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

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Dec 24, 2015

Thursday, December 24th, 2015 Herre Schouwerwou

Theme: Last Minute Shopping

20A. *Sports section summary : BOX SCORE. Stark statistics hiding the triumphs and disasters of the game.

29A. *Tatum O'Neal's Oscar movie : PAPER MOON. Tatum cropped up last week also.

36A. *Farfalle : BOW-TIE PASTA. Food! The word actually means "butterflies" in Italian.

43A. *One with deck skills : CARD SHARK. Great clue.

57A. Gift counter request involving the starts of the answers to starred clues : WRAP IT UP. Followed by the word "please", I hope.

Another Christmas-themed puzzle this week, this one dealing with gift shopping. I think this is the LAT debut for the splendidly-named Herre Schouwerwou (I hope I pronounced that correctly!) Congratulations, Herre! He's been published in the NYT three times this year so he's got both coasts covered now.

Across:

1. Site in a Steinbeck title : EDEN

5. Hip-hop fan : B-BOY. Kinda. A b-boy is someone who practices b-boying, or breakdancing. Hip-hop is just one of the musical genres that a b-boy dances to.

9. Pack with a plot : CABAL

14. Take-out order? : DELE. Nice clue. I wonder, does anyone edit by hand any more, or are the STETs and DELEs going to go the way of hot-metal printing presses and Etaoin Shrdlu?

15. Not at all refined : RUDE

16. Get melodramatic : EMOTE

17. "No kidding?" : IT IS?

18. Take off : OMIT

19. Turkish coins : LIRAS.

22. Cummerbund folds : PLEATS. It's been a while since I wore one of these. It's always nice to find that it still fits.

23. Him, to Jacques : LUI

24. Letters after a real name : AKA

25. Hyundai rival : KIA. This was a valuable cross for me - helped me out with K-POP and PIETAS.

26. Familiar address : BRO

27. It may lead to a run : ERROR

32. Jeans giant : LEE

34. Become compost : ROT

35. Beaux-__: architectural style : ARTS. The Paris Opera House is a great example of this ornate style.


39. Quick-dial symbol : STAR. I find it amusing that quick-dial wasn't available on a rotary phone, just push-button ones. Therefore you couldn't quick-dial a number on the only phone with an actual dial.

41. One crunching nos. : C.P.A.

42. Beehive State cap. : S.L.C. Salt Lake City, Utah.

46. "Gotcha" : UH HUH

50. Justice Fortas : ABE

51. Bill's "excellent adventure" partner : TED. I once sat at the next bar stool to Keanu Reeves in my local and chatted to him for a while without having a clue who he was.


52. Shot spot : ARM

54. Native Nebraskan : OTO

55. Complaint about equity : NO FAIR

59. Scheduled to land : DUE IN

60. Pointer's choice : THAT. Eeny, meeny, miny, that.

61. Stories of the ages : LORE

62. Not asleep at the wheel : ALERT

63. Simpson trial figure Kaelin : KATO. I see him around the neighborhood occasionally.

64. Wrongdoings : SINS

65. Some Millers : LITES. Hmmm, OK.

66. Comet, to some : OMEN

67. Part of an extended sentence? : ALSO

Down:

1. Safe to bolt down? : EDIBLE

2. Bypass : DETOUR

3. Quack's concoction : ELIXIR

4. Storied loch : NESS. Cold, deep and murky. Just the kind of place to hide a colony of plesiosaurs.

5. Trout source : BROOK

6. Not a fair shake : BUM RAP

7. Jon Arbuckle's dog : ODIE. "Garfield" sometime-antagonist.

8. Moreover : YET

9. Place to pick a rosé : CELLAR. Or wine fridge, in my case. I don't have a cellar. Here's a nice one from Sonoma County made from pinot noir grapes. Cheers!


10. Friend, in Haiti : AMIE. It helps to know that a variety of French is spoken in Haiti.

11. Island in French Polynesia : BORA BORA

12. How harness racers move : AT A TROT

13. Schoolwork : LESSONS

21. Rod who was an A.L. All-Star for 18 consecutive years : CAREW

22. Some religious sculptures : PIETAS. I didn't know this. A pieta is specifically a statue of the Virgin Mary cradling the body of Jesus.

25. Music genre for South Korean artist Rain : K-POP. This is the No. 1 K-pop song of 2015. I'm sure you all know the words.

28. Prayer starter : O LORD. If you were paying attention on Monday, you'd have seen this already this week.

30. Toward the stern : AREAR. Not convinced. I used to sail a lot and I never used nor heard this term. Aft? Abaft? Sure. Arear? Never. What do our US Navy vets here at the Corner say?

31. Contest : MATCH

33. Metal artisan : ETCHER

36. Stocking stuffers? : BARE FEET

37. Device that runs FaceTime : IPAD

38. Economic decline : SLUMP

39. National Enquirer fodder : SCANDAL

40. Middle Eastern salad : TABOULI. Food! What to make when you've got a shed-load of parsley. It's also good made with quinoa rather than couscous for the gluten-intolerant.


44. Stretches on the job : STINTS

45. __ chop : KARATE

47. Fryolator contents : HOT OIL

48. Results of not following directions, maybe : U-TURNS

49. "From your lips to God's ears!" : HOPE SO. I don't believe I'd come across this phrase before.

53. Inform against : RAT ON

56. Concession ending : -AIRE

57. Impact sound : WHAM

58. "Sing it, Sam" speaker : ILSA. Hello again! Didn't we just see you on Tuesday?

60. Ref's ruling : T.K.O. When the boxing referee stops the fight it is a "technical knock-out".

That's about it from me. I've got some last-minute shopping of my own to do before tomorrow. As Herre might say today - "it's a wrap".

Steve