Thursday, July 29, 2021, Gary Larson

 

Good morning, cruciverbalists!  Malodorous Manatee here with the post-puzzle recap.

Today, Gary Larson returns to The Los Angeles Times with a very straightforward theme,  As you probably already know from solving the puzzle or, if you have yet to complete the puzzle, from the presence of the gentlemen above, we greet this Thursday with the strains of a traditional BARBERSHOP QUARTET.

Each of the four themed answers contain a word for an item that one might find at a Barbershop.   I believe that they call this a "Partial Entry, Category Member" type of theme.

Here is the reveal, followed by the themed answers:

60 Across:  Where to find the ends of 17-, 25-, 36- and 49-Across: BARBERSHOP.  Or, if you prefer, BARBER SHOP.  A quick bit of web searching reveals that both one word and two words are acceptable.

17 Across.  One of the only two NBA teams that share an arena: LA CLIPPERS.  The team currently shares Staples Center (used as a clue two days ago) with the Los Angeles Lakers but the CLIPPERS are building a new arena in Inglewood, CA.  Oddly, Inglewood is where the Lakers used to play.  The Phoenix Suns defeated both the Clippers and the Lakers in the NBA playoffs this year.

25 Across.  Hive feature: HONEY COMB.

Jimmie Rogers with Dick Clark

36 Across:  Simplicity-based problem-solving principle: OCCAMS RAZOR.

49 Across:  Nevada state flower: SAGE BRUSH.

While the theme was quite straightforward, some of the clues were less so.  However, we do get quite a few crossword "staples" to ease our way.  Let us, now, take a look at the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Letters in a water molecule diagram: HOH.  We commonly refer to water as Aitch Two Oh.

4. Slip by: ELAPSE.  Ah, the classics:  "As Time Elapses" -  Play it, Sam.   "Funny, How Time Elapses"   - Willie Nelson.  "Elapse Elapsin' Away" - Paul Simon

10. Cook's protector: MITT.

14. Vincent's agent in "Entourage": ARI.  ARI Gold is the name of a character in the television show.

15. Light cotton fabric: MADRAS.  When I was in Junior High School, madras shirts, with their distinctive tartan-esque patterns (and, yes, MADRAS and tartan are not the same), were all the rage.  Bitchen!

16. Actor Sharif: OMAR.  What?  You were expecting Dr. Yuri Zhivago?

19. Web __: PAGE.  Could have been SITE.  Or, FOOT.

Webster Webfoot

20. Happens: OCCURS.  Synonym.

21. Put on weight: GAIN.

23. Getaway: LAM.  From the idiom "Take it on the LAM" meaning to flee or escape.

24. Pre-High Holy Days Hebrew month: ELUL.  The months ELUL and ADAR often appear in crossword puzzles.  Fifty percent vowels.

27. Exit via the jetway: DEPLANE.  An intransitive verb meaning to disembark from an airplane.  DESHIP?  See also 66 Across.

30. Stand for something: EASEL.  Noun or verb?  Verb or noun?  Take a principled position?  Nope.  Something on which to put something such as a painting. 

31. Dazzling displays: ECLATS.  The clue defines the answer.

35. Distribute: METE.  Also, a hockey player - Victor METE.

39. Gaucho's weapon: BOLA.

41. Take on: ASSUME.  ASSUME often takes on a different meaning such as "suppose to be the case without sufficient evidence".  I assume that, in this case, it is used as in "to assume the role of".

42. Engineer Citroën: ANDRE.  I never knew his first name.  Thanks perps.

The Eponymous Citroën Deux Chevaux

44. Mix drinks: TEND BAR.

53. Fayetteville sch.: U OF A.  The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

54. NBC skit show: SNL. Saturday Night Live often airs in our puzzles.

55. Outplay: BEST.  BEST, in this instance, is used as a verb although it can also be used as an adjective, adverb or noun.  If you defeat the reigning  champion did you BEST the BEST?  Could the highlight reel be called "The Best of the Best of the Best"?  Or, do we simply leave that one to the Men In Black?

56. Parodies: SPOOFS.

"Corona Virus Rhapsody", A SPOOF

58. Commotions: ADOS.  Does anyone use, see, or hear this word outside of crossword puzzles?  Shakespeare, of course, being an exception.

62. Tales and such: LORE.

63. Spiny lizard: IGUANA.  An IGUANA also visited us last Thursday.  Same reptilian answer.  Different photograph.  If this keeps up, Thursdays might come to rival Taco Tuesdays.  Nah, it's not alliterative.

64. Mine find: ORE.  Valuable solid material often found in crossword puzzles.

65. "Watermark" musician: ENYA.  Alternatively, an Irish singer who frequently appears in crossword puzzles.

