Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with a recap of a Friday puzzle constructed by Lewis Rothlein. Per the NYT a couple of years ago, LewisRothlein is a yoga instructor and jazz piano enthusiast in Asheville, N.C. He has had puzzles previously published in both the NYT and the LAT.
This solver found today's offering to be challenging and enjoyable. A number of the clue / answer combinations required some cogitation - not because they were obscure but because one had to dig a bit deeper than usual into the cranial data base.
There is no reveal/unifier in today's puzzle. At four places within the grid Lewis breaks common words into two pieces and this "division" is incorporated into the manner in which the clue must be interpreted in order to conjure up the correct response. Here are the four themed clues and answers:
17 Across: Pa ss: SPLIT TICKET. Neither pass as in a gap in the mountains nor Pass as in to do well on a school exam. As used in the clue, Pass means a way to get into a concert or a sporting event. SPLIT TICKET voting is when a voter votes for candidates from different parties in the same election, as opposed to straight-ticketvoting. Here, though, the Ticket has been literally been split.
25 Across: Fi rm: PARTED COMPANY. Not firm as in solidified. In the clue it is used in the sense of a business entity. . . and in this instance the entity has been PARTED like the Red Sea. PARTING COMPANY, of course, most often is used in a different context.
43 Across: Shis hito: CRACKED PEPPER. Shishito is a type of pepper although it is not the type of pepper that is commonly CRACKED. In the clue, the pepper has been cracked in half.
56 Across: Bo nds: SEVERED TIES. Not bonds as in financial instruments. Bonds as in the ties that bind. SEVERED TIES is quite similar to PARTED COMPANY, above.
This is how it all looks in the grid:
. . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Creature of Jewish folklore: GOLEM. In Jewish folklore, a GOLEM is an artificial humanoid made of clay, soil, or dust brought to life by a series of rituals and magical formulas. According to legend, GOLEMs could only be created by a powerful rabbi.
6. Verb with thou: SAYST. A variation of SAYEST. A hand up here for first trying SHALT.
11. __ bar: FIG. SAND was too long as was OYSTER.
14. Slightly in front: UP ONE. Not physically ahead of the pack. UP ONE as in a sports score.
15. Intercontinental range: URALS. Separating Europe and Asia.
16. Soundless messaging syst.: ASL.
19. Dark site of the moon?: SEA. SEAS, or mares, on the moon are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by lava flowing into ancient impact basins. They were dubbed maria (Latin for 'seas') by early astronomers who mistook them for actual seas.
20. Members of a sub group: HOAGIES. Not a reference to religious sects or to underwater vessels. A sandwich reference.
21. Like overripe bananas: SPOTTED. Not in the optical sense. More like a leopard.
23. "Embrace the glorious __ that you are": Elizabeth Gilbert: MESS. Elizabeth Gilbert is
an American journalist and author. She is best known for her 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love
24. Dressage pace: TROT. From Wikipedia, Dressage is a form of horse riding and an equestrian sport that aims to develop the horse's natural athletic ability and willingness to perform.
30. Formal, in a way: DRESSY. Interesting with DRESSY following Dressage.
32. Sought office: RAN.
33. Fruit in some gin: SLOE.
34. Overlord of the rings, for short?: IOC. Not a LOTR reference. The Olympic Rings.
35. "That's gonna leave a mark!": OOF. Punt!
36. Family: KIN. When asked if he had family in Salt Lake City, Robert de Niro replied,"Utah kin to me?"
37. Egg pouches: SACS.
39. Co-worker of Jamie, Alan, and Mara, in Progressive ads: FLO. This solver thought that is was kind of the constructor/editor to choose the most-well-know of the group for the answer. What did you think?
40. Planters: SOWERS. As ye SOW so shall ye reap.
46. Blasted: DARN. Not a reference to an explosion. As slangy clue with a slangy answer.
47. __ bene: NOTA. NOTAbene is a Latin phrase meaning "mark well" or "note well". It is used to call attention to something important in a text or speech.
48. Skating hazard: THIN ICE. Literally. The expression is more often seen as an idiom.
51. Comic-con attendee with pointy ears, maybe: TREKKIE. A Star Trek reference
55. Feel sick: AIL. What does one say upon seeing a sick redhead? Ginger ail.
58. Org. with Kings and Knights: NHL.
59. Switch: TRADE. As in:
60. Aquarium fish: TETRA. A frequent visitor.
61. Slime: GOO. Punt-ish.
62. Campaign topic: ISSUE. I told my boss, “Sorry I’m late. I was having computer ISSUEs. Boss: Hard drive? Me: No, the commute was fine. It’s my laptop.
63. Caravan rest stops: OASES.
Down:
1. Rhapsodize: GUSH.
2. Intel collected during a race: OPPO. Truncated clue, truncated answer. A political race. OPPO is damaging information about a political candidate that is gathered and used or made public usually by an opponent's camp.
3. "Copacabana" showgirl: LOLA. Okay. If we're headed down this road we might as well go with the over-the-top version.
