google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner

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Jun 30, 2024

Sunday, June 30, 2024, Pam Amick Klawitter

 Theme:  "Watching With the Sound Off" 

The long entries in today's puzzle are slight variations on well known movie titles.  A few letters are added to, dropped from, or changed in each title to create a "sounds like" phrase fitting the clue.  So we're looking at movies, but the SOUND is slightly OFF.

22A. Movie about one who defies authority and gets absolutely no credit for it?: REBEL WITHOUT APPLAUSE.


Rebel Without A Cause was a 1955 movie starring James Dean, adapted from psychologist Robert M. Lindner's 1944 book, Rebel Without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath.  Twenty-four year old Dean died in a car crash the same year the movie was released.


38A. Movie about life with a hockey dad?: GOAL MINDERS DAUGHTER.


Coal Miner's Daughter was a 1980 movie about the life of country singer Loretta Lynn, played by Sissy Spacek, who won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance.


55A. Movie about a major problem at a croquet tournament?: ABSENCE OF MALLETS.


Absence of Malice was a 1981 movie thriller starring Paul Newman and Sally Field.  An innocent man has been maligned in the press.  Can the reporter claim Absence of Malice as a defense to libel? Will they have to play croquet without MALLETS?


86A. Movie about playing baseball during a downpour?: SWINGIN IN THE RAIN.


Singin' in the Rain was a 1952 American musical starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. It depicts Hollywood in the late 1920s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to "talkies." Modestly successful at the time, and now critically acclaimed as one of the greatest films ever made.


98A. Movie that captures the arc of conception through the delivery room?: FROM HERE TO MATERNITY.


From Here to Eternity was a 1953 war drama based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. It follows three United States Army soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, and Frank Sinatra, stationed in Hawaii in the months leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.  It won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture.  It even dealt with issues of MATERNITY.


118A. Movie exposing the truth behind a cloning experiment?: THE SCIENCE OF THE LAMBS.



The Silence of the Lambs was a 1991 horror film adapted from Thomas Harris's 1988 novel of the same name. It stars Jodie Foster as an FBI trainee hunting a serial killer who skins his victims. She seeks advice from the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. Doesn't that sound great? It won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was the only horror film ever to win Best Picture.  I would prefer a documentary about the SCIENCE of baby animals.  The cloning of the lambs would be an interesting bit.

And now for the rest of our Sunday test:

Across:

1. Fleet: FAST.

5. Campaign bane: LEAK.

9. Crimean resort city: YALTA.  I've heard of the Yalta Conference in 1945, but never realized that Yalta is a seaside resort.

14. High poker pair: ACES.

18. R&B's India.__: ARIE.  India Arie Simpson (sometimes styled as india.arie) is an American singer and songwriter.  I am not up to date with popular music!  This rang a bell, but I needed perps.




19. Ski resort near Salt Lake City: ALTA.

20. "Inside the NBA" analyst Shaquille: ONEAL.

21. Nanny's nightmare: BRAT.

22. [Theme clue]

26. Mountain formation: MASSIF.   "Massif" comes from the French for "massive," and refers to a large mountain mass, or a compact group of mountains forming a portion of a range.  A massif results from movement of the earth's crust, and tends to be internally stable.  


The Mont Blanc Massif straddles France, Italy, and Switzerland.


27. Yearly record: ANNAL.

28. Wind dir.: ESE.  One of several possible directions for the wind! Once you have ES_, it has to be ESE.

29. "Can do": YEP.

31. Wish to take back: RUE.

33. Indigenous people of Canada: CREE.


Cree family, Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada, June 1895


35. Small scrap: TUSSLE.  Oh, that kind of scrap.  Scuffle.  Dustup.

38. [Theme clue]

44. Puts in the overhead bin: STOWS.  On Southwest Airlines, passengers vie for early boarding, not just because there are no assigned seats, but because early boarders find space to STOW their carry-on luggage overhead.

