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

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May 2, 2020

Saturday, May 2, 2020, Trent H. Evans

Themeless Saturday by Trent H. Evans


Today we have an LA Times first-time constructor Dr. Trent H. Evans, PhD, who is a psychologist after graduating from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and has been practicing for 19 years. Today he is in Catonsville, Maryland. 

Here we see him pictured with his good friend Donut and below is part of his generous response to my email:

As far as the puzzle goes, I constructed this one in May of 2019 when I had not yet done very much themeless constructing [Husker note: My note to him was the first he knew that the puzzle was going to run today]. I don’t recall very much about the process. I know I slapped down PEDAL TO THE MEDAL to start with and after roughing out a grid, the next thing I put down was FRED SANFORD. Sanford and Son was one of my favorites as a kid, and my high school band director seemed to have an anecdote from a specific episode of Sanford and Son to cover almost any life lesson he wished to impart. By the way, if you haven’t seen the YouTube clip of Fred wearing a mask and trying to socially distance from a sick Lamont, it’s worth your time [Husker note: Picture is in the write-up]. See, I told you there’s a Sanford and Son episode for all situations!

Since I made this puzzle, I started a crossword blog at gridtherapy.com and among the puzzles on the site are 15 themelesses as of now. I call them ‘Free Association’ puzzles in keeping with the ‘therapy’ motif (I am a psychologist as you said). Looking back on this LA Times puzzle, I’m still fairly pleased with it, but I hope I’ve improved with more practice. As of this writing, the most recent puzzle on Grid Therapy is titled “Addled” which coincidentally enough makes an appearance at 9-down in this LA Times puzzle. 

I hope you and yours are as well as can be expected during these difficult days. Me, my wife Beth, and our four (!) teenagers have refrained from any acts of violence against each other over the course of our six or so weeks in lockdown, which I am going to call a win!  

Take care Gary. 

Trent 


Now let's do some "Free Association" with the good doctor on this first Saturday in May

Across:

1. Groom like a groom, maybe: MANSCAPE - Everything below my neck remains, uh, ungroomed. TMI?

9. Is in store: AWAITS.

15. Green getaway: ECO HOTEL - This one is in South Africa



16. "Crud!": DARN IT.

17. Beneficiaries of preferential admission: LEGACIES - Youngest daughter followed oldest one into this Pi Beta Phi house on 16th Street at UNL



18. Delightful: DREAMY.

19. Texas congressman who ran for president as a Libertarian in 1988: RON PAUL - He got  about 1/2 of the green section here:



21. Nice refusal?: NON - A Nice, en France, je dirais NON à manger des escargots (In Nice, France, I would say NO to eating snails)
22. When things just don't click: OFF DAY 

25. Aide-__: mnemonic device: MEMOIRE - An easy to understand French loanword. I taught ROY G BIV for decades as a mnemonic device.


28. White wine cocktails: KIRS - made with Creme de Cassis and named after Félix Kir (1876–1968), mayor of Dijon in Burgundy. If champagne is the chosen wine, the cocktail is called Kir Royale

29. Gets stuck: BOGS DOWN.

32. Let go: AXE and 33. Let go: FIRE - Somebody's losing their job here.

34. Air freshener deliveries: MISTS.

37. High-speed metaphor: PEDAL TO THE METAL - Trent's seed entry. I remember it as CB lingo.



41. Give out: ISSUE.

42. Colorado tributary: GILA.



43. "So you admit it!": AHA.

44. "Star Wars" film subtitle: A NEW HOPE - I really liked the first Star Wars movie, went to sleep in the second one and have not returned.



