L.A.Times Crossword Corner

Feb 24, 2024

Saturday, February 24, 2024, Guilherme Gilioli

Saturday Themeless by Guilherme Gilioli

Guilherme is from Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil which is 930 miles SW of Rio de Janeiro as you can see on the map.says, "Mostly I create crosswords in Portuguese for magazines and my personal website, but lately I've been trying to create puzzles in English and it's going pretty good, learning a lot."

This grid is very striking with 12, 13 and 14 stair-stepped cells at the top and mirrored at the bottom. I struggled mightily, finished the bottom first and then the top after taking some educated guesses.

Across:

1. "If memory serves ... ": LAST I CHECKED.

13. Particles in the Fermi theory of beta decay: ANTI NEUTRINOS - If you're really that interested - This filled in pretty easily for this physics guy.

15. Rent, pension, etc.: UNEARNED INCOME. It's still taxable.

17. "There's no wrong way to eat a __": candy tagline: REESES.

18. Madness, e.g.: SKA BAND - Uber obscure fill for a common word

20. Bandmate of Dizzy and Duff: AXL - Saturday cluing for AXL Rose of Guns n Roses who is in the middle below. I have no idea who the other two are but they must be in this picture somewhere.

21. Functions: USES - How many can you count?

24. Comedian Radner: GILDA - Part of the SNL Not Ready For Prime Time Players. One iteration is below: Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, John Belushi, Larraine Newman, Dan Aykroyd, GILDA Radner and Bill Murray.

25. Nectar eaters: WASPS.

27. Skinned: PEELED - Softball is played on a skinned infield where the grass has been PEELED off.

28. Prep for a bout: SPAR.

30. Actress Jessica: ALBA - Ms. ALBA is on our crossword marquee frequently

32. N-everlasting thing: FAD - N has become slang for no, not, etc. FADS are certainly not everlasting.

33. Ishikawa __: visual component of root-cause analysis: DIAGRAM - Okay....

35. "Come again?": I'M SORRY.

38. __ Souls College, Oxford: ALL.

39. Shortly, shortly: ASAP.

41. Vegan-friendly organic brand: AMY'S.

42. Responds to 52-Across: REACTS.

45. Durable garb: JEANS.

47. Forest moon where C-3PO was worshipped as a god: ENDOR.

48. Pub pals: LADS.

49. Walks, in stats: BBS - "A walk's (Base On Balls) as good as a hit"

52. Cues: STIMULI - Natural STIMULI are telling many thousands of Sandhill Cranes to return to the Platte River in Central Nebraska this time of year as a stop on their migration north.

54. Straight: IN A ROW.

57. "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Noodles," for one: MNEMONIC DEVICE - ...My Very Excellent Mother Served Us Nine Pizzas had to be edited when Pluto was demoted.

60. Star quality: STAGE PRESENCE.

61. Comfortable: ON EASY STREET.

Down:

1. "The Glass Menagerie" girl: LAURA - Laura Wingfield, the withdrawn high school dropout who passes her days listening to old phonograph records and caring for her collection of glass animals while the world closes in around her.

2. Add-on: ANNEX.

3. __ drum: STEEL

4. Mulheres da família: TIAS - Our Brazilian constructor gives us the Brazilian words for women as a clue and TIAS for aunts as fill.

5. About: IN RE.

6. 2030 event: CENSUS - Article 1 Section 2 of The American Constitution

7. Peach or plum: HUE.

8. Weather-sensitive fig.: ETD - Changing ETA to ETD was my last fill.

9. "Mindfreak" magician Angel: CRISS.

"Levitating" on the beach

10. Idiosyncrasy: KINK.

11. Put behind bars: ENCAGE.

12. The __ Brothers: "Listen to the Music" band: DOOBIE - A great musical interlude

14. Shaver: SMALL FRY - The fish version

Stocking a lake with
SMALL FRY

16. Creates a soft spot?: ENDEARS.

19. Pops: DADDY In Japan it is 36. Japanese title of respect: SAN - Papa SAN

22. Abuses an email list, say: SPAMS.

23. Continuing ed course: ESL.

25. Go to and fro: WAG.

26. Flight board abbr.: ARRivals

27. Muñoz Ryan who wrote the Newbery Honor Book "Echo": PAM.

28. Part of 57-Across: SILENT M - Mnemonics

29. Legendary attendants of Charlemagne: PALADINS - Yeah, I thought of this too.

31. Yeti, e.g.: BIPED - Not the first characteristic I think of.

33. Doesn't want the truth, say: DARES - Game

34. Juice sources?: AA'S 😀

37. Chanting sounds: OMS.

40. 2023 WNBA Finals MVP Wilson: AJA.

43. Arrive at: COME TO.

44. Pulitzer-winning McCullough presidential biography: TRUMAN - It's on one of my, uh, shelfs.

46. Muttered remarks: ASIDES - Ferris Bueller's ASIDES broke the fourth wall quite often during his Day Off.

48. Form opener: LINE A.

49. Preservative: BRINE - The basic ingredients are water, vinegar, sugar and salt.

50. Bowling game: BOCCE.

51. "Cool!": SWEET.

53. Seating level: LOGE - If you want to see Hamilton in Atlanta tonight, here is what the LOGE seat below will set you back.

