Thursday, December 2, 2021, Jeffrey Wechsler

 

Good morning, cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee, here, with a well-known animated "sea creature" to present a somewhat abbreviated recap.  This past week has been quite hectic what with Thanksgiving, several separate celebratory gatherings in honor of Valerie's (ahem, 31st) 39th birthday, Hanukkah gatherings, and a one-thousand mile drive from SoCal to Colorado.  All of this is welcomed, wonderful activity but, as a result, the time available to write and to unearth graphics has been far more limited than usual.

Today's puzzle setter is the prolific, and talented, Jeffrey Wechsler.  Today he has given us a puzzle with a FASTENER theme but without a reveal to tie it all together.  At four places within the grid Jeffrey has presented fastener homonyms in common, multi-word phrases that describe actions that might be undertaken.

17 Across:  Impress one's future employer, maybe: NAIL AN INTERVIEW

26 Across:  Gobble breakfast in one minute, say: BOLT DOWN A MEAL

43 Across:  Cause confusion and disarray: SCREW THINGS UP

55 Across:  Perform a sailing maneuver: TACK INTO THE WIND.

Coincidentally, I am reading a book about fasteners.  Riveting stuff.  And on that note, here are the other clues and answers:

Across:

1. Degas medium: PASTELS.  The French artist, Edgar Degas.

8. Panini cheese: ASIAGO.  Italian sandwich.  Italian cheese.

14. Examples of basic chemistry?: ALKALIS.  As in base, not acid.  An ALKAI is a type of base that can dissolve in water.

15. Libraries, often: LENDERS.  Of books.

19. First name in American folk music: PETE.  PETE Seeger

20. The Auld Sod: EIRE.  Ireland.  If lake ERIE doesn't do the job.

21. "__ did": "You caught me": SO I.  Punt.

22. Make restitution: ATONE.  We seem to do this often in our puzzles

24. Waits with a guitar: TOM.  Word play.  TOM Waits is a musician and songwriter.

25. Unsurpassed: BEST.  You're the Colosseum.  You're the Louvre Museum.

30. Wireless standard initials: LTE.  Look at the top of your cellphone screen.

31. __ Cabos: Baja area: LOS.  One of today's several geography lessons.

32. Seek information: ASK.  Inquire.

33. "I concur with that evaluation": YES IT IS.  How many iterations did it take to come up with this?

36. Counterpart of Row 1: COLUMN A.  Do we also get to choose two items from Column B?

40. Native American Heritage Mo.: NOV.  Abbreviated MOnth.  Abbreviated NOVember.

41. Women's campus gp.: SOR.  SORority.  Another punt.  Can constructors use the first three letter of any word?

42. Internet pioneer: AOL.  I still use an America On Line account for commercial email sources.

47. Hemingway moniker: PAPA.  Sobriquet.

49. __ Speedwagon: REO.  A truck in the 20's and 30's.  A rock band since 1967.

50. Maine college town: ORONO.  Often visited in crossword puzzles.

51. La Corse, par exemple: ILE.  French clue (the island of Corsica), French answer.

52. Key: MAIN.  Key as in music?  As in a lock?  As in an island?  Francis Scott?

54. Reindeer in "Frozen": SVEN.  SVEN, Elsa, Olaf and Anna have become crossword staples.

60. Cretan princess who aided Theseus: ARIADNE.  Went, first with MINI (52 Down) and Arianne.

61. Trivial detail: MINUTIA.  From Latin.  Interesting to see this word and the next in sequence.

62. Occupation: METIER.  From Old French (which is from Latin).

63. Gathering places for many unions: CHAPELS.  Not labor related.  Well, maybe nine months later.

Down:

1. Kitchen implement: PAN.  Not a pot this this time.

2. Inspired by: ALA.  A LA mode.  In the style of.

3. Winter Olympics equipment: SKI POLES.  I will likely be using a pair as you read this.

4. Skill: TALENT.  Aptitude.

5. Over the moon: ELATED.  Idiomatic.

6. Stanza part: LINE.  A line in a poem though STANZA sounds like a Nissan model.

7. Money for some AARP members: SSI.  Supplemental Security Income.

8. Nissan model: ALTIMA.  MAXIMA worked with three of the perps.  SENTRA with only one.

9. One looking ahead: SEER.  More word play.

10. Memo intro: IN RE.  Even in my coat and tie days I never started a memo with this.

11. Really, e.g.: Abbr.: ADV.  Really? Yes.  Used, here, as an ADVerb.

12. Real last name of Dr. Seuss: GEISEL.  Theodor (no final e) GEISEL

13. Circular snacks: OREOS.  Very often used.  Often chuckle at the myriad ways it is clued.

16. "M*A*S*H" actress: SWIT.  Loretta SWIT.  Major Margaret Houlihan.

18. Classic Vegas sights: NEONS.  First thought of SLOTS.

22. With dexterity: ABLY.  Deftly.

23. Roomy bag: TOTE.  Often clued as a promotional giveaway.

24. Ark units: TWOS.  What's a cubit?

25. Capital of Azerbaijan: BAKU.  Often visited here, but not as often as ORONO.

27. Green shade: OLIVE.   Many shades.  Few with five letters.

28. Native New Zealander: MAORI.  Frequent visitor to crossword puzzles.

29. Course concerned with idioms: Abbr.: ESL.  English as a Second Language.

34. Ancient Andean: INCA.  Atahualpa was one.

35. Blue Jays, in crawls: TOR.  TORonto.

36. Salmon variety: COHO.  Does Nova qualify?

37. Multi-use hardboard product: MASONITE.  Also an attorney in The Flintstones.  Perry Masonite.

38. Lamp, e.g.; light, only sometimes: NOUN.  Light can be used as a noun or as a verb or as an adjective.

39. Iams alternative: ALPO.  Dog food brands.

41. __ pad: STENO.  Crash? 

43. Hard cash?: SPECIE.  SPECIE is coined money.  Some times it's cold.

44. Jo, in "Little Women": WRITER.  Never read the novel.  Heard dozens of book reports on it.

45. Nine-day prayer ritual: NOVENA.  An ancient devotion.

46. Matured: GREW UP.  Crosses SCREW UP.

47. Hummus go-with: PITA.  The bread.  Not your bothersome co-worker.

48. Frighten: ALARM.  First tried SCARE.  The second A and the R worked.

52. Dress length: MIDI.  Went, first with MINI and Arianne.  Ariaxne was not considered.

53. Pulitzer novelist Tyler: ANNE.  Not Ann Taylor.

54. __ Tzu: dog breed: SHIH.  Best in show?

56. "Krazy __": KAT.  A comic book character.

57. Cinephile's TV choice: TMC.  The Movie Channel.  Not to be confused with TCM.

58. Soccer score word: NIL.  Zero.

59. Court figs.: DAS.  District AttorneyS

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HAVE A HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HANUKKAH

  Adam Sandler

          _______________________________________________________________________

Thursday, May 20, 2021, Jeffrey Wechsler

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists!  Malodorous Manatee, here.  Today, Betty Boop is kicking things off for us.  This is appropriate as it seems to be Women's Day in puzzle-land.  Betty is making certain that the occupants of that pink '57 Chevy are well fed prior to their road trip Down Route 66.

In an interesting twist, today's puzzle setter, our frequent visitor Jeffrey Wechsler, has placed the reveal at the last clue/answer - 66 Down.  At eight other places within the grid Jeffrey has inserted the last names of well-known Mrses, er Mrss, er Missuses, oh heck, Mesdames and, just to make make sure that we don't miss any of the highlights along the route, the clues for the theme answers are starred at least in the source I use (L A Times Online).

The straightforward reveal:  66 Down - Title for eight puzzle answers: MRS.

Another fine feature of today's puzzle is that the theme answers are neatly placed completely across the first row and the final row  The middle two rows are side to side except for the black squares.  Nice symmetry.

*1 Across - Historic barn owner: O'LEARY.  Although Mrs. Catherine O'LEARY denied the charge, her cow is, in legend and song, said to have started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 by knocking over a lantern in the shed .  The cause of the fire has never been determined.

