Thursday, December 5, 2024

Zachary David Levy’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “For Your Eyes Only”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that feature the letters OP except those letters are REDACTED (14a, [Stricken, in a way, as was done four times in this puzzle]), leaving behind two separate entries, each of which is a valid crossword entry. The actual revealer is BLACK OPS (64a, [Some covert assignments, and a hint to four spots in this puzzle]).

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “For Your Eyes Only” · Zachary David Levy · Thu., 12.5.24

• 19a. [Maintain via extreme low temperature] CRY(OP)RESERVE. A tough one to start with since one doesn’t normally come across this term in the wild as a verb. But the solitary CRY was a major hint to the theme.
• 28a. [Where having a ball may include having a ball?] DISC(O P)ARTY.
• 45a. [Shape for a music award] GRAM(OP)HONE.
• 53a. [Field for Verdi and Puccini] ITALIAN (OP)ERA.

Very nice theme that kept me guessing for a long time. It wasn’t until the end when I had fleshed out the revealer that I put everything together and had my aha moment. I especially like how each half of each answer is a valid word in and of itself thus making the theme even harder to spot. Very elegant that!

Lovely fill as well with ESTATE SALES, AGGRAVATION, “BEATS ME,” SAGACITY, GAS LEAKS, WING IT, and BOWEN YANG even though I didn’t remember the guy’s name. Oh, I’ll throw BRO DATE in there as well though it’s a new term to me.

However, I did finish with an error that I never found. 38a gets the clue [Like macramé] and I went with KNITTED and never questioned it. My knowledge of Indian geography is lacking so GIA at 36d [Indian coastal destination] seemed perfectly reasonable. Of course the correct answers are KNOTTED and GOA. Anyone else fall into that same trap?

Clues of note:

• 8a. [Fruit whose most common variety is the Cavendish]. BANANA. I much prefer the Manzano variety, but I so rarely find it.
• 41a. [Barber who was famous for his cuts]. TIKI. Sneaky, and I would’ve considered TODD, but I already had the K in place.
• 23d. [Events with lots of late people?]. ESTATE SALES. Hmm. Not sure I appreciate the grim humor here, especially since there aren’t usually many deceased people involved with any one particular sale. Oh wait, hang on, “lots” doesn’t mean “many,” it means “parcels of land”. We get a two-fer in the wordplay department in this clue. Maybe it should have two question marks.
• 44d. [Duke’s designation?]. DOT EDU. It was hard to parse this one in the Down direction.

Good puzzle. Four stars.

Garrett Chalfin’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up

Difficulty: Easy (8m12s)

Garrett Chalfin’s New York Times crossword, 12/5/24, 1205

Today’s theme: INSIDE OUT (Pixar film whose title suggests how to read five answers in this puzzle)

• (OLD S)CORES
• (STAT)USES
• (SHIN)DIG
• (PAR)SING
• (BUTTE)RED

We had another variant on this puzzle last year, with Simeon Seigel’s double-nested entries using the same INSIDE OUT revealer, sans the Pixar angle.  Here, apres vous, the shaded portions go first.

Cracking: SPELUNK, it’s fun to say

Slacking: insert here the entry that I like DEIST of all

Sidetracking: NPH as COUNT OLAF

Peter Gordon’s Fireball Crossword, “Themeless 173” – Jenni’s write-up

This one didn’t play as hard as some of the other FB Themelesses. The SW corner was knotty and I didn’t really believe I had it right even when I did.

Fireball crossword solution, 12/5/24 – “Themeless 173,” Peter Gordon

• Mmm, AMERICANOS. Make mine with a triple shot and room for cream, please. Oh, and no half-CAFS for me. Only decaf. Thanks.
• We make turkey TIKKA masala on the Sunday after Thanksgiving every year. Mmm.
• I don’t know what APAHM stands for yet even though I figured out that the first A means ASIAN.
• I did know that Yogi Berra jumped into DON LARSEN‘s arms after the perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Of course I did.
• Now let’s try to TEASE APART what stumped me in the SW corner, shall we? That will also cover

I’ve heard of Kingsley AMIS but didn’t know he wrote “House of Meetings,” and NEW SOL was, well, new to me. Since I’d also never heard of an Inti the whole thing just looked wrong. Turns out the inti was a unit of currency in Peru, named after an Inca sun god. In 1991 in response to runaway inflation the inti was replaced by the NEW SOL, so named because the inti itself had replaced the old sol.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s crossword, “Full Support” — pannonica’s write-up

BEQ • 12/5/24 • Thu • “Full Support” • Quigley • solution • 20241205

Second week in a row that you all get me covering the Quigley Thursday. I promise this isn’t my new gig!

