Friday, March 7, 2025, Julius Tausig

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a Friday puzzle by Julius Tausig.  I did a quick web search on Julius and found this:  Julius Tausing Clue and Answer  Talk about meta!  As I could find no previous references to Julius here on the Corner, it appears that this might be his L. A. Times debut.  If so, congratulations, Julius.  

In any event, in today's puzzle we have a theme that involves adding the letter L in order to morph common English usage into the sought-after answers to the clues.  The reveal is found at:

64 Across:  Accepted defeat, and what 17-, 24-, 40-, and 51-Across did?: TOOK THE L.  Took the Loss.  

These four clues "took the L" and incorporated it:

17 Across:  Hideout that's not very hidden?: OPEN LAIR.  From Open Air.

24 Across:  Times of year for competitive baking?: FLOUR SEASONS.  The Fours Seasons of the year.  Hmmm, we'll go with Carole King but it could have been Vivaldi . . . or Fankie Valli.

40 Across:  Hip-hop subgenre dedicated to the woes of hair loss?: BALD RAP.  A Bad Rap, more often a Bum Rap (which was an answer in one of our puzzles last week), is an unjust accusation.  Bad Rap might be redundant.

51 Across:  Assorted barrettes and clips?: HAIR PIN BLEND.  From Hair Pin Bend or, more often, Hair Pin turn.

This is how everything looks in the grid:

Here are the non-themers:

Across:

1. "Thriller" debut channel: MTV.   MTV was the pioneering broadcaster of music videos.   "Thriller" was a mega-hit album by Michael Jackson. 

4. Dull pain: ACHE.  A sensation frequently experienced in our puzzles.

8. Manatee: SEA COW.  It's been teed up . . .

Sea Elephants?

14. __ milk: OAT.  SOY would have fit the allotted space but none of the letters would have worked out.

15. Dramatic outburst during court testimony: LIAR.  We have LAIR in the puzzle so why not LIAR?

16. Like Enigma machine messages: IN CODE.  The Enigma machine is a cipher device developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic, and military communication. It was employed extensively by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

19. Small beard: GOATEE.

Maynard G. Krebs

20. Recipient of a wish list: GENIE.  Hand up for thinking SANTA.  The N would have worked out.

21. Zen paradox: KOAN.  This solver was introduced to the KOAN by a High School English teacher.  A KOAN is a puzzling, often paradoxical statement, anecdote, question, or verbal exchange, used in Zen Buddhism as an aid to meditation and a means of gaining spiritual awakening.

23. Shirt: TOP.  TEE would have fit and the T would have worked out.

28. Historic fort near Charleston: SUMTER.  Best known as the site for the opening of the Civil War.

31. Quark-antiquark particle: MESON.

Beyond This Solver's Ken

32. "That is not __!": parents' words of warning: A TOY.  OKAY would have fit and the Y would have worked out.

33. __-Cola: COCA.  We'll do Easter at 11 Down.

36. Rite place: ALTAR.  I just learned than my neighbor lives a secret life as a priest.  It's his ALTAR ego.

39. Greek god of pastures: PAN.

42. Pro: ACE.  Not fer.  An accomplished person.

43. Stood out: SHONE.

45. MRI output: SCAN

46. __ novel: DIME.  DIME novel is a term for cheap, sensational paperbacks that were popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the U.S.  Alas, the price component has gone the way of Two Buck Chuck.

47. Composer Frederick: LOEWE.  Were you thinking Classical Music?  Chopin, perhaps?  In this case, Alan Lerner's collaborator.  One example from their prolific output:

49. Got down pat: NAILED.  There was an off-color joke involving Richard Nixon going around in the '70's.  NAILED was not part of it.

55. Insect whose colony has a queen: ANT.  What did the Pink Panther say after stepping on the ANT hill?  Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant . . . .

56. "Ah, got it": I SEE.  Indeed.

57. Garden party?: GNOME.  Party, in this case, means an individual that might be found in a garden.  Not a Ricky Nelson reference.

61. Split: IN HALF.  Not "split" as in it's time to leave.  Not a bowling reference.  Not a reference to a city in Croatia.