*7 Across - Screen seductress: ROBINSON.  Mrs. ROBINSON from The Graduate (1967)

*38 Across - Dried spices brand: DASH.  Mrs. DASH

*39 Across - 1993 Williams role: DOUBTFIRE.  Robin Williams played Mrs. DOUBTFIRE in the eponymous motion picture.

*41 Across - Bart's teacher: KRABAPPEL.  Bart Simpson was (is, perpetually) in Mrs. Edna KRABAPPEL's 4th grade class at Springfield Elementary School.    Get it?  Edna Crab Apple.

*43 Across - Frozen fish brand namesake: PAUL.  Mrs. PAUL.

*69 Across - Virginia Woolf protagonist: DALLOWAY.  Mrs. DALLOWAY

*70 Across - Big name in cookies: FIELDS.  Mrs. FIELDS Original Cookies.

That takes care of our look at the themed answers.  Here are the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

15. "Peter Pan" playwright: BARRIE.

16. Intimate: ONE TO ONE.  ONE of two three-word answers in the puzzle.

17. Sells at a huge markup: SCALPS.

18. Modernize, as a factory: AUTOMATE.

19. Sorbonne summer: ETE.  Today's French lesson . . . . and one we have had many times before.

20. Sticker shock source, perhaps: Abbr.: MSRP.  Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

22. ESPN analyst who was a three-time A.L. MVP: AROD.  Alex RODriguez

23. Shakespeare's 154: SONNETS.

25. Small ammo: BBS

27. Tokyo's Yoko: ONO.  She appears very often in xword puzzles.

28. Color variant: HUE.

29. Classic ref. work: OED.  Oxford English Dictionary

32. "... some kind of __?": A NUT.

Sometimes You Feel Like A NUT -1980

35. Iridescent stones: OPALS.

37. Wages: PAY.

44. Continental trade org.: EEC.  The European Economic Community was created by The Treaty of Rome in 1957.  In 1993, The EEC was incorporated into the EU - the European Union.

45. Metal en una mina: PLATA.  Today's initial Spanish lesson.  Often clued as part of Montana's State Motto:  Oro y PLATA (Gold and Silver).

46. General's domain: ARMY.

47. One of many on today's phones: APP.

48. Word with luck or hole: POT.

49. Price __: WAR.  Price Club would not fit but Price Tag might be the three-letter answer on another day.

51. Qantas luggage tag letters: SYD.  The code for the SYDney, Australia airport for Qantas, and all other, airlines.

52. Mediterranean language: MALTESE.

56. Give a heads-up: WARN.  WARNing:  You might laugh yourself silly:

Bill Maher's Classic Film Warnings

59. BLT component: MAYO.  This mindless marine mammal initially thought that it had to be something to do with either Bacon. Lettuce or Tomato.  But no, it's MAYOnnaise.

60. L.A. commuter org.: MTA.  Metropolitan Transit Authority.  In L.A. it is actually called the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

61. Ornamental shrub: OLEANDER.  A popular shrub despite its toxicity.

64. Eastern philosophy: TAOISM.

67. Cloudy: OVERCAST.  Since we did not see these guys earlier, even though it was teed up at the Mrs. Robinson clue, we'll visit them now.

CLOUDY - Simon and Garfunkel (1967)

68. Old-timey stable groom: OSTLER.  By definition and, as pointed out in the clue, rarely heard these days.

Down:

1. Out of use: Abbr.: OBS.  OBSolete, I suppose.  Punt.

2. What slippers generally lack: LACES.

3. Bard's muse: ERATO.  ERATO is the muse of lyric poetry.

ERATO - Francois Boucher (1703 -1770) 

4. "Over the Rainbow" composer: ARLEN.  Harold ARLEN wrote this little ditty.

5. Tear: RIP.  Not tear as in to shed a tear.

6. Agreeable types: YES MEN.  It should have been YES woMEN, today.

7. Crowd approval: ROARS.  Or not.

8. "Come __!": loft dweller's invite: ON  UP.

