Sunday March 5, 2023 Pam Klawitter

Theme:  "Moving In" - On is switched into ING, changing spelling as needed.

24. Task for the caregivers of a Trojan War hero?: ACHILLES TENDING. Achilles tendon.

36. Method of preserving souvenir tops?: T-SHIRT CANNING. T-shirt cannon.

51. Activity in a Toronto pastry shop?: CANADIAN BAKING. Canadian bacon.

65. Tall tales about one's climbing experience?: MOUNTAIN LYING. Mountain lion.

84. Greeting that may come with barks and licks?: WELCOME WAGGING. Welcome wagon.

95. Rodent who's really angry he missed the migration?: BITTER LEMMING. Bitter lemon.

114. Good-natured fun leading up to an election?: CAMPAIGN RIBBING. Campaign ribbon.

I don't quite get the title. When I first read the title, I thought IN in the first word is moved into the second word. 

In case you missed, here's an interview of today's constructor Pam Klawitter, who also makes puzzles for the Daily POP Crosswords, edited by Patti also.

Across:

1. Performs an operation, in a way: ADDS. Math operation.

5. "One Kiss" singer __ Lipa: DUA. Meaning "love" in Albanian.

8. Southwestern building block: ADOBE.

13. Buzzing cloud: SWARM.

18. Sans-__: font style: SERIF.

20. Liberty Mutual's industry: Abbr.: INS. Due to the puzzle title, this is clued as insurance-related.

21. Toyota's luxury division: LEXUS.

22. Common newspaper name: TIMES. China's English newspaper Global Times is controlled by the government.

23. Saudi neighbor: OMANI.

27. __ optics: FIBER.

28. Tolkien saga, briefly: LOTR. The Lord of the Rings.

29. Forbes rival: INC.

30. Vitamin C source: CITRUS. These are called yuzu. I have a tiny tube of hand cream with yuzu in. Smells amazing.

31. Chicago business district: THE LOOP.

34. Bootleg booze: HOOCH.

42. March on Washington fig.: MLK.

43. Split __ soup: PEA.

46. Most candid: OPENEST.

47. Iris covering: CORNEA.

49. Bring in: EARN.

50. Lead: GUIDE.

55. Ethiopian capital: ADDIS ABABA. Means "new flower"  in Amharic, the official Ethiopian language. We also have 101. Horn of Africa nation: SOMALIA.

58. Aliens, for short: ETS.

59. Certain lamp resident: GENIE.

60. "Breathe Me" singer: SIA.

61. Fuel-efficient bikes: MOPEDS.

63. Bertie played by Hugh Laurie: WOOSTER.

69. Many an episode of "This Is Us," e.g.: SOB FEST.

73. Kir __: French cocktail: ROYALE.

74. Naughty: BAD.

77. To no __: in vain: AVAIL.

78. Tallahassee sch.: FSU.

81. "Some Like It Hot" co-star: TONY CURTIS. I think Marilyn Monroe was the most beautiful woman in the world. Don't you agree?

88. Dry Italian wine: SOAVE.

89. __ Major: URSA.

90. "Let's go, amigos!": ANDALE.

91. Concession speech deliverer: ALSO-RAN.

93. School org.: PTA.

94. __ drop: MIC.

99. Rizzo of "Midnight Cowboy": RATSO.

102. Tubman of Judy Blume's "Fudge" series: SHEILA.

105. SUV stat: MPG.

108. Taylor Swift's "Look What You __ Me Do": MADE.

109. Genius Bar tablets: IPADS.

117. Gymnast Comaneci: NADIA.

118. On, as an alarm: ARMED.

119. Garlicky mayonnaise: AIOLI. Never had this.

120. "Da 5 Bloods" director Spike: LEE.

121. Serengeti grazer: ELAND.

122. John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen __": MEANY.

123. Painter Picasso: PABLO.

124. AARP folks: SRS.

125. Hook's sidekick: SMEE.

Down:

1. Starting from: AS OF.

2. __-glace: rich sauce: DEMI. Steve would have told you more about this.

3. Dull: DRAB.

4. Trigonometry function: SINE.

5. Cockney, e.g.: DIALECT.

6. 7UP nickname, with "the": UNCOLA.