66. __ 101: skyscraper in an Asian capital: TAIPEI.  Designed to withstand earthquakes and typhoons.

Taipei 101 Tower

67. Latin year: ANNO.  A translation clue/answer.

68. Sick: ILL.

69. Turn on the charm?: INCANT.

incant

 /ĭn-kănt′/

transitive verb   To chant or intone (ritual or magic words). To state solemnly, to chant.  To recite an incantation

70. Scorch: SEAR.  CHAR would have fit and the R would have worked out.

71. Loving poem: ODE.

Down:

1. First commercial synthesizer maker: MOOG.

2. Cassette: TAPE.  State of the art at one time.

3. Powerful engine banned by F1: V-TEN.  The F1, in this case, stands for Formula One auto racing.

4. Gene variant: ALLELE.  Fortunately, for this solver, the word was remembered even if the spelling was not.  Thanks, perps.  From Wikipedia, "An allele is a variant of the sequence of nucleotides at a particular location, or locus, on a DNA molecule. Alleles can differ at a single position through single nucleotide polymorphisms, but they can also have insertions and deletions of up to several thousand base pairs."  Got that?

5. Longtime KGB spycraft enemy: CIA.

6. Poem with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern: HAIKU.  Hand up for thinking MoeKu.

7. Wrong move: ERROR.  Oops!

8. Contract endorser: SIGNEE.  A word that we do not often hear. . . or see.

9. Musician Brian: ENO.  A frequent visitor.

10. Obama-era legislation, initially: ACA.

11. Small rabbit: COTTONTAIL.

Danny Kaminsky

12. Ancient theater of Ephesus: ODEON.

13. Cries: WEEPS.  I saw my sister WEEPing uncontrollably, worried that her Economics degree wouldn’t land her a job.  I said, “Are you having a financial cry, sis?”

18. "Swell!": NIFTY.  Slang.  Bitchen'.  Rad.  Far Out!  Groovy.

22. Eritrea's capital: ASMARA.   A place not so frequently visited in our puzzles.

25. Killer whale: ORCA.  A mammal which frequently visits our puzzles.

26. "By yesterday!" letters: ASAP.  Alternative cluing:  Recent aquittee.

27. Spanish sun: SOL.

en español

28. Drains: SAPS.

29. Zion locale: UTAH.  Zion National Park.

30. Like an ancient obelisk: MONOLITHIC.   This could have been clued with a reference to 2001 A Space Odyssey.

34. Twins who created the fashion label The Row: OLSENS.  This solver did not know about the fashion line but Mary-Kate and Ashley OLSEN are twins who often appear in our puzzles.

35. Public health org.: CDC. Is it going to be NIH?  No.

37. Fictional company whose products tend to malfunction: ACME.  A Wile E. Coyote reference.

38. Woodwind insert: REED.

40. Appliance alert: BEEP.

41. Great-aunt of Prince George: ANNE.  We fought a revolution to separate from the British royals.  Some of us pay them very little or no attention.  Thanks perps.

44. Scand. land: NOR.  Probably not Juilius' favorite answer.

46. "That __ hurt": DIDN'T.

48. Video game that uses a balance board: WII FIT.

50. Cambodia's __ Wat: ANGKOR.

Photo By MM

51. Part of Hispaniola: HAITI.

52. Diplomat Kofi: ANNAN.

Former U.N. Secretary General

53. Releases with bugs, probably: BETAS.  A computer coding/debugging reference.

54. Sierra __: LEONE.  Often visited in our puzzles.

58. Weird or cringe, in Gen Alpha slang: OHIO.  As for OHIO used in this context, this I know from nothing.  But Merriam-Webster does:  The Gen alpha slang use of Ohio as an insult originated on the Internet shortly after a series of memes about the US state of Ohio began circulating in the late twenty-teens. The most common type of these memes is the "only in Ohio" variety, which describes something weird or awkward and then claims that it happens in Ohio.

59. Combine: MELD.  MESH would have fit and both the M and the E would have worked out.

60. Vogue rival: ELLE.  A magazine frequently read in our puzzles.

62. Shrinks' org.: APA.

63. Actor Cariou: LEN.  LEoNard Joseph Cariou

 

65. "Based __ true story": ON A.  When it says this you can bet that significant liberties have been taken with the facts in the name of entertainment.