9. Raise, say: BET.  A poker reference.

10. Skater Midori: ITO.

Midori Ito Conquers the Triple Axle

11. Eduardo's "Enough!": NO  MAS.  Today's second Spanish lesson.  I would have gone with Roberto in lieu of Eduardo.

November 25, 1980

12. Glide high: SOAR.

13. Aware of: ON TO.

14. Require: NEED.

21. Didn't draw a card: STOOD PAT.  Another poker reference.

24. Discontented: NOT HAPPY.

25. Light source: BULB.  . . . and often used to symbolize getting a new idea.

26. Majority (of): BEST PART.

28. Remove with trucks: HAUL  AWAY.  Also, a nautical reference.

Haul Away Joe

29. Kind of poppy: OPIUM.

The Wicked Witch of the West

30. Like an eager "bird": EARLY

31. Coloring agent: DYE.

32. Madison Ave. figure: AD REP.  AD something-or-other (ad rep, ad man, ad fee, ad rate, etc.) has become almost as ubiquitous in our puzzles as E-something-or-other.

33. Spingarn Medal org.: NAACP.  The award was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Springarn the then-chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

34. Modern sort of port: USB.  Universal Serial Bus

A Universal Cereal Bus

36. Sappho or Pindar: POET.

40. Partner of away: FAR. "FAR and away" is an idiomatic expression for for having surpassed something, or someone, to a great extent.

41. Mauna __: KEA.  We always have to wait a bit to see if the Hawaiian volcano is going to be KEA or Loa - but the A can go in immediately.  

42. Walk with effort: PLOD.

50. Much: A LOT OF.  Our second three-word answer.

51. Sound from a cornered cur: SNARL.

Betty Boop's Dog Bimbo

52. McFly in "Back to the Future": MARTY.

Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly

53. Overact: EMOTE.

Worst Informercial Acting Ever

54. Yet: STILL.

55. Simplified: EASED.

Ease His Pain

56. Timber: WOOD.

57. Part of TAE: ALVA.  Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor and holder of 1,093 patents including forms of 25 Down and 58 Down.

58. Projection booth item: REEL.

59. Southwestern sight: MESA.

62. Cpl., e.g.: NCO.  Non Commissioned Officer

63. Crow cousin: DAW.  A bird not often seen in crossword puzzles.

A Western Jackdaw

65. Just-thought link: AS I.  We have reached the end of today's recap . . . .

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Thursday, April 8, 2021, Jeffrey Wechsler

Good morning, cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with his friend Shaun the Sheep.  Shaun seems in fine fettle on this spring day.  Easter, Passover and Flauschink have all come and gone (until next year) and it's a good time to sit back, relax, sip a piña colada, or two, and contemplate today's theme.  After giving the matter some thought, Shaun has suggested that we start with the reveal:

34 Across: Palm fruit ... or what the creator of this puzzle's theme apparently is?: COCONUT.  As in COCONUT Palm.  Watch for falling objects!

Theme:  I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

Merv Griffin

 

Jeffrey Wechsler is a name quite familiar to those who hang out at the LAT Crossword Corner.  To say that he has constructed a shipload of puzzles published by the L.A. Times would be an understatement.   If I am not mistaken, this is his second within one week and his one hundred seventy-ninth overall.  For today's puzzle, Jeffrey has elected to riff on COCONUTS.  As he suggests in the reveal, Jeffrey has apparently gone cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs due to all the research and writing and punning and cluing and re-writing.  Then he has to sit back as editors second guess everything he has done.  Oy!  There certainly exists a correlation between all of this and one's mental well being.  Whether or not there is causality is a matter best left to the judgement of you, dear reader.

14 Across:  Attempted coup participants: CO-CONSPIRATORS.  A coup d'etat (French for "blow of state" as used, also, in final blow or "coup de grace") often shortened to "coup" is the seizure of a government and its powers.  In 1799, Napoleon and his CO CONSPIRATORS staged a successful coup against the ruling French Directory.  Napoleon was, himself, the intended target of a coup.  Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

Napoleon Bonaparte et Amis

20 Across:  Many an 18th-century painter: ROCOCO ARTIST.  ROCOCO is an elaborately ornamental style of painting.

42 Across:  Environmentally concerned: ECO CONSCIOUS.   ECO, ECO-friendly, and ECOlogical were added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2008.

