Friday, November 1, 2024

Spencer Leach’s New York Times crossword No. 1101 —Eric’s review

NYT Solution 11-1-24

I found this to be a fairly typical NYT Friday, pretty easy throughout with a playful sensibility.

Fun clue and answer pairs:

• 13A [Where opposites don’t attract?] LESBIAN BAR
• 41A [November handout] I VOTED STICKER (If you’re eligible, vote! And not just to get the sticker, even if it’s as cool as the one I got):

• 54A [“I” lift?] EGO BOOSTER
• 1D [Dated a while back?] OLDE (I haven’t seen this clue before; it’s a nice change from the ones with “shoppe.”)
• 6D [In which computer chips are used?] ONLINE POKER (I kind of want a subject for this clause, maybe “Venue”?)
• 10D [Line from an unhappy diner] SEND IT BACK (Sometimes you just have to do this, but if you do, please be polite and don’t take it out on the server.)

One cute clue that I didn’t understand until afterward: 25A [Golden retriever who ends up with a chocolate lab?] CHARLIE BUCKET Roald Dahl’s books were not part of my childhood, and I didn’t know the last name of the protagonist of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

The middle of the grid was a bit stickier for me because of the aforementioned CHARLIE BUCKET; my never having eaten edamame (30A; I had PEAS before PODS); and my inexplicable failure to read the net in [Net alternative] (35A) as a generic top-level domain. Toss in ZILLIONS instead of JILLIONS at 24A, and I had a hard time seeing 24D [Bench coverings] JUDGES’ ROBES.

Renee Thomason and Katie Hale’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up

LAT • 11/1/24 • Fri • Thomason, Hale • solution • 20241101

Finished this one without processing the theme. Let’s take a look now.

• 58a^R [Give clear directions, or how to make the starred clues match their answers?] SHOW THE WAY.
• 18a. [*Pop-up shop on the edge of the road?] SIDE HUSTLE. Hm. SIDE = “edge of the road”, but I can’t decode the rest.
• 23a. [*Underground market for home goods?] FAIR TRADE. Uh-oh. I see a loose connection, but not getting it. What’s the revealer again? SHOW THE WAY. No, not helping …
• 35a. [*Butcher’s knife that’s very hard to handle?] WARD CLEAVER. Okay, CLEAVER is very clearly a “butcher’s knife”. ‘Very hard to handle’ could be awkWARD, but I’m not seeing how show the way informs this. Does it have anything to do with 49d [Nervously clumsy] GAWKY?
• 50a. [*Snuck up on a chicken coop to collect breakfast?] LAID AN EGG. Aha! A last-minute reprieve: that obviously needs to be waylaid, so we needed wayward, Wayfair, and wayside in the other entries.

I feel fortunate to have finally figured it out.

• 1d [In need of a Mr. Yuk sticker] UNSAFE. Going to have to look that up. Here we are.
• 2d [Instrument also known as a chau gong] TAM-TAM.
• 9d [Mae’s sister on “Star Wars: The Acolyte”] OSHA. Different framing. Perhaps because it’s right next to 19d [MyPlate org.] USDA?
• 35d [“Let’s check the map”] WE’RE LOST. Hard to get to without a few crossing letters in place.
• 43d [Wasp, for one] PEST. Okay, but they’re also pollinators and predators, among other things.
• 1a [State that’s easy to draw] UTAH. In fact, the crossword’s grid contains two five-square blocks that echo its shape.
• 16a [Princess athlete in the 1976 Summer Olympics] ANNE. For equestrian competition, natch.
• 64a [Supersmall] ITTY. 3d [Infinitesimal] ATOMIC. –”Is it atomic?” –”Yessir, VERY atomic!”