Tuesday, September 17, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “But Why Though?” — some unusual seconds. – Erin’s write-up

Hello lovelies! This week we get to focus on the letter Y as a vowel followed by a consonant.

• 17a. [French businessman with a politically  controversial namesake cosmetics company] YVES ROCHER.
• 21a. [Historic Tampa neighborhood known for its cigar factories] YBOR CITY
• 39a. [NHL Hall of Famer Steve who led the Detroit Red Wings to three Stanley Cups and is now their general manager] YZERMAN
• 41a. [Element #39 (one of four named after the same Swedish village)] YTTRIUM
• 58a. [Peruvian-born 1950s singer with a Guinness-certified five-octave range] YMA SUMAC
• 65a. [Tropical plant with oils used in perfume] YLANG-YLANG

I wish there were some way to work around 45a. YOSHI as the only nontheme entry starting with Y.

Other things:

• 10a. [1950s poem with the phrase “pingpong of the abyss”] HOWL. Full poem here.
• 50d. [Pet-loving “Tiny Toon Adventures” character] ELMYRA. This toon who loved hugging and squeezing all the cuddly wuddly animals is based on Looney Tunes’ Elmer Fudd.

Until next week!

Elizabeth C. Gorski’s Cr♥ssw♥rd Nation puzzle (Week 695), “Clothes Encounter”—Ade’s take

Hello there, everybody! Hope all is well with you! I come to you one year older, with my birthday passing this past Saturday, but I definitely do not come to you one year wiser, that’s for darn sure! But, if you’re still with me at this point of the blog, I thank you … and drop off all gag gifts in the rear, please! 

I did not dress up as part of Saturday’s festivities, but today’s puzzle definitely went the spiffy route as each of the first three theme entries features a word that makes up a THREE PIECE SUIT, which acts as the reveal (60A: [Business attire whose components are contained in 16-, 28- and 47-Across]). 

• • • • JACKET POTATOES (16A: [“Fashionable” spud-ly comfort food, popular among Brits])
      • KEEP YOUR PANTS ON (28A: [“Fashionable” way of saying “Be patient!”?])
      • BULLETPROOF VEST (47A: [“Fashionable” Colbie Caillat/Dave Stewart song with the lyric “if love is a weapon”])

Really liked that the three words making up the overall theme were in different locations of each theme answer, which definitely adds an extra layer to the theme execution. Glad to see CULOTTE as, before today, I would have not been able to come up with the specific the name of it even though I’ve seen it many times over (40D: [Skirtlike trouser]). For those who have performed classical music in auditoriums and such, we have both PIT (9D: [Enclosure for an opera orchestra]) and RISER in the grid (30D: [Choir elevator]).  

“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: OIL CAN (49D: [Tin Man’s accessory]) – This entry was already going to be special for me because it involves one of the first Black baseball players and stars I can remember, former pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, who pitched 10 seasons in the Majors, won 78 games (78-77 record) and was a major cog in the 1986 Red Sox team that won the American League pennant and was an out away from winning the World Series against the New York Mets. But upon looking up his bio, I found out that he made his Major League debut, with the Red Sox, on September 13, 1982, which was exactly one day before I was born, on September 14, 1982. As legendary Yankees radio and baseball voice Mel Allen would say, “How about that?!”

Probably the other think you might want to know is how Dennis got the nickname “Oil Can”? As the story goes, one of the things Boyd was known for while growing up in Mississippi was his consumption of ALCOHOL (41D: [Liquor store inventory]), and the locals referred to beer as “oil.” His alcohol-drinking came to light before Game 7 of the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets, a game in which he was initially scheduled to start. But because rain pushed back the game an extra day, Red Sox manager John McNamara decided to give Bruce Hurst the start instead, a decision that prompted an disappointed Boyd to drink before the game and, eventually, causing him to not be an option to pitch at any point during the World Series decider. Of course, as many of you know, the Mets won Game 7 and the Series.

Thank you so much for the time, everybody! Have a wonderful and safe rest of your day and, as always, keep solving!

Take care!

Ade/AOK

Rachel Fabi & Benjamin Panico’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Read the Fine Print”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that hide synonyms of “charge” (in the monetary sense). The revealer is HIDDEN CHARGES (55a, [Extra expenses in the fine print, and a hint to what you’ll find in the circled letters]).

• 20a. [Respond rapidly to an email] FIRE OFF A REPLY.
• 37a. [Roadside shell station?] TACO STAND. Nice clue.
• 43a. [Change of job or divorce, e.g.] LIFE EVENT.

Classic hidden word theme. The first one feels a smidge green painty, but I like how it spans three words, and it was simple enough to infer. The other two are solid.

Only four theme answers gives the grid plenty of breathing room for long fill. I like EVIL DEAD, ON A ROLL, HERMANA, and HYPERION. I’m surprised to see TALENTI [Gelato brand in clear jars] again after it debuted less than a month ago in these very pages. THE RED [Moniker for explorer Eric] looks like a long partial.

Clues of note:

• 28a. [Ref. that added “jillionaire” in 2024]. OED. Is that different than “zillionaire”? Not really, both are in the OED with similar definitions.
• 8d. [Moon of Saturn named for a Greek Titan]. HYPERION. If you ever find yourself south of LAX in the city of El Segundo and you’re wondering what that smell is, it’s likely the HYPERION sewage treatment plant near the beach, one of the largest such plants in the world.
• 12d. [Cloud container]. SKY. Again? I think we just saw this clue a week or two ago. Or wait. Maybe it was [Cloud storage] or something similar.

