Title: Sh......
What I perceive is a debut puzzle for Mr. Abrams gives us words beginning with SH (sound)(vowel) in progression. A very straight forward puzzle with a very fast solve time and a mini-theme of Hawaiian words. I know of an Archaeology Professor who wrote about historic architecture in the MAYAN culture. My oldest wrote about ancient architecture in his time studying in that field. Anyway, on to the puzzle...The theme fill except OVERWHELM are all new to the LAT. The rest includes forty-six 3/4 letter fill, many of which are common crossword fodder. I am always impressed with those who grid their own first effort. I enjoyed the puzzle, especially all the Js. After last week's pangram, we are just a Q short this week.
18A. Shaq : EX-NBA CENTER (11). Shaquille is a very entertaining guy.
24A. Sheik : ARAB NOBLE (9).Sheikh, Shaik, Shayk, Shaykh, Shaikh, Cheikh, and Shekh— is an honorific title in the Arabic language. wiki
37A. Schick : RAZOR BLADE MAKER (15). The "C" makes this the outlier, This may have been his seed entry. If he chose SHI... maybe: Shirk: LIE DOWN ON THE JOB. Of course that would cause a complete rewrite. Life is not easy.
49A. Shock : OVERWHELM (9). All perps
55A. Shuck : OPEN OYSTERS (11).My first thought was corn, but I do not eat shellfish.
Okay on to the meat of the puzzle...
Across:
1. Backtalk : LIP.
4. Went into second, in a way : SLID. A gimme for the baseball crowd.
8. Energy units : JOULES. I love J words: It is equal to the energy transferred (or work done) to an object when a force of one newton acts on that object in the direction of its motion through a distance of one metre (1 newton metre or N·m). It is also the energy dissipated as heat when an electric current of one ampere passes through a resistance of one ohm for one second. It is named after the English physicist James Prescott Joule (1818–1889) wiki.
14. She played Mia in "Pulp Fiction" : UMA. She died and came back.
16. Opposite of down : ACROSS. Crossword inside joke
17. AWOL pursuers : MPS. Military Police. Probably not a legitimate plural.
20. Combat : BATTLE.
22. Long, on Lanai : LOA. Then an immediate clecho 23A. Hi, on Lanai : ALOHA.
30. Exceptional : RARE.
31. Team members : OXEN. Cute yoke.
32. "Darkness at __": Arthur Koestler novel : NOON. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Darkness at Noon number eight on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. I never read it. The novel was written in German. wiki
33. Fortress of Solitude statue honoree : JOR-EL. Since the creators were both Jewish, they named their central family EL אֵל. Did you know Superman had his own WIKI?
35. Formal assessment : REPORT. I am not the report type. Michelle does lots of them for clients.
41. Calls up : EVOKES.
42. Pip : BEAUT.
43. Mudville number : NINE. How many players on the field in baseball.
44. 2015 Emmy winner for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series : VEEP. Not only born into a fabulously wealthy family but in her third Emmy winning series, JULIA is one lucky woman.
45. Wheels : RIDE. Nice ride...
53. It may be humbly held in hand : HAT. Nice cluing.
54. Stumble : FALTER.
61. Nixon admin. creation : EPA. An environmental CRUSADER when politics made some sense.
62. __ effect : RIPPLE. Not to be confused with the butterfly effect.
63. Israeli writer Oz : AMOS. Hid views are not always popular. LINK.
64. Nothing but __ : NET. Steph Curry...Game 1, he was not good but they won.
66. Not for here : TO GO. They added to go service at the Cattleman.
67. Helical strands : DNA. Helix like.
Down:
1. Like the vertebrae directly above the pelvis : LUMBAR. Where by herniated discs live.
2. 1958 Chevy debut : IMPALA. Remember it well.