4. Hard-to-read people: ENIGMAS.
5. Fortes: METIERS.
6. Word on some European notes: SUISSE. Seen on Euro notes that feature Switzerland.
7. Shape made with a pencil and string: ARC. A rudimentary compass.
8. Jaws: YAKS. Not a reference to mandibles. Idioms for talking too much. Not a reference to these:
9. Didn't answer immediately: SLEPT ON. As in the colloquialism to "sleep on it".
10. Brief weather event?: T-STORM. "Brief" in the clue tips us off that the answer will be a-brief-iated.
11. Slick one: FAST TALKER. The meaning of FAST-TALK is to influence or persuade by fluent, facile, and usually deceptive or tricky talk.
12. Words of understanding: I SEE.
13. Willing (to): GLAD. As in "I'd be GLAD to help you with that."
18. Petulant: TESTY.
22. Best or bests: TOPS. The first word of the clue is an adjective. The second is a verb.
25. Minor offense: PECCADILLO. Anyone recall previously seeing PECCADILLO in a puzzle?
26. Wilt: DROOP.
27. Half-__: latte spec: CAF.
28. Cain genre: NOIR. A reference to James M. Cain. Perhaps best known for the novels Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice.
29. Urges: YENS. Not used as a verb as in to pressure someone to do something. The urges, themselves.
30. __ jockey: DISC.
31. Laugh good and hard: ROAR.
35. Word with hand or saw: OLD.
38. Get the drift, perhaps: SCAN. A bit of a stretch. Apparently used as in to quickly peruse.
39. Folks who might say, "Curses! Foiled again!"?: FENCERS. Not FENCERS as in those enclosing a yard. A sword fighting reference. A foil is a type of sword.
40. Botanical reproductive unit: SPORE. How mushroom does a SPORE need?
41. Decided in favor of: OPTED TO.
42. Underwhelming argument: WEAK TEA. Idiomatic.
44. Skating great Yamaguchi: KRISTI. The name was known. The spelling was aided by the perps.
45. Menu selection: ENTREE. I recently made a delicious European breakfast entree, but when I finished eating it I had a stomach ache. It was a Belchin Waffle.
48. Kick: TANG. As in "this dish has quite a kick to it."
49. Chipper greeting: HI HO.
50. Some NASA missions: EVAS. ExtraVehicular ActivitieS What we used to call spacewalks.
52. Many Ikea purchases, essentially: KITS. Put it together yourself.
57. Gettysburg address feature?: EDU. At first this solver thought that this was just plain wrong. Got the web address part of it but every Gettysburg-related site I dug out ended with EDU or GOV. Then Gettysburg College in, of course, Gettysburg, PA was "discovered".
Good day, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here wishing everyone a Merry Xmas Eve Eve and a Happy 5th day/upcoming 6th night of Chanukah.
Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song
Today's puzzle setter is Lewis Rothlein. On August 13, 2022, Husker Gary recapped one of Lewis' puzzles and provided some biographical information on the author. Here is a link to that: 13 August 2022 LAT Crossword Corner. Lewis has also had puzzles published in a well-known east coast newspaper.
Today, Lewis plays with his words by adding an additional word to the middle of a common compound word or expression and, thereby, completely changing the original meaning. Let's start with the reveal which does a good job of describing what is going on:
35 Across: Pivotal element, and what each word in quotes in the starred clues literally is to its answer?: CENTERPIECE.
A CENTERPIECE usually graces a table at, say, a wedding or a company holiday party. In this case, thought Lewis uses it as the center (as in between) point between two other words.
Here are the themed clues/answers:
17 Across: *Begin to chase, with "off": TAKE AFTER. If you TAKE AFTER someone you emulate them. If you TAKE OFF AFTER someone you chase them.
24 Across: *Try to delay, with "for": PLAY TIME. PLAY TIME is, of course, a time for having fun. If you PLAY FOR TIME you are stalling,
47 Across: *Gaining prominence, with "and": UPCOMING. An UPCOMING event will be here soon. If you are UP AND COMING your fame and/or fortune is ascendant
55 Across: *Do some creative accounting, with "the": COOKBOOKS. We all love COOKBOOKS here on the Corner but if you COOK THE BOOKS you may be committing a felony. Hi SBF! Did you have a good year?
Here is how this all looks in the grid:
Across:
1. Common foundation: SLAB. A common and cost effective way to build. Just hope that you never need to access the plumbing embedded in the SLAB.
5. Singer in the biopic "Walk the Line": CASH. Johnny Cash. The title of the biopic was taken from the eponymous title of the song (written by Johnny R Cash).
9. 1980s cloning target: IBM PC. Hand up for first thinking of DOLLY the SHEEP. Burn those ROM.
14. Coil in a garden: HOSE. Fortunately, not a garden (garter) snake.
15. "The __ for home lives in all of us": Angelou: ACHE. Not familiar with the poem but it was not too hard to suss once a perp or two kicked in.
