Good morning, Cruciverbalists . . . and what a nice morning it is here! What's happenin' wordsmiths? What's in store for us today? What's with this puzzle? Exactly.
Malodorous Manatee here with the post-puzzle recap. Today's puzzle setter, making (I believe) her LAT debut, is the highly accomplished Katherine Baicker. Here is a link to her Wikipedia page:
Despite the obvious depth and breadth of her experience, here, today, Katherine asks only a single, simple question. That question is not Who, Why or Where (except, maybe, for 27 Across) but, simply, WHAT. The reveal is found at 39 Across:
39 Across: Rhetorical strategy of countering an accusation with another accusation, and an apt description of the answers to the starred clues: WHATABOUTISM. It means to twist criticism back on the initial critic. The short version: "I know you are but what am I?"
The word WHAT is split evenly in half and the WH and AT bracket the multi-word themed answers. The word WHAT could be said to be ABOUT the answers (as in "There are challenges all about (around) us.") The structure of the theme is similar to last Thursday's puzzle but today's is simpler because the identical broken-up word pattern is repeated. When I saw the IS of WHISKEY I thought, for a brief moment that we would find ISM in the middle of the bracketing. That would have been quite impressive but 'twas not to be.
Here are the starred clues/answers:
18 Across: *Easy order for a bartender: WHISKEY NEAT. Nothing simpler to pour. Straight. No ice. No mixer. No lime wedge. No umbrella.
27 Across: *The place to be, informally: WHERE IT'S AT. Let me show you . . .
The Dave Clark Five - 1965
55 Across: *Toast choice: WHOLE WHEAT. Not a wedding tradition. Bread. Not money bread but food bread.
64 Across: *"Is it almost time for dinner?": WHEN DO WE EAT.
And now, with apologies to Paul Harvey, for the rest of the story:
Across:
1. First lady Biden: JILL. Not to be confused with the first lady. Eve.
15. On a cruise: ASEA. What do the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and reading have in common? Both are literacy (litter ASEA).
16. Couple: PAIR UP. Used as a verb. To become a couple.
17. "Mon __!": DIEU. Today's French lesson. OMG!
20. Rare blood type, briefly: B NEG. "Briefly" tips us off that neither NEGative nor POSitive will be called for. Also, we can be pretty sure that the answer will start with A, B or O.
21. B'way passes: TIX. Slang for tickets.
22. Blasting material: TNT. TriNitroToluene.
23. "Oh, brother!": YEESH. Just a wee bit of a punt. Still, easier to suss out than its crossing partner, 23 Down.
24. "It __ meant to be": WASN'T.
29. "Invisible Man" novelist: ELLISON.
31. Galoot: OAF.
32. Bygone airline: TWA. So many from which to choose but few with three letter.
33. Online journal: BLOG. Meta?
34. __ Eats: UBER. The food/restaurant delivery service.
37. "Happy now?": SEE. "I told ya!"
43. Up to, in ads: TIL. UnTIL
44. U2 lead singer: BONO. A well known celebrity.
45. Mall event: SALE. The sporting goods store at my local mall recently had a big SALE on rowing implements. It was quite the oar deal.
48. Overly: TOO. "Oh that this too, too solid flesh would melt." Hamlet.
51. Tattle (on): RAT. . . and 69. Tattled (on): TOLD. The first of two sets of clues paired this way.
53. Early stage: INFANCY.
59. Paul of "Bewitched": LYNDE. Also known for his appearances on Hollywood Squares.
60. Some map dots: ISLES.
61. College domain: EDU. An internet reference.
62. Playpen party: TOT. Not party as in a celebration. The party of the first part.
63. Lee with a posthumous cameo in "Avengers: Endgame": STAN.
73. "What a shame": IT'S SAD. Might this refer to the number of things-people-could-say clues used today?
74. Fig or olive: TREE. TREE, clued this way, could have been clued with approximately sixty thousand other words. Fortunately, we've seen this gimmick before.
Down:
1. Moose __, Saskatchewan: JAW.
Mac The Moose - Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
2. "Give or take": ISH. Punt
3. Floral wreath: LEI.
4. Yesterday evening: LAST NIGHT.
Traveling Wilburys
5. Climber's goal: APEX. ACME was also a reasonable guess.
6. Blu-__ Disc: RAY.
7. Closer's inning: NINTH. A baseball reference.
8. Adler called "the woman" by Sherlock Holmes: IRENE. A not infrequent visitor.
9. Dos y dos: CUATRO. Today's Spanish and math mashup. 2 + 2 = 4
10. Suitable: APT. Anyone presently looking for an APT 2-bedroom apt.?
11. "__ on it": "You can be sure": I'D BET.
12. Best: FINEST.
Winston Churchill
13. Experience schoolyard highs and lows?: SEESAW.
The Moody Blues - Not 1968
14. Should, informally: OUGHTA.
19. Hobby shop buys: KITS. Sometimes clued as young foxes.
23. Liu who plays the title role in 2020's "Mulan": YIFEI. What? Who?
24. Organic flytrap: WEB. Spider WEB.
25. More than most: ALL. All is certainly more than most.
26. Boring: SLOW. If I had a dollar for every time someone called me a boring nerd I'd have a mean daily income of $6.54 with a standard deviation of $1.25.