Yours truly will be heading to the mountains in a bit and will be skipping the next couple of otherwise-scheduled blogging cycles.  See all y'all after returning.

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Friday, February 21, 2025, Jeff Stillman

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee, here, with the recap of a Friday Puzzle by Jeff Stillman who has previously had puzzles published by the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.

Today's theme is quite straightforward.  At four places within the grid, Jeff has added the letter A to morph common expressions into witty answers to the out-of-necessity-somewhat-convoluted clues.  In each case, the A is the third letter of the "new" word and the first three letters form a word or acronym that could stand alone.  Here are the places where this occurs:

20 Across:  Say, "Everyone put your key in the ignition and turn," e.g.?: TEACH STARTUPS.  From Tech Startups.  (A cuppa, anyone?)

28 Across:  Brief reminder before a Disney musical featuring Belle?: BEAST IN SHOW.  From Best In Show. (Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Disney's Beauty and the Beast

44 Across:  Sidewalk stand earnings arranged in tidy stacks of cash?: NEAT PROFITS.  From Net Profits. (National Educational Association)

55 Across:  One overseeing a reform program for kleptomaniacs?: DEAN OF THIEVES.  From Den Of Thieves. (Drug Enforcement Agency)

This is how it all looks in the grid:

... and the rest of the story:

Across:

1. Big production: EPIC.  The Waco Kid knows EPIC.

5. Half an island in French Polynesia: BORA.

9. Mediocre grade: C-PLUS.  Actually, just a little bit better than average.

14. Fish tacos fish, on menus: MAHI.

15. Bus alternative: UBER.  RAIL and LYFT would both fit but neither would work out.

16. Window treatment: DRAPE.  I don't know if I can afford new DRAPEs for my windows.  These are un-curtain times.

17. D.C. VIP: PRES.  PRESident

18. Kunis of "Family Guy": MILA.  She voices Meg.

With A Cameo

19. __ knife: BOWIE.

23. Ump's cry: YER OUT.  If your grid requires YER this is the way to pull it off.

24. Early late-night host: PAAR.  Jack PAAR followed Steve Allen and preceded Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show.

 

25. Rite Aid rival: CVS.  A drug store reference.

31. Cut with a beam: LASE.

35. Bull's-__: EYE.  Did anyone check with the cattle on this one?

36. Lyric poem: EPODE.  EPODE - Wikipedia

37. Tablet option: IPAD PRO.  Not a medicinal reference.

39. Bar sing-along: KARAOKE.   This guy comes up to me at the karaoke bar and asks, "Are you the guy who spends all night singing Neil Diamond songs?"  "I am", I said.

41. Actress Kemper: ELLIE.  Best known for her role in The Office.

42. Elevator part: CAR.  Ever pause to reflect on what is really going on when you are riding in an elevator CAR two hundred feet above the ground floor?

43. Bed support: SLAT.

48. Dejected: SAD.

49. VMI program: ROTC.  Reserve Officer Training Corps

50. Opening word?: SESAME.

58. The least bit: AT ALL.

60. After-lunch sandwich: OREO.  How do I clue thee . . . .

61. Some watch displays: LEDS.

62. Faithful: LOYAL.  What is a 3 letter word for playful, LOYAL, and unconditional love?  Dog.

63. Bound: LEAP.  Where do most people dine out on LEAP day?  IHOP

64. Empire State canal: ERIE.

65. "R u kidding me?": SRSLY.  Seriously?

66. Seals' meals: EELS.  How does it feel when they reel in the EEL with zeal?

67. Chips-in-a-can brand: STAX.  I might have clued this differently.

Down:

1. Without value: EMPTY.

2. French city, in song: PAREE.  Paris

3. "A little birdie tells me ... ": I HEAR.

4. Networking giant: CISCO.  Cisco - Wiki  Thirty years ago few people had ever heard of the company.  Fortunately, I knew someone who had.

5. Lousy piece of advice: BUM STEER.  It turns out that one need not bother checking with the cattle on this one.  From Wikipedia: Its origin is possibly from 19th-century American maritime humor and the difficulty of trying to steer a vessel in reverse.  A ship's stern is flat and lacks the pointed structure of a bow, and a ship is therefore difficult to maneuver in reverse when using the rudder, also found on the stern.