47. Classist type: SNOB.

48. Breath-freshening brew: MINT TEA.

50. Board game conduits: CHUTES - A guy is offering this complete original game for $50 on eBay

52. Storied shelf occupant: ELF.



53. Lawmaker: ENACTOR - Not lately

56. Barked: WOOFED.

59. Pregame party site: TAILGATE - Husker pre-game activities have graduated from the TAILGATE of pickups to elaborate affairs that are noted for inviting fans of opposing teams to join in



63. Tee off: ENRAGE.

64. Pavarotti classic: O SOLE MIO - Sherrill Nielsen with O SOLE MIO and then The King follows with It's Now Or Never


65. Father figure?: DAD BOD - Uh, DAD, you're not 18 any more, how 'bout at least wearing a t-shirt?

66. Broad Eastern cuisine category: PAN-ASIAN A extensive PANASIAN menu 


Down:


1. Harris of "thirtysomething": MEL - Then (1987) and now for "MEL" - Mary Ellen Harris 

2. Flying phenom: ACE.

3. Eggy drink: NOG.

4. Fragments: SHARDS.

5. __ butter: COCOA.

6. Not very much: A TINY BIT.

7. Single animal-shaped candy?: PEEP - More than A TINY BIT of sugar!
8. "Let It Go" singer in "Frozen": ELSA.

9. Mystified: ADDLED.

10. Serious declaration: WAR.
12. Before you know it: IN AN INSTANT - How the WAR declarations above seemed to occur in 1914

11. Is for many: ARE - Groucho is funny, the Marx Brothers ARE hilarious 

13. Divided island north of Australia: TIMOR - The west end of the island is Indonesia that is also known as West TIMOR





14. "Don't Rain on My Parade" composer: STYNE - I'll bet most of you know 1) What musical had this song and 2) Who belted out this Jule STYNE anthem 

20. Speaker's pauses: UMS.

22. Beast known as the zebra giraffe: OKAPI - The only members of this family
23. Rigs: FIXES - Some think pro rasslin' matches are FIXED. 🤯

24. Junk dealer in a '70s sitcom: FRED SANFORD - Here's a picture from the Sanford and Son episode Trent mentioned



26. Family nickname: MOMMA.

27. Tot's scrape: OWIE.

30. Peru panning target: ORO The tragic story of mining gold in Peru (11:00)

31. Outset: GET GO - I liked Trent's puzzle from the GET GO

33. Speedy: FLEET.

35. Nevada tourist mecca: TAHOE - Michael and Fredo had a conversation in Michael's home on Lake TAHOE before Fredo went on a fatal fishing trip



36. Foundation pieces: SLABS - A cool, dry basement is very desirable in Arizona but most houses are build on concrete slabs because the rock hard caliche (kuh LEE chee) soil, made up of calcium carbonate and granite, means digging a basement can add thousands to the cost of a house



38. Bee or Em: AUNT - Opie Taylor's and Dorothy Gale's

39. With it: HIP.

40. Choice event: ELECTION 

45. Prepared a bed, maybe: WEEDED - SEEDED got, uh, WEEDED out

46. Solo pilot?: HAN - HAN Solo and Princess Leia are frequent visitors in our crossword universe 



47. Swells: SURGES.

48. Spoke Burmese?: MEWED - Our Lily prefers Siamese



49. Actress Massey: ILONA - Here she plays the Baroness Frankenstein in 1943's Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman



51. Casual greeting: HOLLA - "Hey dude, give me a HOLLA when you get home"

54. Perched on: ATOP.

55. 61-Down's dwelling: CASA and 61. Familia member: TIA - Nos encanta que TÍA Rosa visite nuestra casa (We love to have Aunt Rosa visit our home)
57. __ Four: FAB - The name of this tribute band



58. One may be bruised: EGO.

60. Challenging retort: AM I? - "Gary, you're going to eat that liver!"

62. Word that's sometimes an exaggeration: EON - I haven't seen my California cousins for EONS!


I also found this picture of Trent who  plays trumpet in an Alumni Jazz Band that just recently toured Europe. I'll leave it to you to find Trent with his trumpet in hand. He's a real renaissance man!



Any comments for Trent?