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

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Jun 21, 2018

Thursday June 21st 2018 Clive Probert

Theme: G-Minus. No, not the grade for the puzzle, but explaining the theme:

27A. Reason your ears are burning?: (G)LOBAL WARMING

20A. Girl skipping school?: (G)LASS CUTTING

46A. Farm sound after sunset?: (G)LOW IN THE DARK



54A. Knight game impact?: (G)LANCING BLOW

And the reveal:

Aha! No reveal, a nice Thursday-style theme-and-figure-it-out-yourself. With these puzzles, if they're well-constructed, it can be a big help if you do figure out the theme, the earlier the better. This puzzle from Clive is a good example of the genre. Also, look at the stacked 9's in the downs and "we've got a cracking grid (Gromit!)".

Let's see what catches the eye elsewhere:

Across:

1. Throw out a line: CAST

5. Marner of fiction: SILAS

10. Santa Monica attraction: PIER. Iconic venue here in LA. I've never really looked closely at the famous sign, but now I have to ask - where is the yacht harbor? I've sailed the Santa Monica Bay a number of times, and there's no harbor to be seen anywhere near the pier.


14. Funny Bombeck: ERMA


"Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth."

15. Letter-shaped fastener: U-BOLT. I always thought "Bolt" was a very apt name for another U.Bolt.

16. "Young Frankenstein" Fräulein: INGA

17. Meadows: LEAS

18. Siamese fighting fish: BETTA

19. New Mexico resort: TAOS

23. Plate duster: UMP. Lovely clue. Baseball home-plate umpire clearing the aforementioned of dirt. He keeps a little brush handy for the task.


24. Transparent: SHEER

25. "The Prisoner of __": 1937 Fairbanks film: ZENDA. The star, Ronald Coleman, preparing to buckle his swash.



32. Collect over time: AMASS

35. __ juice: MOO

36. Second-largest bone in the body: TIBIA

37. Ticket word: ROW

38. Note from one who's shy: IOU. Very nice. Shy of funds.

39. __ Cruces: LAS. A New Mexico geography puzzle today.

40. Low joint: ANKLE

43. ID with two hyphens: SSN

44. "Totally had you going there!": PSYCH! We had this a couple of weeks ago. Were you paying attention?

49. Backyard game for two: CATCH

50. Saudi money: RIYAL

53. Prefix with pass: SUR

59. Early automaker: OLDS

61. Trunk: TORSO

62. Kitchen floor covering, to a Brit: LINO. We had lino in our bedrooms when I was a small child and no heating upstairs. Getting out of bed on a winter's morning was a bracing experience.

63. Singer's syllables: LA LA

64. Considering everything: IN ALL

65. __ Eats: food delivery app: UBER. I've used these folks a few times when I've arrived home late from the airport and found nothing much to eat in the house. The service is really good.

66. African antelope: ORYX

67. Propagated: SOWED

68. Word on an Irish stamp: EIRE. Here's a nice example. It says "Two Pence" underneath, if you're curious.



Down:

1. "Tainted Love" band Soft __: CELL. Quick, name another Soft Cell hit. In the meantime, here's the 80's again.

2. Measurements made by planimeters: AREAS. Learning moment. Looks like something you'd find in a dentist's office:


3. Tennis shot: SMASH

4. Loafer adornments: TASSELS

5. Many a commuter's community: SUBURB. I went with "SLEEPY" first and had second, third and fourth thoughts until sanity prevailed.

6. Sarcastic comment: I BET.

7. Senate majority leader after Dole: LOTT

8. Some choristers: ALTI

9. Poetry unit: STANZA

10. Racetrack stop: PIT. I was thinking horses for a while. Then .. aha! Motor sports.

11. Lower than low?: INAUDIBLY. INAUDIBLE seemed perfect, until PSECH [sic] emerged.

12. Swellhead: EGOMANIAC

13. Speak harshly: RASP

21. Company VIPs: CEOS

22. Fröbe who played Goldfinger: GERT

26. Feature of a two-ltr. monogram: N.M.I. No Middle Initial. I've had two girlfriends with no middle name. One dropped her last name because she didn't like it and used her middle name instead, the other said her parents ran out of ideas after coming up with her first name.

28. Pennsylvania sect: AMISH

29. Relaxed: LOOSE

30. Wired, with "up": WOUND

31. Big cut: GASH

32. Severely damaged Asian sea: ARAL

33. Like a birder's field glass: MONOCULAR

34. With very little grace: AWKWARDLY

41. Burning: LIT

42. Env. fattener: ENCL. The enclosure fattens the envelope.

44. Puritan: PRIG. Likeable clue/answer. Not obvious off the bat. Nice stuff.

45. Landscape artist's shade: SKY BLUE

47. To wit: THAT IS

48. California governor after Gray: ARNOLD. Der Gübernator. I still like the way he pronounced "California". Here's a highlight reel of just that. There's nothing you can't find on the Interwebs.

51. Defensive line?: ALIBI. Very nice clue/answer. Some corkers today.

52. Hermit: LONER

53. 2018 Ron Howard film subtitled "A Star Wars Story": SOLO. Solo. Han Solo. No wait, wasn't that 007?

55. Faux pas: NO-NO

56. Bird crop: CRAW

57. Cruise stopover: ISLE. Had PORT. That's didn't help progress at the bottom.

58. Became frayed, say: WORE

60. Kenny G's horn: SAX. Nice bookend for the theme. The missing "G" appears in the final clue!

World Cup fever continues for me. There's no cure except for waiting out the crisis in Mid-July. Some of the commentary on the Fox coverage is shockingly bad - I find refuge in the Spanish-language feed on Univision.

Here's the griiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid! Griiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid!

Steve



Note from C.C.:

Irish Miss asked about Melissa's granddaughter Jaelyn yesterday. Here she is with her father's day masterpiece. You can click here to see a few more pictures of our beautiful girl.