Thursday, October 15, 2020

Alan Arbesfeld’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “In a Bind”—Jim P’s review

S’s become K’s in our theme answers today as explained by KNOTS (70a, [Conundrums, or, if read as three words, this puzzle’s theme]), i.e. “K, NOT S.”

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “In a Bind” · Alan Arbesfeld · Thu., 10.15.20

• 18a. [Unusual sight in the vegetable aisle?] WHITE KALE. Sale.
• 24a. [“Ever hear of that ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ band?”?] “KNOW QUEEN?” Snow.
• 37a. [Scarlet tanager, say?] CARDINAL KIN. Sin.
• 54a. [Fashionable shawl?] KARAN WRAP. Saran. Is “Karan” a word I’m supposed to know? Because I don’t. Ah, it’s designer Donna Karan, the woman behind DKNY among other things. Honestly, I’m more into video games than fashion; DK to me is Donkey Kong.
• 60a. [Disastrous promotion at a retail giant?] K-MART BOMB. Smart. I like this one best.

Solid theme. I wish the one entry could’ve been based on something more universally known, but maybe I’m just a good-for-nothing schlump.

The fill did not impress today; too many preposition-ended phrases: STANK AT, WON AT, SOLD TO, NEARER TO. Throw in bridgey ONE NO (which I’ve decided I’m going to start parsing ON ENO for no reason), more names I didn’t know—ARTIS Gilmore of the NBA and the NEVA River in Russia—and random Italian NEL clued as a fill-in-the-blank. If there’s a highlight in the fill, I guess it’s (surprisingly) the preposition-ended phrase TROT OUT which feels like it can stand on its own just fine. And HARMONIC. The electrical engineer in me likes that word.

Clues of note:

• 45a. [Part of a moving experience?]. VAN. Good clue. But how many times have you moved and used a van? As a military family, we’ve had more than our share of moves, and never once did it involve a van. But “moving van” is a phrase; “moving truck” is not.
• 7d. [Wood that can be turned into itself?]. ASH. Nice cluing angle. Never thought about that.
• 10d. [Charlie preceder]. BAKER. There have been several phonetic alphabets used in the past by different military services and different countries, and in at least one of them, the first two letters were “Able” and “Baker.” These days, for the most part, everyone is using the NATO version where the first two letters are “Alfa” (or “Alpha”) and “Bravo.”
• 55d. [Roger lost to him at Wimbledon in 2019]. NOVAK. The Djokovic-Federer rivalry has its own Wikipedia page. There you’ll learn that they’ve faced each other 50 times (including a record 17 in Grand Slams) and that Djokovic leads the series 27-23. How’s this for a trivia tidbit: each man is the only one to have beaten the other one at all four Grand Slams.

I liked the theme fine, but the fill left me wanting. Three stars.

Lindsey Hobbs’ New York Times crossword—Ben’s review

In what I hope is an apt choice, I’m going to cover Lindsey Hobbs’ (debut?) Thursday NYT in the reverse of how I’d typically do so.  Let’s look at the revealers:

NYT 10/15/2020 – No. 1015

• 18A: Locale suggested by this puzzle’s theme — AUSTRALIA
• 55A: Nickname for 18-Across, and a hint to how four answers in this puzzle are to be entered — DOWN UNDER

With that in mind, it’s easier to spot what’s going on with each of the four clues that’s simply “-” in the grid.  In addition to some Aussie favorites entered in the grid normally like the KOALA, four entries start in one row, then flip DOWN UNDER to the entry below:

• 14A/20A: Web-footed mammals — PLATYPUSES
• 31A/36A: Big hopper — KANGAROO
• 40A/43A: Brand of spread for sandwiches and toast — VEGEMITE
• 59A/62A: Instrument played using circular breathing — DIDGERIDOO

I like the Aussie flavor throughout the theme entries in the puzzle (including the VEGEMITE…I’m partial to Marmite as far as yeast extract spreads go, and it’s definitely an acquired taste, but it has good umami flavor!)

I dig the cool grooves of Australian band Confidence Man

Elsewhere in the grid, I liked the cluing on the bits of longer fill that ran throughout — “Things with perks?” for COFFEEPOTS, and especially “Bouncer’s equipment” for TRAMPOLINE

Happy Thursday!