51. Source of an organic fiber: SILKWORM COCOON.

Silkworm Cocoons on a Mulberry Leaf

Let us now take a look at the other clues and answers.  Puzzles are sort of like responsive reading, aren't they?

Across:

1. #1 Toto song that mentions the Serengeti: AFRICA.  Toto is a band originally formed in Los Angeles in 1977.  Depending on the source cited, the name came either from the canine in The Wizard of Oz or from the the phrase "in toto" meaning all encompassing and which was scrawled by the band, as a means of identification, on some of their early demo tapes.  The Serengeti is a region of AFRICA renown, among other things, for its large lion population.

7. Whittling, for one: CRAFT.

12. Wavy patterns in some op art: MOIRES.  Although it is a word that few of us have occasion to use, and as a plural on even fewer occasions, we do come across MOIRE not infrequently in puzzles.

13. Cool one's feet at streamside, say: DANGLE.  A shaman gave a man a potion for erectile dysfunction.  The instructions were to take only a single teaspoon and then count out loud:  one, two, three.  "How do I stop it from working?" asked the man.   "Say one, two, three, four" replied the shaman.   That evening when he and his wife were in the bedroom he followed the instructions.  His wife became quite excited and, while taking off her clothes, asked "What was the one, two, three for?"  This is why we should never end our sentences with a preposition.  We might end up with a dangling participle.

 

17. Stretching muscles: TENSORS.   Today's other anatomy lesson.

18. Iowa State city: AMES.  Alternatively, a State University location often seen in crossword puzzles.

24. Low-quality: POOR.

26. CFO's degree: MBA.  A company's  Chief Financial Officer might, or might not, hold a Masters of Business Administration degree.

UCLA Anderson School of Management

Class of 1979

27. Intelligence org.: NSA.  National Security Agency.  We need to be careful, and not be too hasty, because sometimes it turns out to be the National Security Council.

28. Form close ties (with): BOND.

29. "Let's have at it!": GAME ON.

Wayne's World

32. Point: AIM.

33. Circle segment: ARC.

35. __ dog: TOP.  TOP Dog means someone who is dominant, or apex, in their field.

36. Classic Pontiac: GTO.  Gran Tourismo Omologato loosely translates to Grand Touring Homologated (a vehicle, or engine, approved for sale or for a particular use).  I had a 1999 Suzuki SV650 motorcycle that was homologated  for sale in California.  When I went back to the dealer to ask why the owner's manual had me in shifting into sixth gear at 35 miles per hour when you could hit about 50 mph in first gear, the salesperson just smiled silently.

1969 Pontiac GTO

37. Not moving: AT REST.

38. Desires: YENS.

39. Bellows of "The Agency": GIL.  "The Agency" was a television show about the CIA.  GIL Bellows is an actor who appeared in that show and who also, among other roles, played Tommy in "The Shawshank Redemption" motion picture.

40. Dessert order: PIE.

41. Flower holders: BEDS.  A reasonable attempt to device us but the use of the plural meant the neither VASES nor STEMS was going to fit.  URNS would have fit but . . . .

47. Old Venetian judge: DOGE.  The DOGE's Palace, en Venezia Italia has many murals on its walls painted by Tiziano Vecellio who we know as Titian.  He was famous for his use of reds (the colors, not the barbiturates).

Doge Andrea Gritti by Titian

48. Catching a glimpse of: ESPYING.

There was a young lady named Hannah

Who slipped on a peel of banana

As she lay on her side more stars she espied

Than there are in the Star Spangled Banner

56. Most cunning: SLIEST.

57. When Rome wasn't built?: IN A DAY.  Per the old saw.  Rome was not built in a week either or, for example, was it built in the 10th century BCE.  It was, according to legend, founded on April 21st 753 BCE.

58. Weighty reading: TOMES.

59. Guiding principles: TENETS.

Down:

1. Film lover's TV option: AMC. Originally known as American Movie Classics, AMC Network debuted in 1984 and originally focused on airing motion pictures made prior to 1950.  As of 2015, almost 95,000,000 American households received the channel.