46. Section in a poetry anthology, perhaps: ODES.

47. Jenga loser: TOPPLER.  In the game Jenga, players take turns removing one block at a time from a tower constructed of 54 blocks.  If you make the tower topple, you're the loser!


Jenga Toppler


48. Pick or file: TOOL.

49. Recipe direction: STIR.

50. Soap characteristic: SCENT.

52. Surrender: YIELD.

55. [Theme clue]

59. Mentally acute: KEEN.

60. Sandwich option: RYE TOAST.

61. Indigo dye: ANIL.  Anil is a plant native to the American tropics, all the way south to Argentina.  It is a source of blue dye, especially indigo blue.

62. Paddle kin: OAR.

64. Assam export: TEA.

65. Fa follower: SOL. I'm familiar with Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, but didn't know these were from Solfège, a system of memorizing notes and sight reading music.  In the movie, The Sound of Music, the notes were:

Doe, a deer, a female deer
Ray, a drop of golden sun
Me, a name I call myself
Far, a long, long way to run
Sew, a needle pulling thread
La, a note to follow Sew
Tea, a drink with jam and bread
That will bring us back to Do


66. Spanish seasoning: SAL.  Salt.

68. Smallest Canadian prov.: PEI.  Prince Edward Island is an island province off the east coast of Canada.

70. Periodic table suffix: IUM.

72. __ and cheese: MAC.  I was searching for something fancier.

75. Recent prefix: NEO.

77. Ventimiglia of "Heroes": MILO.


Milo Ventimiglia, heartthrob of "This is Us"


79. Unexpected boons: GODSENDS.

84. Merriness: GLEE.

86. [Theme clue]

89. Bird skilled at mimicry: MYNAH.  Usually spelled Myna.


I took this photo of a Myna on the Big Island of Hawaii in 2021.


91. On and on: NO END.

92. __ Field: Queens stadium: CITI.

93. Sicilian hiking destination: ETNA.

94. Pollen holders: STAMENS.




96. Townshend of The Who: PETE.

97. Shutterbug's setting: FSTOP.

98. [Theme clue]

103. Study again: REREAD.

104. Texter's "Gimme a reason": Y NOT.

105. Confession topic: SIN.

106. Fabric store meas.: YDS.

107. Feeling queasy: ILL.

110. Bank of America's virtual assistant: ERICA.  DNK (Did Not Know).  Relied on perps, and it makes sense, too, as it's the Bank of amERICA.

113. Capital of the Bahamas: NASSAU.


DH did not love our trip to Nassau in 2005.  Too many kids going too many directions, too many close calls, and one rusty nail through my foot.  I was pretty chill.


118. [Theme clue]

123. Light as can be: AIRY.

124. Aquafina rival: EVIAN.  Bottled water.

125. [look on the back]: OVER.

126. Japanese beef city: KOBE.  Heard of Kobe beef, but didn't know it was a city.  

127. Dean's list figs.: GPAS.

128. Cold brew style: NITRO.

129. Closely guarded IDs: SSNS.

130. "Zounds!": EGAD.


Down:

1. Stable setting: FARM.  Stable the noun, not the adjective.

2. Blueprint calculation: AREA.

3. Luke and Leia, e.g.: SIBS.


Luke and Leia of Star Wars are siblings, and twins!


4. Course pegs: TEES.

5. Permissible: LAWFUL.

6. "Knock Knock" filmmaker Roth: ELI.  For those of you who loved The Silence of the Lambs, here's a "splatter film" (horror genre) director for you.  DNK.

7. Flour ground in a chakki: ATTA.  Atta is whole wheat, ground to flour in a chakki.  DNK.


  Indian woman grinding ATTA in a chakki.

8. Actress Madeline: KAHN.

9. "Name please?": YOU ARE.  Hello ... and you are ...?

