Saturday, December 24, 2022, Juliana Tringali Golden and Kate Chin Park

 Saturday Themeless by Juliana Tringali Golden and Kate Chin Park

Juliana is an editor and mom in Oakland, California. Her puzzles have appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, AVCX, the Inkubator, and elsewhere, and she writes a puzzle every Tuesday for Vox.com. You can find her on Twitter @julianatringali. Juliana told me, I actually met Kate when I reached out to her about a puzzle. It was something she'd posted on her site, and Will Nediger called it out on one of his best-of lists. I asked her if she'd like to collaborate sometime, and our work on this themeless began! Since we both live in Oakland, we did manage to meet up with other local constructors this spring. Hopefully we'll do it again soon!

Kate Chin Park has had puzzles in most major newspapers, indie venues such as the Incubator and AVCX, the Boswords and Lollapuzzoola tournaments. She published east midi-sized puzzles one a week at CrosswordClub.com. She lives in Oakland California, with her partner and their "hostile-to-everyone-else cat" (see picture at the bottom of the write-up.) In previous write-ups, we also learned that Kate builds amazing furniture

 

A fun Christmas Eve puzzle by two talented constructors. I hope all of you have been nice and not naughty. This fire looks mighty nice out here on the frozen plains!

Across:

1. Confines, theatrically: TYPECASTS - George Reeve suffered that.

10. Tech site with a "track prices" browser plug-in: CNET.

14. Rank and file: HOI POLLOI - 58 synonyms

15. Give up: WAIVE.

16. "I'm sunk!": ALL IS LOST and 36. Back on board: AFT - The AFT went down last @2:19 below

17. Snoring cause: APNEA.

18. Misery: WOE.

19. Both parents, in some families: MOMS - My neighbor's grandson has two lovely MOMS

20. Heist series title word: OCEANS - The one with "The Rat Pack" started it all

21. "Let me have it": DO YOUR WORST.

23. Plot: PLAN - 26. Father: SIRE - Both sets could be nouns or verbs

25. "A plateau is the highest form of flattery," e.g.: PUN.

28. Chess player Krush who is the only American woman Grandmaster: IRINA.

29. Enviable trait: ASSET.

31. "Wipe your paws" spot: MAT.

32. Turn to: CONSULT.

34. Stands to take a picture?: TRIPODS - Stands is a noun not a verb here. Even for my iPhone:

37. Meryl's "Mary Poppins Returns" role: TOPSY - Emily Blunt plays Mary Poppins and Meryl Streep plays a minor role as Mary's cousin TOPSY.

39. State capital?: MONEY - In Italy it used to be LIRA but now it's Euros 

40. Old Italian 39-Across: LIRA - This 500,000 LIRE note would convert to about 276 Euros 

42. Trojan leader?: TAU -  A Trojan (citizen of Troy) is Τρωός in Greek with TAU being the first (leading) letter

43. Scrapes (by): EKES.

44. Doll featured in many unboxing videos on YouTube: LOL SURPRISE - Open it up and see what you've got. New to me!

48. "We're dying to know!": TELL US.

49. Grandly appointed: POSH.

50. Zoom appt.: MTG - I saved $3,200 on my new hearing aids and talked to a nice guy named Bob via a Zoom MTG and he adjusted them for me online.

53. "Perfect!": A-PLUS.

54. Eucalyptus lover, familiarly: KOALA BEAR.

56. Stadium strata: TIERS.

57. Tragic dancer of French literature: ESMERALDA.

58. One could be a lot: ACRE - Oh, a building lot.

59. Film starring Himesh Patel as the only person in the world who remembers the Beatles: YESTERDAY - A lovely movie with a wonderful premise and the music, hey, it's the Beatles 

Down:

1. Soften: THAW.

2. "No regrets" initialism: YOLO - I didn't ride a big roller coaster until I was 53 and You Only Live Once.

3. Nap on a carpet, e.g.: PILE.

4. Prefix with -phenomenalism: EPI - Here ya go

5. Explorer trained at the Gagarin Center in Star City: COSMONAUT - It's named for COSMONAUT Yuri Gagarin, the Russian who was the first man in space. Yeah, it was a gimme for this NASA guy.