66. Can't abide: DETEST.  The teacher handed out de test to de students.

67. Unmatched: ODD.  There are several ways to define ODD.  The constructor, or the editor, elected to go with a slightly ODD definition of the word.  Now, where did I put that sock?

Down:

1. Like the moon, at times: HALOED.  Okay, another little-used expression but not untrue.

2. Soothsayer: ORACLE.  This could have been clued something along the lines of "Larry Ellison's giant software company".

3. Glitch: HICCUP.  An idiom used to describe a problem that delays or interrupts for a while but does not cause serious difficulties.

4. Qatari leader: EMIR.

Tamin bin Hamad al Thani, Emir of Qatar

5. Relay units: LAPS.  It could have been LEGS of a relay.  While a portion of a relay race isn't always a lap, or laps, it certainly could be.

6. Payroll service initials: ADP.

7. Sauce whose name means "please": PREGO.  E italiano, si?

8. Kitchen wrap: SARAN.  I almost went with The Fugs song "Saran Wrap" here (NSFW,  you can look it up on YouTube when you get home).

9. Nail polish brand: ESSIE.  This marine mammal really needs to up his knowledge of nail polish brands as so many of them have been adorning our puzzles recently.

10. Clean, in a way: MOP.

11. "Beatles '65" song: I'M A LOSER.   Beatles '65, not to be confused with "When I'm 64", is the album title.  But, you knew that.  These days, would the song be IM (instant message) A Loser?

Shindig

12. Pepcid rival: TAGAMET.  Both products are used to treat symptoms associated with excess stomach acid.

13. Show fear, maybe: TREMBLE.

18. Soothe: LULL.  We often hear something along the lines of "a LULL in the action", meaning an interval of relative quiet.  Today we get the verb as in to "LULL someone to sleep" or into a false sense of security.

22. "Science Guy" Bill: NYE.  Alternatively, a TV scientist appearing regularly in crossword puzzles.  Perhaps, someday, we'll see a puzzle with Professor Proton.

Professor Proton

The Door to his Office is Always Open

25. Big wheels: HELMS.  A bit of misdirection.  Semi trucks?  Kahunas?  Children's vehicles?  No, the large steering wheels on ships.  Take the helm!

26. Gear for stealth, briefly: CAMO.  CAMOflage.

28. Former nuclear agcy.: AEC.  The Atomic Energy Commission was referenced in "The Wild West" a song recorded in 1953 by Tom Lehrer.  I have the original issue of this album:

29. Indiana-based sports org.: NCAA.  Were we really expected to know where the NCAA is based?  Easily perp'd especially since there are not all that many sports orgs. and the NCAA appears quite often in xword puzzles.

32. Stubborn equine: ASS.  MULE would not fit.  We can each probably think of a few proper names that might.

33. Word in a court oath: TRUTH.

34. Indistinguishable, with "the": SAME.  Lock-down was great.  I didn't work.  I didn't socialize.  I barely left the house.  SAME as usual, except I didn't feel guilty.

36. Stars and Stripes: OLD GLORY.  Both the clue and the answer are idioms for the American Flag.

37. Word with health or hair: CARE.  A pair, there.  Fair.

38. Type of garden: ZEN.  ZEN gardens were originally created in Japan to assist Buddhist monks with their meditation.

39. Pub brand with a red triangle logo: BASS ALE.

40. Endlessly: ON AND ON.  In lieu of the obvious Stephen Bishop link let's just move on.

43. Wane: EBB.

45. Many old comedy teams: DUOS.  E.G., Abbott and Costello,  Martin and Lewis, Laurel and Hardy, Cheech and Chong.

46. Sarcastic "So sad": BOO HOO.  I almost cried.

47. Manage to pay: AFFORD.

48. Filed, in a way: RASPED.  I have a rasp in my toolbox but I cannot recall ever having said that I had RASPED something.  More often used to describe a harsh, or grating, noise.

50. Bridge term: REBID.  It sounds, to this marine mammal, more like something an amphibian would say.

51. Practice: USAGE.

52. Swaggering gait: STRUT.

56. D.C. group: SENS.  SENatorS  D.C. is the abbreviation for District of Columbia ergo the answer will be an abbreviation.

57. Start to fall?: PRAT.  A PRATfall is a staged, often comedic, fall.  It derives from pratt, meaning buttock.

59. Coral, for one: SEA. Shtick used by constructors playing around with the convention that clues are always started with a capital letter.  Of course we never know if the leading  "cap" is coincidental or part of the clue.  Without the cap, POLYP or a color.  With the cap, the proper noun, Coral SEA.