7. Kutcher of "Jobs": ASHTON.

8. Tide alternative: ALL.

9. Sub station?: DELI. 25. Pressing need?: IRON. Good old clues. 

10. Team members: OXEN.

11. Anheuser-__: BUSCH.

12. Abbr. on some cornerstones: EST.

13. Christmas Eve visitor, familiarly: ST NICK.

14. Shoe measurement: WIDTH.

15. Boy in "The Kite Runner": AMIR.

16. Eye care brand: RENU.

17. Inbox fillers: Abbr.: MSGS. Messages.

19. Some evergreens: FIR TREES.

26. Big name in water purification: ECOLAB.

32. Growth chart nos.: HTS. Heights.

33. Printing measure: PICA.

35. Portent: OMEN.

36. Wardrobe item on HBO's "Rome": TOGA.

37. Taters: SPUDS.

38. Klum of "Making the Cut": HEIDI.

39. Setting of the 2022 film "RRR": INDIA. I love this clue angle. "RRR" is a huge hit. Most expensive Indian film ever made.

40. Lymph __: NODE.

41. Fortitude: GRIT.

43. Smock stain: PAINT.

44. Bert's BFF: ERNIE.

45. Tick off: ANGER.

48. "Illmatic" rapper: NAS.

49. Just scrapes (by): EKES.

51. Crunch's rank: CAP'N.

52. Disable the security system for, say: ABET.

53. Zilch: NADA.

54. Eagerly expectant: AGOG.

56. "Famous" cookie-maker: AMOS.

57. Ring match: BOUT. Boxing ring.

62. Polite address: SIR.

63. Artful: WILY.

64. Two Grants: ONE C.

65. Ten-time NBA All-Star Anthony, to fans: MELO. Now with the Lakers.

66. "Me? Never!": NOT I.

67. Fourvière locale: LYON. Known for this basilica.

68. Yin counterpart: YANG. Lesley just had Ba Huo Guan (cupping) two days ago. See below. She told me she had too much "Yin" inside her. Cupping is quite popular now. Even Gwyneth Paltrow tried it.

69. Escorted to the penthouse, say: SAW UP.

70. For all to see: OVERT.

71. Light wood: BALSA.

72. Pay stub abbr.: FICA.

74. Witch craft?: BROOM. Love this clue.

75. Arcade pioneer: ATARI.

76. Lounge piece: DIVAN.

78. Subject line abbr.: FWD.

79. Old car from Sweden: SAAB.

80. Fruit that's not so cute: UGLI. Do you guys like cranberry walnut bread? Sometimes they put orange peels inside. Ruins the whole thing for me.

82. Ship sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898: USS MAINE.

83. Hong Kong's Hang __ Index: SENG. Often abbreviated as HSI, like our DOW.

85. Tiki bar drink: MAI TAI.

86. RSVP cards, often: ENCS.

87. Sees: GETS.

91. Asserts without proof: ALLEGES.

92. Plumeria garland: LEI.

94. Illness: MALADY.

96. "Lara Croft: __ Raider": TOMB.

97. Inbox fillers: EMAILS.

98. Original "SNL" cast member Gilda: RADNER.

99. Turn red, say: RIPEN.

100. __ vincit amor: OMNIA. Reads like "everything conquers love".

102. Car warranty call, usually: SCAM.

103. Fabled loser: HARE.

104. Watson of "Little Women": EMMA.

106. "No __": "Piece of cake": PROB.

107. Fish organ: GILL. I finally tried Caribbean jerk salmon yesterday. It's not bad. I still prefer soy sauce/honey combo.

110. BFFs: PALS.

111. Singer Lambert: ADAM.

112. Have a meal: DINE.

113. "Soldier of Love" singer: SADE.

115. Space: GAP.

116. "About Me" info: BIO.

 

Malcolm, a regular blog reader and friend of Fermatprime (Lorraine), sent me below picture and note. Lorraine used to comment on our blog regularly. She does not solve LAT crosswords these days. Malcolm said she plays Word Solitaire every day and almost always gets the max possible score.

This is from the Techer, a Caltech Alumni Magazine, Spring 2023. A FULL-page photo. It sits by itself but seems to be associated with an article called Groundbreakers which is about the first women to earn bachelor’s degrees at Caltech.

C.C.

Saturday, March 4, 2023, Rafael Musa and Michael Lieberman

 Themeless Saturday by Rafael Musa and Michael Lieberman

I had Rafael's initial LA Times submission last month where he told us he got into constructing because he read that someone had solved a NYT puzzle in under 10 minutes. He set that as a goal and when he reached it, he started submitting. 

Mike Lieberman is a litigation partner in Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focuses on Supreme Court and appellate litigation. 

This is one of those puzzles where I seemed to be on the same wavelength as the two constructors. I did have an issue at REDDITAM_S and RECENCY BI_S but both lent themselves to minimal sussing (explained below) and I took a well-deserved "got 'er done" out of petty cash.