10. Buck's defense: ANTLER.  A four footed buck.  Not a dollar bill.

11. Grassy expanse: LEA.  Meadow, pasture ...

12. Box sealer: TAPE.

13. Salzburg setting: ALPS.

14. Gp. of lawyers: ABA.  Group of lawyers:  American Bar Association.  The answer is abbreviated, just like the clue.

15. Grand __: wine classification: CRU.  Grand cru is literally "great vineyard" in French.  Only applicable to selected vineyards in certain regions of France.

16. Life of affluence: EASY STREET.  Are we there yet?

17. Anastasia of "Fifty Shades of Grey": STEELE.  Couldn't read the book because it was so poorly written; no patience for watching a movie of same.  Anastasia Steele is the main female character.


Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele and Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey


23. Ankara coins: LIRAS.

24. Like most software, once: ON CDS.  First it came on floppy disks, then on CDs, and now via online download.

25. Subside: LET UP.  Stop or become less intense.

30. Pricing word: PER.

32. Overdoes it on stage: EMOTES.  Emote means to portray emotion, especially in acting.  When did it become overacting?  On stage, one makes broad gestures to be understood in the balconies, but in filmmaking, small gestures are easily captured.  In a movie, emoting could be too much.  But on stage?  Overacting is also called "chewing the scenery."

34. Getty of "Golden Girls": ESTELLE.


Estelle Getty played Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls (1985–92)


36. Like eyesores: UGLY.  Not sores on your eye, but things you find ugly.  I guess they make your eyes feel sore.

37. Arab patriarch: SHEIK.

38. Chaser chosen by a head tap, in a kid's game: GOOSE.


I played Duck, Duck, Goose in elementary school.


39. Big-eyed babies: OWLETS.

40. "__ Guides": how-to series: IDIOTS.


DNK there was a Complete Idiot's Guide 
to Crossword Puzzles & Word Games


41. Foam dart maker: NERF.

42. Fully cooked: DONE.

43. Likely will, with "is": APT TO.

44. Pentagram shape: STAR.

45. Country Music Hall of Famer Keith: TOBY.  Toby Keith passed away in February 2024.  I liked his songs "I Wanna Talk About Me" (2001) and "Beer for My Horses" (2002), a duet with Willie Nelson.  I was going to share the lyrics of the latter with you, but it seems to be pro-lynching.  At the time, I only understood: 

We'll raise up our glasses against evil forces,
singing: whiskey for my men, beer for my horses.


49. Climbs, as a rock wall: SCALES.


One of our daughters does this.
Because life isn't hard enough already.


50. __ Diego: SAN.

51. Pre-tied tie: CLIP ON.

53. Big name in denim: LEE.

54. Crime lab material: DNA.

56. Start of p.m.: NOON.  "Post" fit, but did not work with the perpendicular entries (perps).

57. Slander: MALIGN.

58. Greeted: SAID HI.

63. Scheme: RUSE.

67. Request from a whistleblower: AMNESTY.  Someone who "blows the whistle" by exposing government or corporate wrongdoing might request amnesty, or freedom from prosecution.

69. Light: IGNITE.

71. Least noticeable: MEREST.

72. Studio whose logo says "Ars gratia artis": MGM.  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

73. Gymnast Raisman: ALY.  Wikipedia says:  "Alexandra Rose Raisman (born May 25, 1994) is an American retired artistic gymnast and two-time Olympian. She was captain of both the 2012 "Fierce Five" and 2016 "Final Five" U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics teams, which won their respective team competitions."  Did Not Remember!  All perps.


Aly Raisman

74. Removing books from a library, say: CENSORSHIP.

76. Pet tag info: OWNER.

78. To-go cup top: LID.

80. Grown-up pups: OTTERS.

81. Well put together: NATTY.  Dapper, dashing, sharp, slick, or stylish.

82. Natural history museum display, for short: DINO.  My father was a paleontologist interested in reptiles of the Permian Period, but some of his students became DINOsaur hunters, looking at the later Cretaceous Period.


