L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday

Showing posts with label Saturday. Show all posts

Apr 20, 2024

Saturday, April 20, 2024, Rich Feely

Saturday Themeless by Rich Feely

This appears to be an LA Times debut for Rich. For some reason I had got a good jumping off place on the East side as ITALIAN ICE and SO LAST YEAR surrendered quite easily. I had a few bumps in the road, particularly with 24. NY and LA: STS. which I will address later.

Across:

1. Turn two fives into a ten?: ADD - A hilarious turn on this process

4. Key letter: PHI - Mine must have gotten lost in the mail 😊

7. Language spoken in the Gaeltacht: IRISH - Where IRISH/Gaelic is spoken.

12. Outstanding job: LOOSE END - The second definition is relative here.

15. Copycat's cry: ME TOO.

16. Best Original Song Oscar nominee with the lyric "Anywhere else, I'd be a ten": I'M JUST KEN - When Barbenheimer came out last year, I paid to see the latter and not the former.

18. Commandment word: SHALT.

19. Broadcast: GO ON THE AIR - BE and IS were replaced by GO

21. "Welp," quaintly: ALAS.

22. Act: DEED - On a corner of UNL's Memorial Stadium

23. Kir liqueur: CASSIS.

25. __ good: amazing: SCARY - Caitlin Clark

27. "Stop the negativity": DON'T HATE.

29. Polar formations: FLOES - Icebergs are large chunks of freshwater ice and compressed snow that break off glaciers and float southward on the Labrador Current. Ice FLOES, on the other hand, are chunks of frozen salt-water, also called pack-ice.

Penguins jumping between ice FLOES

30. Shakes up: JOLTS.

31. Chloé Zhao's alma mater: Abbr.: NYU - Chloé is a Chinese-American film maker. She won an Oscar for directing Nomadland

32. Frames: RIMS - ...or RIMLESS

33. Hermosillo houses: CASAS - Hermosillo is a city of nearly 700,000 in Mexico.

34. Level: TIER.

35. Urgent call, briefly: APB - All Points Bulletin has been replaced by BOLO - Be On the Look Out for

36. Flowing locks: MANES 😀

37. Chocolate source: CACAO.

38. Sealed: UNOPENED.

40. Spud: TATER - Billionaire J.R. Simplot of Boise Idaho made a "handshake" agreement with Ray Kroc in 1965 to grow potatoes for McDonalds French Fries. His company remains a big supplier of spuds for the company.

41. Seemed friendly: SMILED.

42. Many a rescue dog: MUTT.

43. Designer Cassini: OLEG - Well known as the designer for Jackie during the Camelot days

44. Photovoltaic devices: SOLAR CELLS - Our city's phase II of SOLAR CELLS a quarter mile south of me

49. Deli roll: BIALY.

51. Dawn of the moon exploration program?: EARTH RISE - During the Apollo 8 mission, Bill Anders took this picture of an EARTH RISE after they had passed behind the far side of the Moon and emerged on the other side.

52. Didn't work: IDLED.

53. Epic: COLOSSAL.

54. Dips a toe in: TESTS.

55. Mint: NEW - This mint condition 2024 silver dollar is already worth $55.

56. Southern capital: Abbr.: ATL.

Down:

1. Former HBO persona: ALI G.

2. "__ arigato": DOMO.

3. "Cobra Kai" setting: DOJO - Moviedom's most famous karate studio is now up for rent

4. Bugs: PESTERS.

5. Pronoun choice: HE THEY - A person choosing these preferences would accept, "He solved the puzzle" or "They solved the puzzle."

6. Tattoo culture magazine: INKED.

7. Online convos: IMS - Immediate Messaging

8. Discuss ad nauseam: REHASH - My first faculty had to REHASH the "gum chewing" issue for years because it was a pet peeve of the principal.

9. Treat in a little white cup: ITALIAN ICE.

10. Way passe: SO LAST YEAR.

11. Red __: HOTS - How they looked in my misspent yute.

13. Treats in tall tulip glasses: SUNDAES - See above

1950's picture

14. "Snowfall" org.: DEA.

17. Patron saint of children: NICOLAS - Ho, Ho, Ho.

20. Bloviates: RANTS - The political season is coming up

24. NY and LA: STS - 😫 I took the bait for two cities. After way too much time I saw there were no periods for abbreviations and that NY and LA stand for the STateS of New York and Louisiana.

25. Toy for bodysurfing on land: SLIP 'N SLIDE.

26. Drive-through options: COMBO MEALS - 1,600 Calories

27. Shot in the arm, say: DOSED 😀

28. Capital of 20 countries: EURO.

29. German woman: FRAU.

30. Alias in court: JANE DOE.

33. Carolina team, informally: CANES.

34. Ribbons: TATTERS.

36. Allen known as the "Voice of the Yankees": MEL.

37. Purina brand: CAT CHOW - Our kitty doesn't do dry food

39. Milne character in a green striped romper: PIGLET - Every picture of PIGLET I saw had him in a pink striped romper. I found this one in an embroidery kit

40. Reptile on a green container of car wax: TURTLE.

42. Podcaster/comedian Marc: MARON.

43. "In memoriam" piece: OBIT.