Solid grid. 3.5 stars.

Howard Neuthaler’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

I appreciate that the revealer is only half in the grid, vs. being a pair of 6s restricting the grid with four other themers. 23d. [“Presto ___!” … or a hint to 17-, 28-, 41- and 52-Across], CHANGO: Take familiar phrases that end with an E, like the word “change” does, and make that into an O, changing the meaning.

• 17a. [“AB negatve” or “B poditive”?], BLOOD TYPO. I’m O positve.
• 28a. [Odysseus vis-à-vis Ulysses?], SAME HERO. “Same here” is played on.
• 41a. [Surprising answer to the question “What is Ecuador’s most populous city?”], NOT QUITO. Guayaquil, I presume?
• 52a. [Prom transport that keeps breaking down?], LEMON LIMO.

The revealer doesn’t explicitly hint at the way the theme works, does it? Since there’s no “presto change.”

Fave fill: ICE WINE (it had a moment maybe 15 years ago; did that end?), COLBERT, CUE TIPS, CULT FILMS, “GO LONG,” TOOK PAINS. Not keen on NHLERS, SAID OK, TOO SWEET, “UM, NO,” “WELL, GEE.”

Toughest fill for a Tuesday but if we don’t know it we should learn it: 48d. [Arctic native], INUK. It’s the singular of the plural Inuit.

3.5 stars from me.

CJ Tan’s Universal Crossword, “Until Next Time” (ed. David Steinberg) — Matt F’s Review

Some puzzles are created to simply showcase a peculiar pattern in the English language. Did you see this one before uncovering the revealer? Each theme answer repeats the letter pair C-U, as hinted by the revealer:

• 62A – [“Furious 7” song, or a phonetic hint to the second of two letter pairs in each starred clue’s answer] = SEE YOU AGAIN

I don’t love the phrasing of the revealer, but sometimes an awkward explainer is required to pull everything together and cater to a broad (dare I say, universal) solving audience.

Here are the CU-CU pairs you might have missed:

• • 17A – [Marine creature that resembles a vegetable] = SEA CUCUMBER
  • 24A – [Dessert in a small dish] = CUSTARD CUP
  • 50A – [Sleight of hand] = HOCUS POCUS

Based on the sparsity of the theme set, I’d guess there aren’t many phrases in our language that follow this pattern, which makes it a nice, tight theme for a crossword. You may balk at the idea, waving your cushion cut diamond in the air, saying, “Excuses, excuses,” but I won’t be doing any extracurricular research on the matter to prove my point. I say it’s a solid theme set and I’m sticking to it!

Fun fact alert at 44A – [Insulation material on Time’s list of the 50 worst inventions] = ASBESTOS. Some other highlights include Betamax, spray-on hair, and Segway.

Now, does a sea cucumber truly resemble a cucumber? I, for one, would be surprised to find anything like this in my garden. Just saying.

By Teddy Fotiou from United States – Creature of the Day, CC BY 2.0, Link

Patrick Berry’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up

Easier than the current norm, which I already consider too easy for the ‘moderately challenging’ tag.

• 1a [“Mad Money” network] CNBC. Did I misread this as Mad Men? Of course I did.
• 16a [Number on a porch?] CAROL. Okay that’s a tricky clue and I’m glad the crossings handled it for me.
• 19a [Indicator of one’s whereabouts and current mood, perhaps] FACEBOOK STATUS. >yawn<
• 26a [Start to deal with gray areas, say] GET OLDER. It’s a clever clue that reads well, but ultimately I don’t really like it. Maybe it’s that the answer is so generic?
• 31a [It might be wireless] BRA. Yet I somehow thought of radio and ERA too.
• 36a [“Papa Loves __” (Perry Como song with the lines “Look at ’em sway with it” and “Shoutin’ olè with it”)] MAMBO. There was a whole mambo craze in the 1950s. I’m thinking also of Rosemary Clooney’s “Mambo Italiano”. Also, is that the way the song’s lyrics are written, or did the esteemed New Yorker mistakenly use a grave instead of acute accent on olé?
• 43a [Race to meet unnecessary deadlines] HURRY UP AND WAIT. Nice entry.
• 52a [Rise over run, in math] SLOPE. Have never heard that phrase before.
• 6d [ __-proof (impossible to misuse)] IDIOT. In my experience, invariably a greater idiot will come along.
• 8d [Broadway show that’s doing boffo ticket sales] SMASHEROO. Such quaint lingo.
• 10d [Place over a fire?] MANTEL. I’m not sure whether the question mark doesn’t enhance the verb/noun misdirection.
• 44d/43d [… a place for taking shots] POOL | HALL.
  
• 48d [Certain vehicle pedal] GAS. 1d [Symbol on a musical staff] CLEF. Both sort of “wow, blah”?

Doug Peterson’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up

Cute! I saw the connection in the theme answers and did not predict the revealer. I didn’t really try to, of course.

In this post circled letters are portrayed in red.

• • 20a [Comic strip that’s been running since 1918] is GASOLINE ALLEY. Over 100 years. It must be tired. And it is, really.
  • 25a [Significant other] is LIFE PARTNER.
  • 44a [“Delta Dawn” country singer] is TANYA TUCKER. Kids, ask your grandparents.

And the revealer: 49a [Vessel transporting standard-sized cargo units, and a description of each set of circled letters] is a CONTAINER SHIP. GALLEY, LINER, and TANKER. Solid!

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that MOANA  is set on the island of Motunui.