55. Shape of a baklava, sometimes: NEST.

56. Profess: AVER.

58. IDs of PCs: IPS - The IDentificationS of Personal ComputerS are their Internet ProtocolS.

59. Let it out, in a way: CRY.

Here are some Shelfies submitted by our Corner Friends

Notes from C.C.:

Voting is now open until March 1 for the 12^th ORCA Awards – the annual celebration of creativity in crosswords! Winners will be announced on March 6 during a livestream filled with games and prizes. Five long-time solvers will receive special awards. For each day of their streak, solvers can receive a chance to win crossword memorabilia inscribed to them and signed by Will Shortz. Need not be present to win. Details and voting info can be found at Diary of a Crossword Fiend.

Feb 23, 2024

Friday, February 23, 2024, Blake Slonecker

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with today's recap of a puzzle constructed by veteran puzzle-setter Blake Slonecker. Today's theme is straightforward so let's jump right in with the unifier which has been conveniently placed in the middle of the grid:

39 Across: Camera setting, and what shortened 18-, 24-, 47-, and 58-Across?: F - STOP. At the four referenced places, Blake has dropped the F (not dropped the F bomb, just the letter F) in order to answer the clues, and provide us with a few chuckles here, here, here and here:

Enough, F, Stop!

18 Across: Pollinator who can't fly?: GROUND BEE. Where's the BEEF?

24 Across: Parents in the Hundred Acre Wood?: RAISES THE ROO. Parents is used as a verb in the clue. Kanga is a single mom. When ROO misbehaves Kanaga idiomatically RAISES THE ROOF.

Roo and Kanga

47 Across: Product of Shenandoah Valley shepherds?: VIRGINIA WOOL. Who's afraid?

58 Across: Experimental soft cheese?: TRIAL BRIE. A TRIAL BRIEF is a legal document presented to the court. It is intended to provide the court with the presentation of facts, evidence and legal arguments. A TRIAL BRIE might provide an introduction for someone who has yet to develop a taste for soft cheeses.

Here is how this all looks in the grid:

...and here are the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Tries out: DEMOS. Hand up for initially trying out TESTS.

6. Nosegay: POSY. As in "Ring Around The Rosie".

10. Pod whose cross sections are pentagonal: OKRA.

14. Skip a syllable or two: ELIDE.

15. Until: UP TO.

16. "Stay" singer Lisa: LOEB. I searched for a Leopold and (Lisa) LOEB mash up but could not find one.

17. __ Cup: PGA Tour prize: FEDEX. A golfing reference. Both Professional Golfers' Association and FEDeral EXpress have been abbreviated. Although, those abbreviations are now used far more often than are the full names.

20. Middle of dinner?: ENS. We have seen this type of clue before. There are two N's in the middle of dinner. If Blake had needed DEES, here, would he have gone with "Middle of middle"?

21. Perfect: IDEAL.

23. "Island of the Blue Dolphins" novelist Scott: O'DELL.

27. Joie de vivre: ZEST. A French phrase (in English, Joy of Living) fully co-opted by English speakers.

28. Emo: ANGSTY. Slangy clue/answer combo.

32. Storage furniture: CHEST.

34. Prize money: PURSE. Commonly used this way in the world of professional boxing and in professional golf.

37. Sphere in old referee whistles: PEA. Before they developed synthetic orbs they used real PEAs.

38. A pop: EACH.

40. Otter kin: MINK. A relationship that is a bit of a crossword standard.

41. Durango day: DIA. Today's Spanish lesson.

42. Apt rhyme for "freeze": SEIZE. As in SEIZE-up.

43. Well-mannered blokes: GENTS. It is relatively easy to convince ladies not to eat Tide pods but it is more difficult to deter GENTS.

44. Goofs in proofs: ERRATA. What do you call a list of corrections read out in a suggestive fashion? ERRATA - CA.

46. Tromp: PLOD.

53. Bird in a bevy: QUAIL. A group of QUAIL is called a bevy.

56. Hot spots: OVENS. Not a WiFi reference.

57. Signal: CUE. Both can be employed as either verbs or nouns.

60. Glossy material: SATIN. Like most chairs?

62. 55-Down, properly: ISN'T. See also 55 Down. Duh, MM.

63. Like most whiskey: AGED. This 36-year-old whisky can be yours for about five or six thousand dollars. Let me know and I will send you a link if I can still (pun intended, See 42 Down) find it in my trash file).

64. Heart Eyes or OK Hand: EMOJI.

65. Fancy spread: PATE. To make chicken PATE one has to first de-liver the chicken.

66. Fool (with): MESS.

67. Wrap sheet: SARAN. The following, from the mid-60's, might be deemed NSFW:

Down:

1. Schedule for later: DEFER.

2. Two-time WNBA MVP __ Delle Donne: ELENA.

3. Many a sedan: MID-SIZE CAR.

4. Amit Majmudar's "__ to a Drone": ODE. I was not familiar with this work. I have now searched for it online, found it, read it a couple of times and .... well, make your own judgement:

Ode to A Drone

5. People's superlative: SEXIEST. A reference to People Magazine. The honorific of SEXIEST Man Alive is awarded annually to a male but the magazine awards Most Beautiful Woman Alive in lieu of SEXIEST.

6. Sound of the Northwest: PUGET.

7. O icon: OPRAH. OPRAH Winfrey of, among many other things, O Magazine.

8. Took second, say: STOLE. A baseball reference.

9. Second person: YOU. Not an Adam and Eve reference. A grammar reference.

10. One whose trick-learning years are behind them: OLD DOG.