6. Account of life after death?: OBIT.  OBITuary

7. Turn for the worse: RELAPSE.  A bit odd in the cluing.  One could get worse without having previously been in that condition.

8. Turkey's highest peak: ARARAT.  Where many people believe Noah's ark landed.

9. Data recording device: CD BURNER.  Hey, at the time, it was a significant step forward!

10. Play thing: PROP.  Not a toy for a child to play with.  An item used in a stage play.

11. "The Paper Chase" setting: LAW SCHOOL.  A book and a movie.

12. Letters in the news: UPI.  Long before social media.

13. "Get it?": SEE.  Ya dig?

21. Busy airport: HUB.  A general response.  The answer could have been a specific airport but with only three letters the clue would require an abbreviation.

22. __ chi: TAI.

26. Salty dog option: VODKA.

FLATT would have fit.

27. Saccharine: SWEET.  From whence the artificial SWEETener got its name.

29. "Big Mouth" writer/voice actress Edebiri: AYO.  Unknown to this solver.  She plays a chef on The Bear.

30. Luxury home features: SPAS.  Novel cluing and almost on target.

31. Credit report entries: LIENS.  A legal claim on an asset.

32. Cop __: bargain in court: A PLEA.

33. Times of youthful innocence: SALAD DAYS.

Where does the noun salad days come from?

Earliest known use

early 1600s

The earliest known use of the noun salad days is in the early 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for salad days is from before 1616, in the writing of William Shakespeare, playwright and poet.

34. Perfect copy: EDIT.  Not perfect as in without flaws.  Perfect is used, here, as a verb as in "to make perfect" and copy is a body of writing.

38. Pregame event: PEP RALLY.

39. Ryssdal who hosts NPR's "Marketplace": KAI.  

40. Places to pick up paint: ART SHOPS.  Home Depot would not fit.

42. Like most aerosol cans, now: CFC FREE.  Without chlorofluorocarbons.

45. Former Mets pitcher Darling: RON.

46. "Smallville" actress Annette: O'TOOLE.  Not related to Peter.

47. Cinque e uno: SEI.  5 + 1 = 6  La lección de español y matemáticas de hoy.

51. Monica who won three consecutive French Opens: SELES.  Five letters with two E's and two S's - a construtor's friend.

52. Head off: AVERT.  A man was about to be hit by a Voyager minivan.  Fortunately, the driver stopped in time.  Chrysler AVERTed!

53. Radio and such: MEDIA.

54. County in the Greater Boston area: ESSEX.  Unknown to this solver but, in our puzzles, county names are often ESSEX.

56. Airline to Israel: EL AL.

57. Blue-green: TEAL.

58. Weather anchor Roker and actor Pacino: ALS.

59. Only Canadian MLB city, for short: TOR.  At one time there was also MON.

BBFN, for short.

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Friday, February 7, 2025, Kelly Richardson

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a Friday puzzle by Kelly Richardson.  Kelly has had several puzzles previously published by the LA Times and made her NY Times debut in July, 2024.  Today's puzzle contains many answers that we have seen before as well as quite a few proper nouns - many music-related.  

While there is no reveal" in today's grid there is a theme.  At four places Kelly has created punny word play employing the names of U.S. states.  At three of those places she uses abbreviations for the states' names (although not the official USPS abbreviations) and for the fourth she truncates the name by dropping the word NEW.

Here are the four places where the gimmick appears:

16 Across:  Play staged by Boston's Commonwealth Shakespeare Company?: MASS PRODUCTION.  From Massachusetts.

23 Across: . Demand policy changes from lawmakers in Olympia?: PRESSURE WASH.  From Washington.

53 Across:  Digits starting with 908?: JERSEY NUMBER.  908 is the (telephone calling) Area Code for New JERSEY.

62 Across:. Fortunes made in Chicago?: ILL GOTTEN GAINS.  From Illinois.

This is how everything appears in the grid:

.... and here are the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. One of Islam's five pillars: HAJJ.