6. Metallic mixture: ALLOY.

7. Replay tech: SLO-MO - The SLO-MO shows the Tennessee player fumbled before the ball crossed the goal line.

8. Tough calls: TOSS UPS.

9. Go unused: SIT.

10. Piccata need: CAPERS  - Capers are the immature, unripened, green flower buds of the caperbush

11. Singer who said, "Sometimes I sound like gravel, and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream": NINA SIMONE - A sample

12. Foundation of a barter system: EVEN TRADES 

13. Oolong and pu-erh: TEAS - The former was easy, the latter, huh? All you want to know about pu-reh tea

A Pu-erh TEA cake

15. Home of the Baylor Bears: WACO - The Air Force played Baylor in WACO on Thursday night and it was 11⁰F. Yikes

20. Title holder: OWNER.

21. Ranks in judo: DANS - Everything you want to know

22. Out of shape: RUSTY.

23. Social image?: PROFILE PIC - Mine

24. Grooming aid that might gather dust: LINT ROLLER.

27. Site with artisan shops: ETSY - A frequent cwd visitor

28. Onetime macOS scheduling app: I-CAL.

29. Stock phrase: AT PAR - Here ya go

30. Home for the holidays?: TIMESHARE - or...

33. Flower sacred in Buddhism and Hinduism: LOTUS.

35. Dish whose name means "to slice" in Hawaiian: POKE.

38. Take as a given: SUPPOSE.

41. Draw: ALLURE - We had it yesterday as "21. Seductive quality" 

45. Root (out): SUSS - We crossworders do this all the time

46. Wanders: ROAMS.

47. Dot on a map: ISLET - The ISLET of Mauritius (way to the right (east) on this map) recently hosted a big golf tournament on one of its nine golf courses. 

48. "Cheerio!": TA TA - Do Brits even say Cheerio and TA TA any more?

50. Canasta play: MELD.

51. "See what I did there?": TADA.

52. Overcast: GRAY.

54. Solution: KEY - Here's how I made my own

55. Setting for many a joke: BAR - A physics example and 23 more

 

Speaking of kitties:

This is Ludo.
Kate's beautiful kitty. 

Friday, December 23, 2022, Lewis Rothlein

 

Good day, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here wishing everyone a Merry Xmas Eve Eve and a Happy 5th day/upcoming 6th night of Chanukah.

On that note, presenting the recently-named recipient of the 2023 Mark Twain Prize For American Humor:

Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song

Today's puzzle setter is Lewis Rothlein.  On August 13, 2022, Husker Gary recapped one of Lewis' puzzles and provided some biographical information on the author.  Here is a link to that:  13 August 2022 LAT Crossword Corner.  Lewis has also had puzzles published in that well-known east coast newspaper.

Today, Lewis plays with his words by adding an additional word to the middle of a common compound word or expression and, thereby, completely changing the original meaning.  Let's start with the reveal which does a good job of describing what is going on:

35 Across:  Pivotal element, and what each word in quotes in the starred clues literally is to its answer?: CENTERPIECE.

A CENTERPIECE usually graces a table at, say, a wedding or a company holiday party.  In this case, thought Lewis uses it as the center (as in between) point between two other words.

Here are the themed clues/answers:

17 Across:  *Begin to chase, with "off": TAKE AFTER.  If you TAKE AFTER someone you emulate them.  If you TAKE OFF AFTER someone you chase them.

24 Across:  *Try to delay, with "for": PLAY TIME.  PLAY TIME is, of course, a time for having fun.  If you PLAY FOR TIME you are stalling,

47 Across:  *Gaining prominence, with "and": UPCOMING.  An UPCOMING event will be here soon.   If you are UP AND COMING your fame and/or fortune is ascendant

55 Across:  *Do some creative accounting, with "the": COOKBOOKS.  We all love COOKBOOKS here on the Corner but if you COOK THE BOOKS you may be committing a felony.  Hi, SBF!  Did you have a good year? 

Here is how this all looks in the grid:

Across:

1. Common foundation: SLAB.  A common and cost effective way to build.  Just hope that you never need to access the plumbing embedded in the SLAB.

5. Singer in the biopic "Walk the Line": CASH.  Johnny Cash.  The title of the biopic was taken from the eponymous title of the song (written by Johnny R Cash).

9. 1980s cloning target: IBM PC.  Hand up for first thinking of DOLLY the SHEEP.  Burn those ROM.

14. Coil in a garden: HOSE.   Fortunately,  not a garden (garter) snake.

15. "The __ for home lives in all of us": Angelou: ACHE.  Not familiar with the poem but it was not too hard to suss once a perp or two kicked in.

16. Half a comedy duo: MEARA.  So many (five-letter) duos from which to choose (Chong, Lewis, Burns, Allen, etc. but the puzzle setter went with Jerry Stiller and Anne MEARA.

On The Carol Burnett Show

19. "Your table's ready" buzzer: PAGER.

20. Illuminates: EDIFIES.

21. Seductive quality: ALLURE.  The world's first great fisherman possessed something that no one before him ever had.  ALLURE.

23. One ensuring accuracy on a grand scale?: TUNER.  As in tuning a Grand Piano.

26. Vare Trophy org.: LPGA.

27. Praises: LAUDS.

29. Up to, briefly: 'TIL.  Un TIL  "Briefly" hints at truncation.

30. Start of an adage about humanity: TO ERR.

32. Solar __: SYSTEM.  PLEXUS  would have fit the allotted space.

37. Emergency signals: FLARES.

39. WWII Polish resistance hero Sendler: IRENA.  Born 15 February 1910.  Under the pretext of conducting sanitary inspections she, and others within the Social Welfare Department, smuggled food, clothing and other necessities into the Warsaw Ghetto.  She helped smuggle out residents when the liquidation of the population within the Ghetto was ordered.  She was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and sentenced to death by firing squad.  She escaped this fate because the guards escorting her were bribed and she "escaped".