Peter Gordon’s Fireball Crossword, “When the Saints Go Marching In” – Jenni’s write-up

{insert comment about another crossword by a man}

This was a fun theme! I didn’t catch on to the whole thing right away. Each theme answer has ST inserted twice into a base phrase. Wacky clues result. I saw the one at the beginning and missed the second one for a while.

Fireball Crossword, October 15, 2020, Peter Gordon, “When the Saints Go Marching In,” solution grid

• 17a [Shower compartment surrounding comedian Martin?] is STALL ABOUT STEVE (All About Eve). I thought it was going to be Martin Short at first.
• 25a [Dark beer belonging to a Marvel Universe doctor?] is STOUT OF STRANGE (out of range).
• 40a [Paint a crosswalk on the boards of a venerable theater?] is STRIPE OLD STAGE (ripe old age).
• 53a [Rock sturdy enough to make into steps?] is STAIR FORCE STONE (Air Force One).

All the base phrases are solid and the theme clues and answers are amusing. Nicely done.

A few other things:

• 9d [Court witness, e.g.] is ATTESTER. Am I the only one who started with ATTESTOR instead? It seems more legal-ish to me (I am SO not a lawyer).
• 10d [Business whose clients might go belly up?] is an adorable clue for PET SPA.
• I think EYER  is creepier than [Person taking a good look] implies.
• 28d [They use both kinds of compasses] is NAVIGATORS. I presume this means a compass for directions and a drawing compass to mark the map. Any other ideas?
• [Excellent, in slang] should have included some suggestion that PHAT is, well, old.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that ABBA had an album called “Voulez-Vous.” Also did not know that the 2022 Winter Olympics have a PANDA as a mascot or that he? she? they? is named Bing Dwen Dwen. Have never heard of Eve ENSLER‘s play “Fruit Trilogy.” And I would have misspelled OREOOOS. It looks like it should have an H at the end.

Jim Holland’s Universal crossword — “S E-A Changes” – Jim Q’s Write-up

Sounds like it’s just a “lose the S puzzle,” but there’s more to it than that!

THEME: Lose the S at the beginning of a word, but also change the EE part of that word to EA to create wackiness. Very specific!

Universal crossword solution · “Comma Bond” · Jim Holland · Thur., 10.15.20

THEME ANSWERS:

• TREAT SMARTS
• LEAPING BEAUTY
• TEAL MAGNOLIAS
• PEACH WRITER

I’m surprised how many words there are that you can do this with! Are there others besides STREET / TREAT, SLEEPING / LEAPING, STEEL / TEAL, SPEECH / PEACH? I’m really impressed with this set.

Fillwise, I floundered a lot. I was distracted (solving during study hall supervision), but I botched the NW badly putting OTTER and STOLE for [Mink cousin] before the correct SABLE. Had WADE for [Walk over water?] even though it makes no sense, and AS IF in place of I BET. Hot mess result.

Winning clue: [Word that surrounds “short of money”] SHY. although I think the cryptic nature of it is asking for a “?”

I also learned what a backronym was. Not because it was in the puzzle, but because I googled H.E.R. since I’ve never heard of… her. H.E.R. is her backronym for Having Everything Revealed. A backronym, as I discovered, is a word that already exists and is then turned into an acronym.

Good times, and I learned stuff.

4 stars.

John Michael Currie’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary

LA Times
201015

I’m not one-hundred percent sure of the rules in play here: DOUBLETEAM is the revealer, and each of four answers consists of two pairs that, if an ‘S’ were added to each, would make Big 4(?) North American sports teams. I’m not always sure which teams go with which sports, but I don’t see an NBA team there?

The puzzle itself is ably filled, a lot cleaner than many of late, partly aided by the pinwheel design, which is sometimes underutilised. There is a Mallorca mini-theme with PALMA and RAFA. Growing up in a (nearly) subtropical area, the idea that [Avocado ___] TOAST is Millennial feels weird. In a lot of areas, especially Natal and Mpumalanga they’re abundant and often free to pick… New to me: PEETS – is it run by Calvin and Amanda?

Gareth