27. Sparks org.: WNBA. Women's National Basketball Association
28. Singer Sheena: EASTON.
30. Ban: OUTLAW. Used as a verb.
35. Tidal movement: EBB and 54. Tidal movement: FLOW. The second set of clues paired like this. Brava.
36. Joey of kiddie lit: ROO. Kanga's child. A joey is a baby kangaROO
Kanga and Roo
38. Final thoughts?: ESSAY TEST. A final exam might have an essay component.
40. Buenos __: AIRES. Argentina. Neither NOCHES, nor TARDES nor DIAS would have fit.
41. Hand or foot: UNIT. Cute. Body parts, too. A hand is a unit, now standardized at 101.6 mm but based on the breadth of a human hand, used to measure the height of horses.
42. "Mental Illness" Grammy winner Aimee: MANN.
46. HDTV choice: LCD. Liquid Crystal Display. It could have been a brand name (e.g. NEC, JVC, RCA).
47. __ shadow: EYE.
48. Unexpected endings: TWISTS.
49. "I'm blushing!": OH STOP.
50. "Fancy!": OOLALA. More often spelled this way:
52. Southern California chain known for pastrami: THE HAT. I'm a native of SoCal and I have spent more than a few hours at the (pellet) grill but I had never heard of this restaurant.
Photo and Pastrami by MM
56. Lets use for now: LENDS.
57. Ideal places: EDENS.
58. Some matriarchs: AUNTS.
62. "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck: TODD. The show debuted in 1947 and there have been only eleven permanent moderators in all this time.
64. 1910s conflict, for short: WWI. World War (Roman Numeral) One
65. Narc's org.: DEA. Two
66. Unit of corn: EAR. Three
67. Get on in years: AGE. Four
68. Simple shirt: TEE. Five. The last of five three-letter answers to (almost) wrap things up.
Buenos dias, y feliz cinco de mayo, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here at the 19th hole. That's a good place to be today as a cerveza or two would certainly help get through all the verbiage that follows. I have tried to pare it down but this was a puzzle that I found to be more easily solved than succinctly explained.
The Northeast quadrant sets the stage for today's outing with a single pair of intersecting clues/answers. Fore!
11 Down: With 16-Across, 9-, 37-, or 71-Across, for any given hole: GOLF, and
16 Across: See 11-Down: SCORE.
Apparently, we will reveal themed answers, strewn about the puzzle, that riff on GOLF SCOREs . Let's see how this plays.
At three places within the grid our puzzle setter, Ashleigh Silveira (in what may be her LAT debut), has placed answers that are terms for taking either more, or fewer, strokes than par to complete a hole of golf. For the non-golfers among you, each hole in golf has a par determined by the course architect or by the golf course PGA pro. This is the number of strokes you are supposed to take to play the hole. This means that on a Par Four hole you are expected to hit a tee shot and then land your second shot on the putting green. Your are then given two putts to make your par. On a Par Three hole you are expected to land your tee shot on the green and then two-putt for your par.
Here are the GOLF SCORE terms found within the puzzle:
9 Across: Term illustrated by the starts of 39- and 44-Across: BOGEY.
37 Across: Term illustrated by the starts of 17- and 20-Across: BIRDIE.
71 Across: Term illustrated by parts of 61- and 67-Across: EAGLE.
At three other places within the grid we find the definitions of the above terms. These definitions are given in a clever manner.
A BOGEY is the term, in golf, for taking one more stroke than par to complete the hole. At 39 and 44 Across we see that we have the word ONE positioned directly above (over) the word PAR.
Therefore, we have: ONE over PAR = BOGEY
A BIRDIE is the term for taking one less stroke than par. At 17 and 20 Across we see that we have the word ONE positioned directly below (under) the word PAR.
Therefore, we have ONE under PAR = BIRDIE
An EAGLE is the term for taking two less strokes than par. At 61 and 67 Across we see that we have the word TWO positioned directly below (under) the word PAR.
Et voila, we have TWO under PAR = EAGLE
As the saying goes, one picture is worth a thousand words so let's take a look at how all of this appears in the finished puzzle:
Across:
1. Ewes' guys: RAMS. An ovine reference. Ashleigh, or Patti, could have gone with a reference to the recent Superbowl champions. As it is, the clue is a nice riff on gangster movie slang.
5. Jazz great James: ETTA. A frequent visitor.
14. Director Kazan: ELIA. A frequent visitor.
15. Some skinny jeans: LEES. LEVIS wouldn't quite fit.
17. __ paper: baking layer: PARCHMENT. Often used to prevent sticking and/or burning.