Irena Sendler

40. Illuminated: LIT.  Often used to mean drunk or drugged.

41. Country roads: LANES.  Today's let's pass on the John Denver moment.

43. Coarse file: RASP.

50. Revere alternative: BY SEA.  The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere is a poem by Henry Wadswoth Longfellow.  It contains the lines:

51. Rumbled, as thunder: ROLLED.

52. Less tender: TOUGHER.

54. McCartney of Wings: LINDA.  Paul was too short (he's actually about 5'10" tall).

57. Broke off: ENDED.  I broke up with a girl once because she was having hallucinations.  She said, "I can't see you anymore."  Which was weird because I was standing right in front of her.  Then she said, "You don't understand.  I'm seeing someone else."  Which was really odd because there were just the two of us in the room.  I had to break it off after that.

58. Exhort: URGE.  

59. Layered cookie: OREO.  How do I clue thee?  Let me count the ways.

60. Torment: AGONY.  Tom Lehrer on the subject:

The Masochism Tango

61. Walked (on): TROD.

62. Laura of "Big Little Lies": DERN.

Down:

1. Type of village in Isaac Bashevis Singer stories: SHTETL.  Yiddish for town.

2. Pack, as a moving van: LOAD UP.

3. __ price: ASKING.

4. Tower of London figure: BEEFEATER.  Not, for example, the height or age of the tower,

5. Cozy eatery: CAFE.

6. Show parts: ACTS.  A part of a show.  E.G.  ACT two Scene three.

7. Pop duo __ & Him: SHE.  Unfamiliar with this duo outside of crossword puzzles.

8. Announce grandly: HERALD.  Hark the HERALD Tribune sings . . .

Mr. Lehrer, Again - A Christmas Carol

9. Intimate: IMPLY.  Not intimate (accent on the first syllable) as in close (as in near by not as in shut).  Intimate (accent on the final syllable) as in to hint at.  Isn't the English language a real . . .

10. Corker: BEAUT.

11. "The Treachery of Images" painter: MAGRITTE.  Call it art and that's what it becomes.  Rene MAGRITTE.

12. Early delivery: PREEMIE.  Natal reference, not UPS or FEDEX.

13. Wheels: CAR.  Slang.

18. Cause of inflation: AIR.  Literally, not financially.

22. Scottish girls: LASSIES.  I choose to believe in female Minotaurs. It's a lass half bull mindset.

24. Good vibrations?: PURRING.  See also 35 Down.

25. Dartboard wood: ELM.

I Didn't Know That!

27. Leaves be: LETS LIE.

28. "All bets __ off": ARE.

31. Common Scrabble tile value: ONE.

33. Nikkei index currency: YEN.  The Nikkei is Japan's equivalent of the NYSE.

34. Impressive and then some: SCARY GOOD.  This one involved some head scratching followed by an Aha! moment.

35. Tower for a pet who likes to climb and hide: CAT CONDO.

36. Not post-: PRE.   PRE means before and POST means after.  To use both at the same time would be preposterous.

37. Target of an annual vaccine: FLU.  What's the difference between the avian FLU and the swine FLU?  One requires tweetment and for the other you need oinkment.

38. Facial piercing: LIP RING

42. Scene-ending phrase: AND CUT.  Hollywood-ese.

44. Washed up, maybe: ASHORE.  Cute.  Washed Up, of course has its own meaning - to be no longer skillful or successful.  In this case washed ASHORE.

45. One on a quest: SEEKER.

46. Marrying sort?: PARSON.  I could have gone with Parson Brown from the song  "Winter Wonderland" but instead chose this John Forster song (it'll become clear with the last line):

48. Of yore: OLDEN.  What was the major activity of OLDEN day peasants?  Serfing.

49. Word said with a curtsy: M'LADY.

50. Buster: BUB.  MAC PAL BRO 

52. Like drive-thru orders: TO GO.

53. Authorized: OK'ED.

54. Place to ruminate: LEA. Not ruminate as in to turn a matter over in your mind.  Ruminate as in to chew cud, the source of the previous idiomatic use of the word.  LEA = pasture or meadow.

56. "Catch-22" pilot who crashes repeatedly: ORR.  Often clued with reference to the hockey player.  In this case, a reference to the Joseph Heller novel.

Lewis Rothlein, 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. 

That's all for today's recap.  Have a great weekend, everyone.  Happy Holidays!

Milo Minderbinder out . . .

__________________________________________________________________

Notes from C.C.:

 

Happy 78th birthday to dear Misty, who's been with our blog for over 9 years. Here is a picture of Misty and her husband Rowland celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary in 2009.