explaining clue 21D.
waseeley
Dr Ed Sessa, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle,
its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below. We'd love to hear from you. And welcome back!
6. Server of Duff beer in Springfield: MOE. MOE's, the place where everybody knows your name ...
7. Polo brand: IZOD. Their logo is a little creepy too, although it doesn't surface here as often as that erie lake.
8. Turns in a bad way: SOURS. This usually doesn't turn out so bad, but that doesn't mean its good for you ...
 |
| Whiskey Sour |
9. Panda fare: BAMBOO. BAMBOO forests in China are in decline, and because they are such picky eaters, so are PANDAS.
10. __ Dhabi: ABU. The capital of the United Arab Emirates.
 |
| Abu Dhabi |
12. Makeup kit item: Q-TIP.
13. Offshoot group: SECT. For some reason I always thought that the Mennonites, being more LIBERAL were an offshoot of the Amish, who were more CONSERVATIVE. It turns out to have been the other way around.
19. Runs out: LAPSES. Not to worry. Eventually this review will LAPSE.
21. Clutter-free: NEAT. Here's a tip from Teri's favorite NEATNESS maven the "Minimal Mom", entitled 3 Bins That Will Transform Your Home:
25. Tattoo alternative for the squeamish: DECAL. HENNA didn't perp.
29. Rock candy, essentially: SUGAR.
31. "Iliad" city: TROY. Myth has it that the cause of the Trojan War was The Judgement of Paris, which has a tie in to 47D.
32. Heavy downpour?: HAIL.
33. Purnell of "Yellowjackets": ELLA. A Showtime series which premiered in 2021. A fictional account of a team of New Jersey high school soccer players traveling to Seattle for a national tournament. While flying over Canada, their plane crashes deep in the wilderness and the remaining team members are left to survive for nineteen months. The series chronicles their attempts to survive while also tracking their current lives in 2021.
 |
| Ella Purnell |
34. Laundry detergent in an orange container: TIDE.
35. "That's so true!": AMEN.
38. Kidney related: RENAL.
41. Church leader: PASTOR. The Christian equivalent of 48A.
45. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" pop group: ABBA.
47. Flemish artist Peter Paul __: RUBENS. Sir Peter Paul Rubens (/ˈruːbənz/; Dutch: [ˈrybə(n)s]; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Two of his most famous paintings depict The Judgement of Paris, which as we saw in 31D was one of the causes of the Trojan War. Here is the first:
 |
| The Judgement of Paris Peter Paul Rubens 1636 |
49. Sent an invoice to: BILLED.
51. Splendid: SUPER.
53. Made over: REDID.
54. Put on a pedestal: ADORE.
55. Actress Sophia: LOREN. Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren (/ləˈrɛn/ lə-REN, Italian: [ˈlɔːren]), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood cinema.
 |
| Sophia Loren |
57. Squirrel away: SAVE. The clue phrase is derived from the propensity of squirrels to SAVE acorns for the winter months. A lot of people find them cute, but as they can easily get over a garden fence to take bites out of your ripening tomatoes I think of them more as bushy tailed rats.
 |
| Eastern Gray Squirrel |
 |
| Kris Jenner |
63. Carlsbad Caverns dweller: BAT.
64. "In the Heights" creator __-Manuel Miranda: LIN. In the Heights is a musical with concept, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story is set over the course of three days, involving characters in the largely Dominican American neighborhood of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It has also been made into a movie.
Cheers,
Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism. And thanks for her more than minimal effort in explaining clue 21D.
waseeley