19. DuVernay film set in Alabama: SELMA.
Ava DuVernay
20. Diamond gems: ONE HITTERS. Misdirection. A baseball, not jewelry, reference.
22. Way, way off: AFAR.
23. Mood-stabilizing hormone: SEROTONIN. Also known as 5-Hydroxytryptamine but that wouldn't fit the allotted space.
25. Ante-: PRE. When used as a PREfix. Both meaning before.
28. Solidify: SET. Hand up for GEL as an initial guess.
29. California's Big __: SUR. A geography reference. From the Spanish "el país grande del sur" the big country of the south.
A Three Minute (Not Three Hour) Tour
30. Place for a stay: INN. The worst motel I ever stayed at was called "The Fiddle". It was a vile INN.
33. Souvlaki meat: LAMB. Do the "folks" at 1 Across know about this?
35. Put away the groceries?: EAT. Colloquialism
39. Outwit: ONE UP. Colloquialism
41. Cybergiggle: LOL. Laugh Out Loud
43. Dirties: SOILS.
44. Package: PARCEL.
46. Director Anderson: WES. Among other films he directed The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, Rushmore and The Fantastic Mr. Fox.
48. Symbol on the Flash's chest: BOLT. Lightning BOLT. The Flash himself visited us last Friday.
49. Farm pen: STY.
50. Siete menos cinco: DOS. Today's second Spanish lesson. Seven minus five equals two.
52. Cable channel with a "superstar" wine club: TCM. Turner Classic Movies Apparently, some now advocate pairing certain wines with certain movies. Pass.
54. Univ. aides: TAS. Teaching AssisstantS. Yet another pluralized abbreviation.
55. Initiates legal action: FILES SUIT.
58. Red outside, maybe: RIPE. See also 58 Down. Nice cluing.
61. Complex units: APARTMENTS. Rental units in an apartment complex.
65. Watchdog breed: AKITA.
Not So Scary
67. Cheaters: TWO TIMERS. To deceive or double cross. Usually used with reference to infidelity.
68. Kidney-related: RENAL.
69. "__ cost you!": IT'LL.
70. Bog fuel: PEAT. Sometimes PEAT smoke is used to stop the malting process. This makes for some very tasty whisky. Just ask my friend Shaun The Sheep.
72. Kenneth of fashion: COLE.
73. Dessert brand: EDY'S.
Down:
1. Default action, briefly: REPO. REPOsession. That's what happens when the demon returns after the initial exorcism.
2. "Einstein's Dreams" novelist Lightman: ALAN. Years ago I read a roadtrip book called Driving Einstein's Brain. The title is self-explanatory.
3. Swampy land: MIRE.
4. Goldman __: SACHS. Investment bankers.
5. Target of some bark beetles: ELM TREE.
6. Stay dry?: TEETOTAL. Dry as in no alcohol.
7. Core belief: TENET.
8. Team that lost the 2019 World Series to the Nationals: ASTROS. Another baseball reference. The team that won the 2017 World Series has been dubbed the Houston Asterisks.
9. Some coll. degrees: BSS. We also saw this answer exactly two weeks ago.
10. "Channel Orange" Grammy winner Frank: OCEAN.
Frank Ocean
12. Writer Bombeck: ERMA. I often forget if it's ERMA or EMMA.
13. 2022, e.g.: YEAR. Not EVEN?
18. Goes quickly: HIES.
21. Slight: SNUB. The clue is not an adjective.
24. Mystery writer Johansen: IRIS. She has written many, many books.
25. Falls heavily: PLOPS.
Plop Plop Fizz Fizz
26. Charged: RAN AT. One of those answers where you find yourself wondering, upon reviewing your work, what the heck is a RANAT?
27. __ board: EMERY. First thought of SKATE.
30. "Canadian __": "Weird Al" parody of a Green Day song: IDIOT. A parody of the Green Day song "American Idiot".
(Some of) Weird Al's Greatest Hits
31. Nabisco wafer brand: NILLA.
32. Mouse pads?: NESTS. Misdirection. We were supposed to think of the computer peripherals. What kind of work does a mouse do? Mousework.
34. Tampa NFLer: BUC. The BUCcaneers of the National Football League
36. Haul: TOW.
38. Corddry of HBO's "Ballers": ROB. Not familiar with him. Thanks, perps.
40. Mani-__: PEDI.
42. "Time to bounce": LETS ROLL. The Urban Dictionary tells us that BOUNCE can mean "to arrive at or leave a destination". New to this marine mammal.
45. 1970 Kinks hit: LOLA. LOLA can be found at the 2:33 mark below.
53. "The Emancipation of __": Mariah Carey album: MIMI.
55. Prenatal: FETAL. Note the prefix.
56. Took care of: SAW TO.
57. ASU's home: TEMPE. TEMPE, Arizona
58. Red inside, maybe: RARE. See also 58 Across. Nice.
59. SUNDVIK baby furniture retailer: IKEA. Never heard of SUNDVIK but what else could the answer be? Please pass the meatballs.
60. __-pong: PING. First thought of BEER
62. Requirement: NEED.
63. Highchair surface: TRAY.
64. Retired jets: SSTS. Planes often seen flying around in crosswords puzzles. Yet another pluralized abbreviation (Four letters, three being S. Quite useful for a constructor).
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