45. Supérieur, par exemple: LAC.

46. Vanderpump of "Vanderpump Rules": LISA.

47. Trial for an aspiring atty.?: LSAT.

48. Persuade: SELL.

50. Passing stat: YDS - Tom Brady's passing YDS convert to over 48 miles

Apr 13, 2024

Saturday, April 13, 2024, Enrique Henestroza Anguiano

Saturday Themeless by Enrique Henestroza Anguiano

This is my fourth LA Saturday themeless with Enrique who has a background in computational linguistics.The puzzle gave me fits as some of the cluing was, to borrow a crossword we have seen here

Yes, Enrique has a lot of white real estate in his construction with 98 open squares (squares that don't touch a border or a block). The stack of three grid spanners is impressive!

As usual, I skated around and enjoyed most of the puzzle, however, I had one Natick at 27 Down/Across and could not come up with a Japanese breaded cutlet or a 3-letter name for an actor named Penn. I'll take my one bad cell and try to face tomorrow!

This just in: Yeah, I know we had KATSU in Tuesday's puzzle but I did Enrique's puzzle before Zachary's Tuesday construction. The consolation is that I did get KATSU on Tuesday. 😊

Across:

1. Way to play music that's a hit?: SLAP BASS 😀 - Yup, he's hitting or SLAPPING that BASS

9. Words after a deep breath: I'M CALM.

15. Where the action is?: MOVIE SET 😀

16. The __ Brothers: "Black Water" band: DOOBIE - A fun listen

17. Egg option: OVER EASY.

18. Position: ORIENT - A recent activity of mine

19. Mulligans: REDOS - In a friendly game of golf you can request a mulligan or to REDO a shot. Our group allows one on the front 9 and one on the back. Some guys never take one. It can also be used if you say or do anything you wish you had not, "I'd like to take a mulligan on that!"

20. Lavender brew: HERBAL TEA.

22. Jacob's twin: ESAU.

23. Unagi roll fish: EELS.

24. "Food's getting cold!": EAT.

27. "The Namesake" actor Penn: KAL - When I looked him up, he was more familiar to me as Kumar of Harold and Kumar but I still would not have had to guess at the first letter of his name.

28. Big Mac rivals?: PCS 🤨 - Enrique, I have never called my Mac computer big! Yeah, I know, it's a big rival not a Big Mac.

31. Four-part cooking series starring Samin Nosrat: SALT FAT ACID HEAT.

37. "How's about this instead!?": I GOT A BETTER IDEA - I had to swap out ANOTHER for A BETTER.

38. Election system that gets the press involved?: PAPERLESS VOTING - 😀 Yes, you press a button or icon and do not put a mark on a piece of paper.

39. Alums-to-be: SRS - The SRS where I teach are handing out grad party invites this time of year.

40. Big bird: EMU.

41. Shortish releases: EPS - Back when vinyl ruled the world, Extended PlayS held more music than a 45 but less than an album. This group made one with four songs, not two, you can get this EP record on eBay for $150.

42. Instrument once plucked with a quill: LUTE.

44. "Who's this under?": NAME 😀 Uh, Mr. and Mrs. John Smith...

48. Hot pockets?: EMPANADAS.

53. Sunny?: SOLAR 😀 - Some crops flourish under solar panels as their rotation following the sun gives just the right amount of sun and shade.

54. Friendly gesture: HAT TIP.

55. Ulaanbaatar's country: MONGOLIA.

VW96+R47 Unnamed Road,
Ulaanbaatar 17025, Mongolia

57. "You're making me blush!": OH STOP.

58. Oktoberfest snacks: PRETZELS.

59. Pushes boundaries?: WIDENS.

60. Be reasonable: SEE SENSE.

Down:

1. Food contraction that omits "ome": S'MORE - Short for SOME MORE. A word invented in a 1938 summer camping manual

2. Melts for: LOVES - See picture above for melting everyone LOVES

3. Estée Lauder subsidiary: AVEDA.

4. Spin on a classic ballet performance?: PIROUETTE.

5. Some queens: BEES 😀

6. "Hugo" actor Butterfield: ASA - The Hindi version

7. Brief meeting?: SESH - Short for session and seen in cwds more and more frequently

8. Eye annoyance: STYE.

9. "We Shall Overcome" phrase: I DO BELIEVE.

10. Principled: MORAL.

11. Tesla stock?: COILS - Nikolai Tesla sat inside his invention for publicity. I had a smaller Tesla Coil in my classroom.

12. Help with a heist: ABET - Michael J. Pollard, on the right, played C.W. Moss who drove the getaway car for the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde.

13. "I forgot what to say!": LINE - What an actor says when he is lost and needs a prompt

14. Threads owner: META.

21. Posts a GIF, perhaps: REACTS - I do that often. A picture is worth a thousand words!

25. Miles away: AFAR.

26. Some Apple Design Award winners: TABLET APPS.

27. Breaded cutlet dish: KATSU - Who knew (before last Tuesday)?

28. Mani-__: PEDI.

29. William the Conqueror's burial place: CAEN - 32 miles from Omaha Beach

30. Single party election?: STAG - These guys elected to have no women at this party

31. Small suctions on cups?: SIPS 😀

32. Vegan gelatin substitute: AGAR.

33. Cuts (off): LOPS.

34. Overflowed: TEEMED.

35. Release: DROP - A British airman in WWI gets ready to DROP a bomb from the gondola of an airship