Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Dog Daze” — bone across and canine down. – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 10/15/24

Hello lovelies! This week’s theme is phrases comprised of two types (not breeds) of dog.

• 17a. [The most fortunate member of the Scooby Gang?] LUCKY SHAGGY (lucky dog, shaggy dog)
• 59a. [Vegan block for Laura Ingalls Wilder?] PRAIRIE TOFU (prairie dog, tofu dog)
• 11d. [Direction to put in laundry, in some machines?] TOP DOWNWARD (top dog, downward dog)
• 25d. [Super-spicy pepper?] ATOMIC CHILI (Atomic Dog, chili dog)

Other things:

• 39a. [___-Lytton Fiction Contest] BULWER. It’s an annual competition to write a horrible opening sentence to the worst novel ever, inspired by the famous “It was a dark and stormy night…”.

Until next week!

Seth Bisen-Hersh’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Splashy Tunes”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are popular songs about bodies of water. The revealer is WATER MUSIC (54a, [Handel composition, and a description of 17-, 25-, 33- and 48-Across]).

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Splashy Tunes” · Seth Bisen-Hersh · Tue., 10.15.24

• 17a. [“Show Boat” ballad] OL’ MAN RIVER.
• 25a. [Signature song for Linda Ronstadt] BLUE BAYOU.
• 33a. [Oscar-winning song from “The Little Mermaid”] UNDER THE SEA.
• 48a. [Triple-platinum 2017 song by Billie Eilish] OCEAN EYES.

Solid. A good mix of tunes here, and it looks like they’re in chronological order by year. Pretty nifty.

Fill highlights include TIMBUKTU, a heroic “FEAR NOT“, MEDUSA, CYRANO, and the ROLLED R of a burrito. That SW quadrant played a little tough however with the mash-up of proper names DUANE, MEHTA, HELENA, YANN, and the iffy ECOLAW. In the NE F-TROOP crossing ATTU is another potential trouble spot. Maybe not a problem for us old-timers, but possibly for the younger set. See also “ABIE’S Irish Rose” and MR. ED.

3.25 stars.

Let’s not part ways without a little sip of WATER MUSIC. This is Suite No. 2 in D major, HWV 349 (part II. Alla Hornpipe), according to one commenter. Don’t worry, you’ll recognize it.

Elizabeth C. Gorski’s Cr♥ssw♥rd Nation puzzle (Week 699), “From Top to Bottom!”—Ade’s take

Crossword Nation puzzle solution, Week 699: “From Top to Bottom!”

Hello there, everyone! On Sunday night, I headed home and needed to put on the A/C after I got home given how balmy it was in the evening. A couple of evenings later, and it’s definitely sweater weather now! Hope you’re all doing well, no matter the weather. 

We have a progression in today’s grid dealing with five down entries with the grid, as the letters FREE appear in each and, while looking at the puzzle from left to right, moves downward from the top of the grid on the left to the bottom of the grid on the right. 

• • • • FREE FALLIN (3D: [Hit song by Tom Petty (born 10/20/50 … and a hint to the puzzle theme!])
      • FREE WIFI (21D: [Coffeehouse amenity])
      • RADIO FREE EUROPE (7D: [Broadcaster during the Cold War])
      • TOLL FREE (26D: [Like most customer service numbers])
      • GLUTEN FREE (30D: [Like pasta made from chickpeas])

The paralleling entries of pioneering journalist ED BRADLEY (18A [Emmy-winning “60 Minutes” correspondent]) and LOOKS GOOD well … looked real good (58A: “Seems fine to me!]). Definitely had to do a double take when I initially put in “bios” and  realized about a minute later that it might be BIOG, which I’m trying to figure out if I’ve ever seen that abbreviation before … well, outside of seeing it in this grid, of course (28D: [Life story, for short]). Can’t say that I’ve been to enough bars that I encountered MR BOSTON before, but I’ll be on the lookout from now on (24A: [Brand of liqueurs and bartending supplies]).