• 49a^R [Phrase of full support, and an explanation of this puzzle’s theme] I’M HERE FOR IT. That is, in the theme entries, we’re to replace the sequence H-E-R-E with I-T. I had a strong inkling of what was going on because 11-down was the first of the three theme entries that I was able to fill in—yet I couldn’t see the rationale until I reached this revealer. So, everything functioning as intended.
• 11d. [“I’m pointing to the spot I think the ink should go”?] THERE FOR TAT (tit for tat).
• 25d. [“I need to put this by which edge?”] AT WHERE’S END (at wit’s end).
• 17a. [Gleam from a globe?] SPHERE SHINE (spit shine). Not a cube but a globe.

• 1a [Alternatives to spondees] IAMBS. Like having a wrench thrown at you right off the bat. I couldn’t immediately place spondees, and for obscure reasons I associate the use of the old slang for money, spondulix with BEQ.
• 15a [Slightly off] ASKEW, not AMISS. You could say I manifested the clue. 28a [Left in a hurry] RAN OFF.
• 29a [They may be queens for a day] PAWNS. Didn’t fool me at all.
• 37a [“__ Substance” (2024 Demi Moore movie] THE. Being timely for its own sake, nothing wrong with that. Kind of funny how it’s the inverse of some clues that request titles and say “with ‘the'”. 16a [“Too funny!”] HAH.
• 56a [Flowering heath] ERICA. A genus of heather.
• 4d [Certain signal to talk, redundantly] BEEP TONE, which I have never encountered by name.
• 8d [Tackle moguls] SKI. Strangely, I was thinking this had to do with fishing.
• 24d [Edge of a fore-and-aft sail] LEACH. Didn’t know this sense at all.
• 36d [“Deus Ex” video game company] ION STORM. I got all the crossings except the two Os, which at that point were fairly easy to guess. Reminds me that I want to watch Ex Machina (2014), which I hear is pretty good.
• 41d [Hurricane’s dir.] ENE. 18d [Hurricane areas] EYES.
  
• 43d [Typeface choice] ARIAL. Oh, it’s definitely a choice. (Sorry, I watched the Helvetica documentary last week.)
• 47d [Dinner table?] MENU. ‘Table’ is a stretch, even with the question mark.

And it’s here that I end the write-up. Eric H should resume his place next Thursday, unless something goes amiss or askew.

Mike Graczyk’s USA Today Crossword, “Thank You Again” — Emily’s write-up

You’re welcome!

USA Today, December 05, 2024, “Thank You Again” by Mike Graczyk

Theme: each themer contains –TY–TY (“thank you” doubled)

Themers:

• 19a. [Nursery rhyme figure who fell to pieces], HUMPTYDUMPTY
• 38a. [Rihanna’s cosmetics brand], FENTYBEAUTY
• 56a. [Clockwise, in a mnemonic], RIGHTYTIGHTY

The only real connection for this themer set is truly the theme: HUMPTYDUMPTY, FENTYBEAUTY, and RIGHTYTIGHTY. The first one filled easterly for me but I needed a few crossings with the remaining two. Really enjoyed this theme and today’s title hint. Reminiscent of yesterday’s theme pattern too but fun seeing another variant and a different take on a title hint.

Favorite fill: DEMOTAPE, OHTHAT, SAYSME, and GRAYMATTER

Stumpers: AWDARN (needed crossings), ESPYS (needed crossings), and IDBET (needed crossings)

Great grid design and excellent overall fill with wonderful lengthy bonus fill in particular. I still found the cluing and some of the fill a bit trickier today, so it took me a bit longer to solve.

4.0 stars

~Emily