61. Sweetie, in modern lingo: BAE.  Alternatively, a slang expression appearing far too often in contemporary crossword puzzles.  We don't have to go back to "main squeeze" but . . . .

With that bit of commentary,  let's wrap things up.  For the outro, some Barbershop Quartet music from the 2011 International Barbershop Quartet Champions:

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Thursday, July 15, 2021, Grant Howell

 

Good morning, Cruciverbalists one and all!  It's time to rise and shine.  Let's shake out those cobwebs and continue our perpetual search for answers.  It might be a good idea to start by opening our eyes.

Today's puzzle setter is Grant Howell.  This writer was unable to find any LAT puzzles with his byline so this might be his LAT debut.  If that is incorrect, I hope that he will accept my sincere apologies.  If true, welcome, Grant!

THE AYES HAVE IT.  Or, the eyes have it.  Or, in this case, the I's (or the i's) have it.  How does one write the plural of the letter I?  We?  Is?

At four places in the grid our constructor has replaced the word "eye" in a common idiomatic expression with the letter "I".  He reveals this substitution at . . . .

54 ACROSS:  Payback phrase altered to provide a hint to solving four other puzzle answers: AN I FOR AN EYE.  Although an eye for an eye seems vengeful, the original intent was to restrict retribution to the value of the loss.

.  .  .  . and the substitution is employed as follows:

20 ACROSS:  Good-looking: EASY ON THE IS.  Easy on the eyes.  Self explanatory.

39 ACROSS:  Vegas loser, often: SNAKE IS.  Snake eyes.  In dice play, (e.g. backgammon or craps) a pair of ones, a single pip on each die.  The odds of doing this are one in thirty-six.  When shooting craps, if you roll Snake Eyes you lose instantly.

11 DOWN:  Affectionate idiom that originally referred to a pupil: APPLE OF MY I.  Apple of my eye.  As the clue says, the phrase originally referred to the "aperture at the center of the human eye" - the pupil.

29 DOWN:  Perch perspective: BIRDS I VIEW.  Bird's eye view.  Today, perhaps, a drone's camera view.

. . . . and here is how the rest of the clues and answers appear to our eyes . . . .

Across:

1. Big drink of water: GULP.

5. Choice: PLUM.  In this case, not the fruit but, rather, something that is desirable.

9. Pesky crawler: ROACH.  My father claimed that, as a child growing ip in NYC, he had learned to identify the gender and species of almost any roach.  There is no substitute for experience, I suppose.  My mother told me that I was named for my maternal grandfather.  Maybe not.

Joey The Roach

14. Like most eggs: OVAL.

15. Making people wait, maybe: LATE.  In the context that was presented, I first thought of RUDE.  The E worked.  Nothing else did.

16. Wolf pack leader: ALPHA.

17. Self-named 2000s sitcom set in Texas: REBA.

18. Somewhat: A TAD.  Until we check the surroundings, we never know if it will turn out to be A TAD or A BIT or A FEW or A  DAB.

19. Landlocked Asian country: NEPAL.

23. Awesome, in slang: LIT.  I was totally unfamiliar with this use of LIT.  It used to mean drunk.  Thanks, perps.

24. Chinese toy: PEKE.  A bit of misdirection intended to lead us to think of a kite, or of Chinese Checkers or maybe even something to do with the balance of trade.  Instead, we get a small, or "toy", dog.  In this case, a Pekingese or PEKE.

Wasabi.  Best In Show.  2021 Westminster Dog Show

25. Works a wedding: CATERS.  I first thought of  USHERS.  Ushes?  Too few letters.

27. Prince in a can?: ALBERT.  The old prank.  Phone a tobacco store and inquire of whoever answers, "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?"  "Yes."  "Well, then, please let him out!"

30. Classic film involving a split personality: PSYCHO.  Alfred's vision is deservedly a classic.  So is Mel's.

32. Chow __: MEIN.  MEIN is the Chinese word for noodles.  Chow means fried.  Lo means tossed.

33. Wind heard in Dion's "Abraham, Martin and John": OBOE.  More misdirection.  I kept running through the lyrics in my head trying to find something Mariah-like.  Instead we got instrumentation.  You'd think that I'd be on to this trick by now.

35. "The Metamorphosis" author: KAFKA.

38. Bag or ball lead-in: AIR.  An AIR bag is a passive safety device in an automobile.  An AIR ball is a shot in basketball that completely misses the basket, the rim, and the backboard.

41. Early 11th-century year: MII.  1002 A.D.  More i's.

42. Couldn't say no: HAD TO.

44. Help to withdraw: WEAN.

45. Many a gospel song: HYMN.

46. Run-scoring out: SAC FLY.  A baseball reference.  SACrifice FLY.

48. Lao-tzu follower: TAOIST.

The Tao of Pooh

50. "Peer Gynt Suite" dancer: ANITRA.  ANITRA is the daughter of a Bedouin chief and she steals Peer Gynt's money after he attempts to seduce her.