4. Inscribed stone : STELA. Put in STELE for some reason but ALOHA came along.
5. Elegance : LUXE. adjective: 1. expensive and of high quality; luxurious. "the luxe 65-room Four Seasons hotel" noun: 1. luxury.
6. Comfort __ : INN.
7. Touch : DAB. I have Brylcreem regularly.
8. Biblical twin : JACOB.
9. Large amount : OCEAN. This area was the hardest for me because of this, but I do know thr phrase from books and HEADLINES.
10. "Thou," in the Keats lines "When old age shall this generation waste, / Thou shalt remain ... a friend to man" : URN. Of the Grecian variety. Most think is it "TO" but is ON.
11. Building site : LOT.
12. End of much language? : ESE. Meh, but I guess better than ease south east.
13. Kazakhstan, once: Abbr. : SSR.
19. Late actor Rickman : ALAN. A recent DEMISE. I loved most of his work, especially Galaxy Quest.
21. 1989 Jack Nicholson role : THE JOKER. Everone thought he was great until Heath Ledger came along.
24. Double __ : AXEL. I do get many figure skating fill.
25. Mark down, perhaps : RE-LABEL. Remarkable, Mabel.
26. Keeping the beat? : ON PATROL. Police walking the neighborhood.
27. Secure, as a room : BOOK. So many ways online now.
28. Past wisdom : LORE.
29. __'acte : ENTR. French for between the Acts, i.e. intermission.
31. Mars and others : ORBS. A simple definition.
34. Vein yield : ORE. Bloody cute clue!
35. Get as a return : REAP. What you sow....
36. Aussie runner : EMU.
37. Nevada city on I-80 : RENO.
38. Tel __ : AVIV.
39. Defense choice : ZONE. Football and basketball.
40. Consider : DEEM. Again.
44. Dachshund docs : VETS. We had dachshunds. One of our wiener dogs ate so much she became a knockwurst.
46. Plan : INTEND.
47. Become more heartfelt : DEEPEN.
48. Printing problems : ERRATA. Placed in a book to apologize for errors.
50. __ milk : WHOLE. Random.
51. Last Reconstruction president : HAYES. Rutherford B. All you need to KNOW.
52. Rodeo rope : LASSO.
54. One that may be transformed by a kiss? : FROG.
55. Scenes of many stitches: Abbr. : ORS. Operating Rooms.
56. Knight supporter? : PIP. Very tricky for me, but not for Gladys.
58. "All Things Considered" home : NPR. National Public Radio.
59. Many a pro athlete's pride : TATtoo. Really?
60. Rock genre : EMOtional.
Always exciting to welcome a new constructor to Friday. Thank you Elliott and I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Lemonade out.
Always exciting to welcome a new constructor to Friday. Thank you Elliott and I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Lemonade out.
Notes from C.C.:
1) Happy Birthday to our talented Owen, who does not celebrate his birthdays. But you're special to us, Owen! So lucky that you found us and continue to entertain us despite your personal struggles.
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| Owen & his wife Brenda (Feb 28, 2009) |
2) Indie 500 crossword tournament will be held tomorrow (June 4) in DC. You can click here for details. See here for the constructors. See Angela Olson Halsted, Misty? That's PuzzleGirl. Other constructors include Andy Kravis, Neville Fogarty, Erik Agard, Joanne Sullivan, Lena Webb, Kameron Austin Collins and Sam Trabuccob.
3) The fifth Minnesota Crossword Tournament will be held at the Landmark Center in St. Paul on June 12th, 2016 Sunday. Please click here for more details. Here is the direct registration link. Entry fee is only $20 per person.
Don G and I teamed up again this year. Other contributors (all LAT/NYT constructors) include George Barany, Victor Barocas (also our editor), Tom Pepper, Andrea Carla Michaels, David Liben-Lowell, Michael David, Johanna Fenimore, Andrew J Ries, David Steinberg (Yay!) and our own Jeffrey Wechsler, who is flying from New Jersey to volunteer for the event.