Dinosaur skeletons at the Natural History Museum,
Los Angeles County


83. Pic: SNAP.

85. Wonderland cake directive: EAT ME.  From "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.

87. Skye of "La Brea": IONE.  Ione Skye Lee is a British-American actress and the daughter of singer Donovan.   She's in a TV series called "La Brea."  All news to me.  Needed perps.

88. Rap great born Tracy Marrow: ICE T.  Didn't know his real name.  Took a Wild Ass Guess (WAG) that this was he.

90. "Funny!": HAHA.

95. Frontline doctor: MEDIC.


Medics on M*A*S*H (TV Series 1972–1983)


96. Barbecue spot: PATIO.

97. End-of-semester hurdle: FINAL.

98. Sizzle: FRY.

99. Marker for some sale items: RED TAG.

100. Smallish garage: ONE CAR.

101. First Latina EGOT winner: MORENO.  EGOT stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.  It's rare for anyone to win all four of these awards.  Rita Moreno won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1962 for "West Side Story"; a Grammy for a cast recording of the PBS children’s television show, "The Electric Company," in 1972; a Tony as Best Featured Actress in a Play for a Broadway show called "The Ritz" in 1975; and the 1977 Emmy for Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Variety or Music for her single appearance on "The Muppet Show."  Good for her!  DNK.

102. West Coast gridders: NINERS.  The San Francisco 49ers, a football team.  The lines on the field look like a gridiron, or cooking grate.

108. Security claim: LIEN.

109. Big name in denim: LEVI.  Levi Strauss & Co. patented rivets on work pants in 1873, touching off 150 years of blue jeans as the most popular way to dress your lower half.

111. Budget execs: CFOS.  Chief Financial Officers.

112. Off-rd. rides: ATVS.  All-Terrain Vehicles are designed for use off the road.

114. For old times' __: SAKE.

115. Brown sky cause: SMOG.

116. Swedish supergroup: ABBA.  Responsible for "Dancing Queen," "Fernando," and "Take a Chance on Me."  My dad used to call this genre "bubblegum pop."  I didn't realize ABBA had actual bubblegum wrappers.



117. Like many textbooks: USED.  A textbook is less expensive if purchased used, but publishers make it hard for students by issuing new editions with new page numbers.  It's tough to follow the professor's reading list without the latest version of the book.

119. New __: cap brand: ERA.  New Era makes caps with visors sporting team logos.  Who knew?  Perps.

120. Pt. of GPS: SYS.  Part of Global Positioning System?  An abbreviated clue requires an abbreviated answer.

121. Picker's problem?: NIT.  Cute.  I'm a nit picker.

122. 1-Down layer: HEN.  A farm "layer" is a female chicken, or hen, that lays eggs.


The completed grid:



I was impressed with Pam's "sound off" movie titles.  Very clever!

And you?

-- NaomiZ

Jun 29, 2024

Saturday, June 29, 2024, Matthew Stock and Nate Cardin

 Saturday Themeless by Nate Cardin and Matthew Stock and Nate Cardin


Matthew
Nate

Matthew is a teacher from Gainesville, FL who has taken time out to work on his Masters.

Nate is a chemistry teacher in L.A.



    
What a struggle! Some of cluing was fiendish and my ignorance of a fictional soccer team made the middle a muddle. I could get AMERICA at the first and ICELAND in the partial fill at the end but alas neither were correct.
                                      
Across:

1. Make-up artist's talent: ADLIB - Nothing came to mind about applying make-up and so was thinking about a liar but no, it was more subtle than that.

6. __ store: DIME - Make that The Dollar Store today

10. Posts: JOBS.

14. Celine's "Beauty and the Beast" counterpart: PEABO.


15. "It's too much": I CAN'T EVEN.


17. Dining option: PATIO -  Alfresco 

18. The best of times: GOLDEN ERA - They don't make 'em like this any more and the box office decline shows it.


19. Star clusters: A-LISTS.  These people usually bring their 
32. Height of one's ability: A-GAME 

21. "I like it": NICE.

