Wednesday, December 4, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note from Amy: Hey, folks. I can’t guarantee I won’t get bounced back to the hospital, but I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll be popping in to write about puzzles at something close to my prior schedule. It’s good to be back(ish)! I’m planning to write up the AV Club Classic on Wednesday unless someone beats me to it.

There may be some upcoming log-in changes here at Crossword Fiend to provide a better experience for commenters who aren’t keen on making personal attacks or being attacked personally. I apologize for the inconvenience Tuesday afternoon and in the future, and for any obscenities you’ve run into before they were deleted.

Gary Larson’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “All Rise”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases but with wacky clues that don’t really make sense…until you add the word UP to the end. The revealer is UPENDING (37d, [Toppling over, and what’s missing from the starred answers]).

• 17a. [*Row of mooning suspects at the police station?] BOTTOM LINE(-UP).
• 25a. [*Quick divorce?] FAST BREAK(UP).
• 35a. [*Initiation rite for the Mile High Club?] SKY HOOK(-UP).
• 47a. [*Profit margin on a piece of furniture?] BENCH MARK(UP).
• 56a. [*Light truck in mint condition?] CHERRY PICK(-UP).

I don’t recall seeing a gimmick quite like this before where the wacky clues don’t match the entry as given. It’s not until we get to the revealer that we can have our aha moment. Points awarded for novelty for sure, even if I didn’t get any chuckles from the clues. RAW DEAL and NEW LEFT make for grid highlights along with IN THE WAY and ALLERGY. I wanted BOOTIE instead of BOOTEE, however. Clues of note:

• 29a. [“Hard Hearted Hannah” composer]. AGER. Oof. From 1924? The dude wrote “Ain’t She Sweet” and “Happy Days Are Here Again.” At least give us a song we may have heard of. (Okay, maybe some of you know “Hard Hearted Hannah,” but those other songs must be far more well known.)
• 43a. [Heated competition?]. MEET. Good clue. See also [Someone who splits the bill?] for CO-STAR.

3.5 stars.

Daniel Raymon’s New York Times puzzle — Eric’s Review

Today’s theme: Typographical marks read as words:

• 20A [“] (“Quote”) PRICE ESTIMATE
• 26A [.] (“Period”) STRETCH OF TIME
• 48A [–] (“Dash”) MAKE A RUN FOR IT
• 56A [/] (“Slash”) ROCK GUITARIST

I didn’t pay much attention to the theme clues until I got ROCK GUITARIST. Even after making that connection, I got most of the theme answers by filling in the gaps left after getting some of the Down answers.

The grid design leaves only two Down slots longer than seven letters, but those two entries are fine:

• 11D [What self-driving cars and spell check are meant to compensate for] HUMAN ERROR
• 28D [Genuine articles] REAL MCCOYS

There’s a bit of wordplay in a few of the clues:

• 6A [They might be jam-packed] JARS
• 17A [Bank of New Orleans?] LEVEE
• 32A [You might pick one to get gold] ORE

And there’s an opportunity for me to fill a gap in my pop music knowledge, with 33A [One-named singer featured on the 2013 hit “Play Hard”] AKON/66A [One-named singer featured on the 2013 hit “Play Hard”] NE-YO

A curiosity: On the NYT website, 53D CONEY has the clue [___ dog, food specialty topped with meat sauce]; at xwordinfo.com, the clue is [___ dog (Brooklyn food specialty)]. I wonder what the clue was in the print edition; the Brooklyn reference would have kept me from making a misstep with CHILI.

A solid if not particularly exciting puzzle.

Joe Rodini’s USA Today Crossword, “Au Pair” — Emily’s write-up

Need a hand?

Theme: each themer contains AU—AU—

Themers:

• 20a. [“Amelie” star], AUDREYTAUTOU
• 37a. [Design philosophy that had a profound influence on modernist architecture], BAUHAUSMOVEMENT
• 51a. [Endonym for the Iroquois people], HAUDENOSAUNEE

Quite a mix of themers in the set today and I needed lots of crossings. It’s been a while since I’ve seen “Amelie” with AUDREYTAUTOU but she is certainly recognizable for that role in particular. BAUHAUSMOVEMENT and HAUDENOSAUNEE were new to me. The theme ties them all together and it’s fascinating that they each contain two AU— so the title hint is the perfect punny nod to the theme and for a hot second had me thinking about children.

Favorite fill: GROKS, MOOTPOINT, and ACCOSTOM

Stumpers: NOTSO (cluing didn’t quite get me there), TICTACTOE (first had “celebrities”), and LEGO (only “SEGA” came to mind based on length so needed crossings)

Overall a solid puzzle but one that I found tricker, both in the cluing and the fill, at least for me. The SW corner was my biggest stumper for some reason and that was the last portion that filled in. How did you all do today?

3.5 stars

~Emily

Mike Torch’s Universal crossword, “Just for Kicks” — pannonica’s write-up

Shoe puns. For each two-word theme entry, the type of footwear appears second.

• 17a. [Backless shoe worn in Russia’s capital] MOSCOW MULE, which is a vodka-based cocktail.
• 24a. [High-heeled shoe for peddling around?] BICYCLE PUMP. Clue should read pedaling. Incidentally, I just noticed that today’s crossword is edited by Taylor Johnson rather than David Steinberg, but I haven’t looked at that credit in quite some time. Coincidentally, perhaps, I remarked several weeks ago that the Universal puzzle had stopped cluing AXE as a variant spelling. Will need to dig into this.
• 40a. [Shoe with a thick sole for train travel?] RAILWAY PLATFORM.
• 52a. [Shoe with a continuous solid heel made from a tuber?] POTATO WEDGE.
• 65a. [Shoe with little arch support worn around the MGM lot?] STUDIO FLAT.

These are fine.

• 59d [E.T. crafts] UFOS. But what about ET arts?
• 61d [Blurry mental state[ HAZE. 45a [Brain __ (clouding of consciousness)] FOG.
• 66d [Discussion starter] DEE. Just the letter.
• 5a [“Excuse me,” in Parma] SCUSI. Pretty much a direct cognate.
• 14a [Wrinkly citrus fruit] UGLI. I feel that this word appears often in this specific location, that is, the first across entry in the second row.
• 44a [Modify] ALTER. 5d [Use a needle and thread] SEW. 10d [Tailing expert] SPY.
• 69a [Records on video] TAPES. 6d [Recording device, for short] CAM.

Okay.

Robyn Weintraub’s New Yorker crossword – Kyle’s write-up

I’m on a train, so this will be quick. Easy puzzle with a mix of long entries that were fun and less often seen (TRIPLE CHECKS, GHOST STORIES) and others that are treading on overuse (AMEN TO THAT, LOOKIE HERE). Good for a few minutes of diversion. Thanks Robyn!

 

 

 

Jay Silverman’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary

Today’s puzzle theme by Jay Silverman felt a tad one-dimensional. We have FASTFOOD as the central explaining answer and then four products that are named after that self-same quality, because that’s a popular thing to market food around. INSTANTRAMEN, QUICKGRITS, MINUTERICE & BRISKICEDTEA… They’re clued as a “Speedy X?”, but I don’t know why, because that is literally what they are.

Notable clues answers:

• • SCOTCH, [Whisky, e.g.]. Wait. Whisky is a type of SCOTCH; I thought it was the other way around.
  • SHIN, [Lower leg]

As someone who works with quadrupeds, this was way more confusing.

Gareth