2. Pay, as a bill: FOOT.  The idiom "FOOT the bill" is derived from an earlier idiom: to "foot up" or total the items on a bill at the bottom, or foot, of the bill.  By the 1800's it had come to mean to pay the total at the foot of the bill.

3. It may be fried or puffed: RICE.

Fried

4. Piece of rebar, essentially: IRON ROD.  Rebar is short for reinforcing bar.

5. Suppress, in a way: CENSOR.

A Hayes Code Certificate

See 44 Down

6. Part of NAACP: Abbr.: ASSOC.   NAT'L would have left us a bit short so National ASSOCiation for the Advancement of Colored People it was.

7. Jaguar, e.g.: CAR.  It could have been CAT but Co Coconspitators would have been a real stretch.  Jeffrey used a different clue for CARs last Friday.

8. Genetic molecule: RNA.  RiboNucleic Acid acts as a messenger carrying instructions from DeoxyriboNucleic Acid.

9. Actor's rep.: AGT.  AGENT  One of about a dozen abbreviations in this puzzle - depending on what you chose to include.

10. Parade staple: FLOAT.

The "Animal House" Classic - 1978

11. Closed: TERMINATED.

The Terminator

13. Data storage medium: DISC.

15. Country club employee: PRO.   As in golf PROfessional.

16. Stretches on a couch?: SESSIONS.  A bit of misdirection.  Not stretches such as one might do before exercising but stretches as in lengths of time.    In this case, at a psychiatrist's office.

19. Some can be used forever--but only once: STAMPS.  A nice riddle.

21. Signs: OMENS.

22. In the neighborhood of: ABOUT.

23. Overblown critique: RANT.

What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us?

24. Elaborate entryways: PORTICOS.

25. Physician wearing a pink ribbon, perhaps: ONCOLOGIST.  

28. Like potato chips, often: BAGGED.

What's In The Bag?

29. Showed up: GOT IN.  Appeared wouldn't fit nor would arrived.  In fairness, showing up and getting in are not quite the same thing . . . except, perhaps, on Saturdays.

30. Farm measures: ACRES.

31. Curly slapper: MOE.  Hmmmm. let's see.  As clued, MOE Howard from the Three Stooges.  MOE Szyslak from "The Simpsons"?  Moe Green, Moe Drabowsky?  Naaah.  Let's go with our very own.

Chairman Moe

34. Crime boss: CAPO.

Carmine Sabatini and the Stock Market

38. "That's well within my abilities": YES I CAN.

41. How to receive a freebie, perhaps: BUY ONE.  A BUY ONE GET ONE Free offer sometimes appears in our puzzles.

43. Yo-Yo strings?: CELLO.  Yo-Yo Ma is a world-renown cellist.  I have had the pleasure of seeing him perform in person.  My favorite recordings are the ones he did with Mark O'Conner and Edgar Meyer.  O'Connor is a National Fiddle Champion and Mayer is the only  bassist ever to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize for outstanding achievement in classical music.

Chief Sitting In The Rain / College Hornpipe

44. Official doc.: CERT.  A candy mint?  A breath Mint?  Oh, it's a necessary-evil-let's-truncate-a-word-to-fit-the-grid moment.  Hey, it happens.  Official Document = CERTificate.  See, for example, 5 Down.

45. Belief system: ISM.  What is the correct way to pronounce nihilISM?  Doesn't matter.

46. In the previously mentioned work, briefly: OP CIT.  An abbreviation for OPus CItatum or OPere CItato.

49. Connection point: NODE.

50. Initialism for Tom Brady, according to most: GOAT.  GOAT is often used to denote the player who's  blunder causes a sports team to lose a game.  In another context, as used here, it becomes the acronym Greatest Of All Time.  Polar opposites.

52. 2000s toon heroine __ Possible: KIM.  I am familiar with many animated series but I did not know this one.  Fortunately, the answer was only three letters.  Thanks, perps.

53. Tiny: WEE.

Wee Willie Winkie

54. CIA predecessor: OSS.  The Office of Strategic Services

55. Finger Lakes locale: Abbr.: NYS.  New York State.  For the second time in a row, the puzzle I recap ends with a punt.

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MM OUT