16. Half a comedy duo: MEARA. So many duos from which to choose (Chong, Lewis, Burns, Allen, etc. but the puzzle setter went with Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.
On The Carol Burnett Show
19. "Your table's ready" buzzer: PAGER.
20. Illuminates: EDIFIES.
21. Seductive quality: ALLURE. The world's first great fisherman possessed something that no one before him ever had. ALLURE.
23. One ensuring accuracy on a grand scale?: TUNER. As in tuning a Grand Piano.
26. Vare Trophy org.: LPGA.
27. Praises: LAUDS.
29. Up to, briefly: 'TIL. Un TIL
30. Start of an adage about humanity: TO ERR.
32. Solar __: SYSTEM. PLEXUS would have fit the allotted space.
37. Emergency signals: FLARES.
39. WWII Polish resistance hero Sendler: IRENA. Born 15 February 1910. Under the pretext of conducting sanitary inspections she, and others within the Social Welfare Department, snuck food, clothing and other necessities into the Warsaw Ghetto. She helped smuggle out residents when the liquidation of the population within the Ghetto was ordered. She was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and sentenced to death by firing squad. She escaped this fate because the guards escorting her were bribed and she "escaped".
40. Illuminated: LIT.
41. Country roads: LANES. Today's let's pass on the John Denver moment.
43. Coarse file: RASP.
50. Revere alternative: BY SEA. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere is a poem by Henry Wadswoth Longfellow. It contains the lines:
51. Rumbled, as thunder: ROLLED.
52. Less tender: TOUGHER.
54. McCartney of Wings: LINDA. Paul was too short. He's about 5'10" tall.
57. Broke off: ENDED. I broke up with a girl once because she was having hallucinations. She said, "I can't see you anymore." Which was weird because I was standing right in front of her. Then she said, "You don't understand. I'm seeing someone else." Which was really odd because there were just the two of us in the room. I had to break it off after that.
58. Exhort: URGE.
59. Layered cookie: OREO. How do I clue thee? Let me count the ways.
60. Torment: AGONY. Tom Lehrer on the subject:
The Masochism Tango
61. Walked (on): TROD.
62. Laura of "Big Little Lies": DERN.
Down:
1. Type of village in Isaac Bashevis Singer stories: SHTETL. Yiddish for town.
2. Pack, as a moving van: LOAD UP.
3. __ price: ASKING.
4. Tower of London figure: BEEFEATER. Not, for example, the height or age of the tower,
5. Cozy eatery: CAFE.
6. Show parts: ACTS. A part of a show. E.G. ACT two Scene three.
7. Pop duo __ & Him: SHE. Unfamiliar with this duo outside of crossword puzzles.
9. Intimate: IMPLY. Not intimate (accent on the first syllable) as in close (as in near by not as in shut). Intimate (accent on the final syllable) as in to hint at. Isn't the English language a real . . .
10. Corker: BEAUT.
11. "The Treachery of Images" painter: MAGRITTE. Call it art and that's what it becomes. Rene MAGRITTE.
12. Early delivery: PREEMIE. Natal reference not UPS or FEDEX.
13. Wheels: CAR. Slang.
18. Cause of inflation: AIR. Literally, not financially.
22. Scottish girls: LASSIES. I choose to believe in female minotaurs. It's a lass half bull mindset.
24. Good vibrations?: PURRING. See also 35 Down.
25. Dartboard wood: ELM.
27. Leaves be: LETS LIE.
28. "All bets __ off": ARE.
31. Common Scrabble tile value: ONE.
33. Nikkei index currency: YEN. The Nikkei is Japan's equivalent of the NYSE.
34. Impressive and then some: SCARY GOOD.
35. Tower for a pet who likes to climb and hide: CAT CONDO.
36. Not post-: PRE. PRE means before and POST means after. To use both at the same time would be preposterous.
37. Target of an annual vaccine: FLU.
38. Facial piercing: LIP RING
42. Scene-ending phrase: AND CUT. Hollywood-ese.
44. Washed up, maybe: ASHORE. Cute. Washed Up, of course has its own meaning - to be no longer skillful or successful. In this case washed ASHORE.
45. One on a quest: SEEKER.
46. Marrying sort?: PARSON. I could have gone with Parson Brown from the song "Winter Wonderland" but instead chose this John Forster song (it'll become clear with the last line):
48. Of yore: OLDEN. What was the major activity of OLDEN day peasants? Serfing.
49. Word said with a curtsy: M'LADY.
50. Buster: BUB. MAC PAL BRO
52. Like drive-thru orders: TO GO.
53. Authorized: OK'ED.
54. Place to ruminate: LEA. Not ruminate as in to turn a matter over in your mind. Ruminate as in to chew cud, the source of the previous idiomatic use of the word. LEA = pasture or meadow.
56. "Catch-22" pilot who crashes repeatedly: ORR. Often clued with the hockey player. In this case, a reference to the Joseph Heller novel.
Lewis Rothlein, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle, its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the comments section below. We'd love to hear from you.
That's all for today's recap. Have a great weekend, everyone.