5. Avocado dip, for short: GUAC.  GUACamole.

9. Truckful: LOAD.

13. Margarine: OLEO.  A spread frequently slathered in (on?) our puzzles.

14. Not fooled by: ON TO.

15. General vibe: AURA.  Anybody need a crystal?

19. Value: ESTEEM.  Used as a verb.

20. Johnny of "Point Break": UTAH.  A fictional character.

21. Audio jack abbr.: MIC.  MICrophone

26. Trails: PATHS.

29. Vegetable in bamia: OKRA.

30. DOL division: OSHA.

31. "Don't Bring Me Down" gp.: ELO.  Electric Light Orchestra

32. Second sight, for short: ESP.  A "talent" frequently displayed in our puzzles.

34. Robed ruler: EMIR.  A position frequently occupied in our puzzles.

36. Steinem who co-founded Ms. magazine: GLORIA.

I know.  I know

38. More repulsive: ICKIER.

42. Betting figures: ODDS.

44. Issa of "American Fiction": RAE.  A frequent visitor.

45. Sunshine bit: RAY.  Cute.  RAY following RAE.

I know.  I know.

46. Blots: DABS.

49. 2018 Best New Artist Grammy winner Dua __: LIPA.

51. Sew loosely: BASTE.

56. __ Lanka: SRI.  Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972 when it became a republic, reflecting a desire to shed colonial ties and embrace a name rooted in the local languages. The name "Sri Lanka" means "resplendent land" in Sinhalese, emphasizing the country's cultural identity.

57. Little pest: GNAT.

58. Prince Harry's son: ARCHIE.  

I know.  I know.

65. Jelly that may be added to boba tea: ALOE.  How do I clue thee?  Let me count the ways.

66. Tear: REND.

67. Let go of: DROP.

68. Window-rattling: LOUD.

69. Contributes: ADDS.

70. So small: EENY.  EENY.  Meeny.  Miny.

Down:

1. Last word of "The Wizard of Oz": HOME.

2. Woeful cry: ALAS.

3. Quip: JEST.

4. Soul and gospel singer Margie: JOSEPH.  Great name.

With An Assist From Sir Paul McCartney

5. Grammy winner Eydie: GORME.  Eydie won the Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance in 1966.  A year later the times certainly were a changin'.

6. Card game cry: UNO.  Frequently played in our puzzles.

7. Just before nightfall: AT DUSK.

8. High fashion: COUTURE.  From the French.

9. Woodworking tool: LATHE.

10. "Mais __!": OUI.  Une autre des leçons de français d'aujourd'hui.

11. Bakery by-products: AROMAS.

12. Coffee pastry: DANISH.  Culinary Misnomers

17. __ meteor: many an August streaker: PERSEID.

18. Italian term of affection: CARA MIA.

22. Chinese tea: CHA.  This solver first learned this when reading Noble House by James Clavell.

24. Mop (up): SOP.

25. Stop __ order: bad news on a construction site: WORK.

26. Cribbage marker: PEG.  Fifteen two, fifteen four and a pair is six.

27. More than most: ALL.  ALL would, indeed be more.

28. Additionally: TOO.

33. Rueful reply: SADLY NO.

35. Glacial calving result: ICE BERG.  Sometimes clued with reference to a salad.

37. "I'm Coming Out" singer: ROSS.

39. USDT division: IRS.

40. Take off the table?: EAT.

41. Reuben bread: RYE.

43. "Strangers in the Night" crooner: SINATRA.

44. Dodge pickup: RAM.

46. Supplies tunes, briefly: DJS.  Used here as verb . . . and what this blogger seems to be doing today.

47. Like drone footage: AERIAL.

48. Kitchen pad: BRILLO.

50. Got the ball rolling?: PUTTED.  A golf reference.

52. Game point?: ARCADE.  Not a tennis reference.  The point (place) where one plays pinball and other games.

54. Spurred (on): EGGED.

55. Stripes: BANDS.  As in BANDS of color.

59. Employ: HIRE.

60. Hip to: IN ON.

61. Athletic honor: ESPY.  Frequently awarded in our puzzles.

63. "The Incredible Hulk" star Ferrigno: LOU.

64. Aim: END.  As in "the ENDs justify the means" and, in another sense, a fitting final answer.

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