22. Brief downtime: R 'N R.

23. 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee Maya: LIN - She won the competition for designing the Vietnam Memorial. 

 

24. HBO's "__ Espookys": LOS.


26. Wailing figure of folklore: BANSHEE Irish Folklore


28. Relaxed: LOOSENED UP.

31. Hall __: PASS - You sure you have to go?


33. Employ: HIRE.

34. Fictional soccer club playable in FIFA 23: AFC RICHMOND - Ted Lasso's imaginary team was completely unknown to this solver and left a big hole in my early solving.


37. Colored outside the lines: BLED 😀

38. Animal whose name comes from the Dharug word for "no water": KOALA.


39. Derivative work, for short?: CALC 😀


40. "Fingers crossed!": WISH ME LUCK.

45. Postelection figure: ALSO RAN - I saw the L first and ELECTOR fit right in.

47. 2022 NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion __ Toppin: OBI - An old Japanese crossword regular gets bumped by an obscure athlete 


48. Symbol for magnetic flux: PHI.

49. Little tater: TOT.

50. "Wolf Like Me" actress Fisher: ISLA.


52. Molé peppers: ANCHOS - Ghost Peppers too.


54. Social media account?: SNAP STORY - A compilation of Snapchat pictures (we say pictures and not photos around here)


57. Snacks with limited-edition flavors: OREOS.


58. Personal gripes: PET PEEVES.

59. Like the sacred tree Yggdrasil: NORSE - The NORSE tree of life


60. Votes of affirmation: AYES.

61. Wax figure: SEAL.


62. Pointers for a fight choreographer?: EPEES 😀 The pointers were the fencing weapons not instructions



Down:

1. Floor: APPALL.

2. "What's the __?": DEALIO.


3. Like some winners of a Pura Belpré Award: LATINO.


4. Bird associated with the Egyptian god Thoth: IBIS.


5. Criminal record?: BOOTLEG CD.


6. Be into: DIG.

7. Menu image: ICON.

8. Topanga neighbor: MALIBU.


9. Sight before walking down the aisle: ENDCAP 😀 Gotta love it!


10. Podcaster/comedian Kirkman: JEN.


11. Scrambled alternative: OVER HARD.


12. __ mountain dog: BERNESE - They do grow into those paws


13. Toms' neighbors: SNARES 😀


16. __ Vogue: TEEN - This older edition autographed by a very young Taylor Swift can be had for $2,000


20. Help in finding subs: SONAR 😀


25. Prefix with permeable: SEMI.

27. __ fluid: SPINAL.

29. Mariners' realm, once: SAFECO 😀 - The Seattle Mariners played in SAFECO Field for about 20 years and then T-Mobile bought the naming rights and it is now T-Mobile Park. I saw the baseball connection right away but needed letters to help with SAFECO.


30. Starship Enterprise levels: DECKS.

33. Ace of clubs?: HOLE IN ONE 😀 I've had three of these. The first two had human witnesses and the third one only squirrels and barn swallows.

34. Progressive rival: ALL STATE - They all accuse the other insurance companies of overcharging. 

35. Hostess offering: HO HO.


36. Cobra kin: MAMBA.


37. "Horsefeathers!": BALONEY.

39. Siberian resort?: CAT SPA 😀


40. Runs through: WASTES - The amount of money our government runs through/WASTES is mind boggling!

41. One way to fall: IN LOVE 🥰

42. Message from on high?: UP HERE 😀 UP HERE, Stanley!


43. Go for: CHOOSE.

44. Pays lip service to?: KISSES 💋

46. Climb: RISE.

51. Sod buyer's calculation: AREA.

53. Take sides?: CROP - Here are some of our bird feeders on the left and the star of the show in the CROPPED version as he is eating Welch's Grape Jelly



55. Letter writer's addendum: PPS.


56. Couture initials: YSL - Our crossword couture 



Notes from C.C.:

Happy 58th birthday to Barry G, who was very active posting in the early days of our blog. Still with the same company, Barry? How's Joshua?