52. Put on: WEAR.

53. Rainbow mnemonic surname: BIV. Roy G. BIV.  Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet.

60. Jennyanydots' creator: ELIOT.  From T S Eliot's poem Cats.

 Jennyanydots - As portrayed in what some consider 

to be the worst movie ever made.

62. Farm house: COOP.

63. "The Favourite" actress Stone: EMMA.

64. The "A" in CDA, to an Idahoan: ALENE.  Coeur d'ALENE is a city in Idaho with a population of roughly 55,000 people.

65. Automaker Ferrari: ENZO.  The last name is eponymous.

Enzo Ferrari

66. Verbal quirks, like "y'know": TICS.  A frequent, often unconscious quirk of speech.  Below, The Waco Kid Exhibits a TIC.

67. Coolidge's VP: DAWES.

68. Texter's sign-off: TTYL.  Talk To You Later

69. "Right now!": STAT.   When used in a medical context.  We often see the editing mark STET.

Down:

1. 2000 presidential runner-up: GORE.  Albert Arnold Gore.

2. Pigmented eye layer: UVEA.  Appropriate for today.

3. Some yellow dogs: LABS.

4. New parent's purchase: PLAY PEN.

5. Mr. Krabs' nemesis: PLANKTON.  A SpongeBob SquarePants reference.

Plankton and Mr. Krabs

6. Dunkin' Donuts offering: LATTE.   In a wonderfully clever bit, Merl Reagle anagramed Dunkin to Unkind Donuts.  Now re-branded as, simply, Dunkin' the chain seems to be trying to be though of as more a purveyor of coffee than of donuts.

7. U.S. territory until 1896: UTAH.  The UTAH Territory included what became the State of Utah, most of what became the State of Nevada, and parts of what became the States of Colorado and Wyoming.

8. Ancient Persian: MEDE.  The MEDEs established an extensive empire in the 7th Century BCE.

9. Pillages: RANSACKS.  Via Middle English from Old Norse.  Literally,  house seek.

10. Cry after un gol: OLE.  Today's Spanish lesson with significant global overtones.

12. Committee leader: CHAIR.

13. Stops: HALTS.

21. Above, to a bard: O'ER.  Variant of OvER.

22. Like some stares: ICY.  We also get ICE T today at 55 Down.

26. Lil Wayne's "__ Carter III": THA.  The sixth studio album released by Lil Wayne (2008).

27. Asian nurse: AMAH.  A nursemaid frequently appearing in crossword puzzles.

28. Princess from Alderaan: LEIA.  A Star Wars reference. LEIA Skywalker Organa Solo.   Alderaan is the name of a planet.

 

30. Stir: POKEY.  Another bit of misdirection.  Hmmm, MIX IN?  BLEND?   Both have five letters.  Nope.  A riff on two slang terms for jail.  

31. "I __ red door and I want it painted black": Stones: SEE A.  A straight-forward fill-in-the-blank clue.

 

 34. Cry buckets: BAWL.

36. Basinger and Cattrall: KIMS.  I was unable to find a photo of KIM Basinger and KIM Cattrall together.  Like Batman and Bruce Wayne?

37. "If it __ broke ... ": AINT.  . . . don't fix it.  Another straight-forward fill-in-the-blank clue.

39. Ancient dialogues subject: SOCRATES.  Plato wrote approximately thirty-five dialogues in most of which SOCRATES is the main character.

Bill & Ted's Take on the Subject

40. Worldwide anti-crime group: INTERPOL.  Officially, The INTERnational Criminal POLice Organization.

43. Ankle pic: TAT.  A few alternative locations for a TATtoo come to mind.

45. Charlotte NBA team: HORNETS.  The professional basketball team.

47. Autograph seeker: FAN.  An ardent devotee or enthusiast.

49. Duracell size: AAA.

50. Draw __ on: aim at: A BEAD.

51. Wafer brand: NILLA.

52. Light-headed: WOOZY.

55. Very cool rapper?: ICE T.  Ice is very cool, as in cold.  ICE T is a well-known rap artist.

56. Type of type: FONT.  Clever clue.

57. Radiate: EMIT.

58. Disco hit with arm motions: YMCA.  As someone who has been known to wear a "Death Before Disco" T-shirt, I cannot bring myself to use the original here.  Subsequent to the last administration, most of the really good spoofs are too political for this blog.  So, let's go with something nerdy.

DMCA

59. Towards sunrise: EAST

61. Phone button with no letters: ONE.

. . . . and on that note (or tone) . . . .

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