Across:

1. Ice __: BATH - Some trainers believe this really accelerates healing and soreness

5. Ebullience: PEP - Not JOY

8. Helps with checking out, maybe: BAGS - Paper BAGS are making a comeback

12. Calculus calculation: AREA - For us math peeps: calculus can be used to determine the AREA under a curve as the sum of the AREA of rectangles added together gets infinitely close to the actual AREA as the rectangles get infinitely narrower. 

13. Internal revolution: PALACE COUP - "Beware the Ides Of March!" 

16. Approach: NEAR.

17. Fitness revolutions: ARM CIRCLES which might be done wearing 18. Joggers: GYM PANTS

20. Low-quality: CRUDDY.

21. "Mamma Mia!" song with the lyric "The love you gave me, nothing else can save me": SOS - Any day is better with ABBA in it

22. Mystery writer Josephine: TEY - I had no, uh, clue about mystery writer Josephine

23. Beams: RAYS.

24. Filled in: UP TO SPEED.

27. Infinitive with a circumflex: ETRE - Comment peut-on déjà ÊTRE en mars? (How can it be March already?)

31. __ pear: ASIAN -  The Kimmel Orchards in Nebraska City have many of these trees but you have to get there on the right day as they get picked quickly

32. Penguin hunters: ORCAS.

34. Utter nonsense: ROT.

35. Rush: SURGE.

36. Underground rock?: ORE that can turn into 10. Like some expensive bars: GOLD.

Gold ORE

37. Uses a collection box, say: MAILS - While the use of paper bags is going up, the use of these is going down

39. "Pressure" singer Lennox: ARI - Her picture and the lyrics

40. Nurse: SIP ON.

42. Be relevant: APPLY - "The fundamental things APPLY, As Time Goes By."

"You played it for her, 
You can play it for me."

43. Dependents that can't be claimed as tax deductions: PETS - We can't even deduct Lily's houses and perches, but that's okay with us. 

45. Little League game ender, perhaps: MERCY RULE - This game was over in 3 1/2 innings

47. Locks: HAIR.

49. Still: YET.

50. Big time: ERA - My mom loved The Big Band ERA

52. Garment traditionally worn with a kebaya: SARONG - The kebayas are the tops worn with these SARONGS. Yeah, I knew that and didn't use all the perps! 😏

55. Court luminaries: NBA STARS.

57. Not set: UP IN THE AIR.

59. Plot line: AXIS.

60. Some online tell-all sessions: REDDIT AMAS - We've seen the website REDDIT that features AMAS (Ask Me AnythingS) in our puzzles

61. Actress Russo: RENE - I really liked some of her movies but she, Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones were a big draw to this "worst movie I ever spent money on" (4% on Rotten Tomatoes).

62. Red and Coral, but not pink: SEAS.

63. Low-__: RES 7. __-Man: PAC - On my Apple IIe 

64. Reindeer kin: ELKS.

Down:

1. Loud reports: BANGS.

2. "Final answer?": ARE YOU SURE?

3. Pride of Lions, e.g.: TEAM SPIRIT.

4. Guinness logo: HARP.

5. One who makes everyone get down on the dance floor?: PARTY POOPER 😀

6. Many Central Park trees: ELMS.

8. Juicy fruit: BERRY.

9. Impeach: ACCUSE.

11. Sought redress: SUED.

13. Glazier supply: PANES - Here they're using suction to move a big PANE

14. Summer bug: CICADA - Their song is a sign of late summer around here

15. Humanities subj.: PSY.

19. Does penance (for): ATONES.

23. Tendency to rely on short-term memory: RECENCY BIAS - Some juries can be more swayed by the last closing argument they hear

25. Label: TAG and 55. Moniker: NAME.

26. Catcher's interference, for one: ERROR.

28. Skating feat first performed in competition by Vern Taylor: TRIPLE AXEL - From 44 years ago. It wasn't perfect but it was the first one.

29. Derby place: ROLLER RINK - A different skating activity

30. Site of creation?: ETSY - A popular website for puzzle fill

31. "Need this rn": ASAP.

33. Brains: SMARTS - Poor Fredo

38. "The Problem With __": "The Simpsons" documentary: APU - about Indian stereotypes 

41. "We'll see": I MIGHT.

44. Writer/producer Rhimes: SHONDA - Some of her work

46. What dates may end with: YEARS - When I was in the hospital recently, I was asked my date of birth very often and had to rattle it off (9/11/46) over and over

48. Naysayers: ANTIS.

51. Donkeys: ASSES.

52. Big follower in California?: SUR - The Pacific Coast Highway runs through here

53. Primatology focus: APES.

54. Lift: RIDE.

56. Discount when buying some foods?: TARE - A great explanation

58. Eustachian tube locale: EAR.