Friday, November 29, 2024

Apologies, everyone. I was slated to handle the NYT last night but I completely conked out and slept through. Write-up forthcoming this morning! —pann

Willa Angel Chen Miller and Matthew Stock’s New York Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up

NYT • 11/29/24 • Fri • Miller, Stock • solution • 20241129

A nice chewy crossword for your post-Thanksgiving consumption. Took a while for me to break into the grid, and the clues were pervasively tricky enough to put up regular roadblocks.

• 15a [Question that can’t possibly be answered “No”] ARE YOU AWAKE? Debatable.
• 16a [Solid : :glace : liquid :: __ ] EAU. My very first filled entry.
• 21a [Chemistry research centers?] NUCLEI. See? Tricky.
• 28a [Anti-apartheid activist Alan] PATON. He of Cry, the Beloved Country fame. 54a [War head?] ANTI-.
• 33a [Number of U.S. states beginning with “B”] NONE. 1d [U.S. state capital with the highest altitude (7,200 feet)] SANTA FE—I did not know this. 22d [World capital at roughly the same latitude as Montevideo] CANBERRA.
• In the center, a symmetrical paired crossing: 38a [Certain lifelike sculpture … or waht you might call 26-Down?] WAX FIGURE. 26d [Cogsworth’s compatriot in “Beauty and the Beast”] LUMIERE, who was an anthropomorphic candelabra voiced by Jerry Orbach.
• 42a [They might be down for a ski trip] PARKAS. Took about three passes for the clue’s PUN (59a) to become clear.
• 4d [Ghanian author __ Kwei Armah] AYI. New to me, I believe. But he’s not new.
• 8d [Something indicated with the index and middle fingers] TWO, not VEE.
• 11d [Begin a hole] TEE UP. Golf, not digging.
• 12d [One whose hard work is showing?] REALTOR. Nice clue, but I would expect that the paperwork and financing is really the more difficult component of the job.
• 24d [Protein source in a hearty meal] STEW MEAT. Green-painty.
• 39d [Piece of a children’s book, perhaps] FLAP. Must be a pop-up book.
• 40d [Burn unit?] CALORIE. Great clue.
• 43d [Sautéed-and-simmered Japanese dish] KINPIRA. Less commonly known.
• 56d [Half of a noted arcade pair] DAVE. I don’t get this. Is it Dave & Buster’s? I’m vaguely aware of that as a family-friendly restaurant chain. Answer: yes, it seems as if an arcade is a selling point of the establishments.
• 64a [Chalcocyanite, for example] ORE. Wonder what the story is behind choosing that particular substance for the clue.

Finally, aside from the crossing cross-reference entries in the grid’s center, the other salient feature are the triple eleven-stacks in the top left and lower right: SCRATCH THAT/ARE YOU AWAKE/NO TIME TO DIE and CASE IN POINT/OVER A BARREL/NEARLY READY. Great stuff.

Deanne Cliburn and Will Eisenberg’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up

LAT • 11/29/24 • Fri • Cliburn, Eisenberg • solution • 20241129

Okay, so. We have words and phrases that begin with types of animals. Further, the next part of the word/phrase begins with the letter s. Further to that, they have been reparsed as possessives and clued accordingly.

• 19a. [Having to watch the hare win over and over, perhaps] TORTOISE’S HELL (tortoiseshell).
• 27a. [Cabbie who picks up crustaceans, perhaps] CRAB’S HACK (crab shack).
• 35a. [Birdhouse opening, perhaps] CARDINAL’S IN (cardinal sin). I found this to be the weakest themer.
• 43a. [Device needed to renovate a small pad, perhaps] TOAD’S TOOL (toadstool). Like a lily pad, it would seem.
• 54a. [Legal proceeding in the grazing meadow, perhaps] SHEEP’S HEARING (sheep shearing). Factette: In the Middle Ages, animals would sometimes be put through real legal trials. The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals (1906). There was also a 1993 film based on the same premise.

my single-dilute tortoiseshell cat, being cozy on a dishabille bed

Fun little theme.

• 2d [Genre with moody hip-hop elements] EMO RAP. It’s all right there in the clue.
• 4d [Herbivore with a short proboscis] TAPIR. Unrelated to the theme.
• 7d [Shows judgment] TSKS. I feel this should have had an “in a way”-type qualifier. 13d [Placed on a scale] RATED.
• 8d [Casual get-together] SESH. Rapidly growing tired of seeing this entry.
• 10d [Ache] DULL PAIN, not FEEL PAIN.
• 20d [The “O” of North Carolina’s OBX] OUTER Banks. I hadn’t encountered this abbrev. before, but it was easily guessable.
• 29d [Law that led to many curb cuts, for short] ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• 35d [Ocean Spray snack] CRAISINS. I made the mistake of assuming it started with CRAN-.
• 37d [Commuter’s way around Philly] SEPTA, the South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority. Unfortunate acronym, too evocative of septic.
• 57d [Partnerless] STAG. Also not part of the theme.
• 4a [Class for a 1L] TORTS. Makes me think again of a couple of themers: 19-across and the clue for 54-across.
• 14a [Star ingredient in Chinese five-spice powder?] ANISE. I like the clue even though it doesn’t work logically. The spice is star anise, the seed pod of an evergreen tree, which is quite different than anise, a flowering plant whose seeds are also of culinary and medicinal interest.
• 52a [Did the dishes] CATERED. Minor misdirection.
• 60a [Was circumspect about] GOT AT. Does this work? As in, “just what’re you getting at?” I guess it’s fine.
• 64a [Square one?] NERD. An individual.

Stella Zawistowski’s Universal crossword, “So Cool”—Jim’s review

Happy Black Friday, everyone! I hope you’ve all recovered from yesterday and are back to your usual puzzle-solving form. Today’s theme answers are familiar phrases that start with slangy words for “cool,” with each slang word coming from a different generation.

Universal crossword solution · “So Cool!” · Stella Zawistowski · Fri., 11.29.24

• 17a. [Cool couple embracing, to a Baby Boomer?] HIP HUGGERS.
• 25a. [Cool placard, to a Gen Xer?] RADICAL SIGN.
• 44a. [Cool tuber, to a Millennial?] SWEET POTATO.
• 56a. [Cool getaway, to a Gen Zer?] FIRE ESCAPE.

Fun theme. I really like the idea of taking from each generation to find slangy phrases. That ensures there’s something for nearly everyone in this puzzle, right?

Not much to nitpick in this grid which makes NITPICKS an extra fun bit of fill. Other highlights: CLIP ART, UPSTAGED, and POWERFUL. NO CAP [“For real”] is a bit of slang that makes it into the fill, not the theme. Various websites say the term originated back in the early 1900s, so maybe there really is something for everyone in this grid.

Clue of note: 4d. [Blowing out air]. EXHALING. Too bad this couldn’t have been clued with a reference to ANGELA Bassett, the very next down entry at 5d, who starred in Waiting to Exhale. I can’t thank of a way to incorporate one into the other without breaking any crossword norms, can you?

Cool puzzle! 3.75 stars.