“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: PAPA (63A: [Hemingway’s nickname]) – If you’re a fan of the New York Giants and/or boxing, you’ll be familiar with the voice of Bob Papa. Papa has been the radio voice of the Giants since 1995, where his calls have been the soundtrack for two Super Bowl victories, in the 2007 and 2011 seasons. For many years, Papa was also one of the most preeminent play-by-play voices in boxing, where he was the lead voice for HBO’s Boxing After Dark 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

Lindsay Rosenblum’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 10/15/24 – no. 1015

Hey, hey! We add Lindsay Rosenblum to the list of crossword constructors with supervocalic names (containing each vowel exactly once), alongside Robyn Weintraub and Jared Goudsmit.

Fun theme, not that I put any of it together before finishing the puzzle and standing back to make sense of it. You SWIPE RIGHT in the Tinder app, and the four themers are things that entail swiping right, with the “correctly” sense of that word. 16a. [Visa, for one] is a CREDIT CARD and (though this is increasingly not done in the era of chip cards and contactless pay) you might swipe it through the doodad’s slot to read the card info. 25a. [Thief at work in a bustling crowd] is a PICKPOCKET with deft swiping skills. An INSULT COMIC takes swipes at people, and an MMA FIGHTER would, I dunno, swipe as well as sweep the leg, punch, and so on? MMA is not my bag.

Fave fill: OKCUPID, FREE WIFI, POKEMON, a CO-TAUGHT class.

Surprised to encounter in a Tuesday puzzle: UPROSE, ICHOR, GESTS. Also, I don’t know that you’d find any doctors thinking they’d taken a patient OFF OF a med rather than just off it.

3.5 stars from me.

Elly Zupko’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up

This time I figured out what the connection was among the theme answers. I didn’t imagine what the revealer would be, though.

Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2024, Elly Zupko, solution grid

• • 17a [Seat with horizontal spindles] is a LADDERBACK CHAIR.
  • 24a [One competent in many areas] is a JACK OF ALL TRADES.
  • 43a [Concise promotional talks] are ELEVATOR PITCHES.

And the revealer at 56a [Request from someone who needs a ride, or a request that can be made of the start of 17-, 24-, and 43-Across] is HEY, CAN I GET A LIFT? Solid theme made up entirely of 15-letter entries. Impressive!

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that LAGOS ceased being the capital of Nigeria in 1991. I know it’s now Abuja; didn’t know when it changed.

Howard Neuthaler’s Universal Crossword, “Wherefore Art Thou Romeo?” (ed. Taylor Johnson) — Matt F’s Review

Universal Solution 10.15.2024

Really fun revealer today to hold this one together:

• 57A – [Juliet’s question during the balcony scene … and a fact about each of the starred clues answers?] = WHAT’S IN A NAME

Each theme answer is a famous person who has the word “what” sprinkled through their name:

• 20A – [Pulitzer-winning author of “The Age of Innocence”] = EDITH WHARTON
• 28A – [Portrayer of Captain Kirk in 1960’s TV] = WILLIAM SHATNER
• 49A – [Goop founder and “Shakespeare in Love” actress] = GWYNETH PALTROW

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I thought the reveal was the most satisfying part of this puzzle. We don’t have much for longer bonus fill, except the mid-length DRY HEAT and YES I SEE (both decent), so the theme content does all the heavy lifting today. The mid-length stuff is pretty good overall: VELOUR, WAH-WAH, TIN EAR, GO HOME. I’m not sure the 3rd themer needed the 2-part clue. If you want the Shakespeare tie-in because it’s theme-adjacent, then commit to that. I prefer the “Goop founder” angle, personally, because it feels more modern. Anyway, enough nit-picking. This was a smooth Tuesday as always from the team at AMU. Nicely done!

Will Nediger’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up

New Yorker • 10/15/24 • Tue • Nediger • solution • 20241015

Thank you for all the well wishes yesterday! Am not completely out of the woods yet, but am a lot more functional.

I don’t have a great sense of how this compares to other mocha New Yorker crosswords; it took me somewhat longer, but I’m moving slowly in all things at the moment.

• 5a [Virtual music idol Hatsune __ ] MIKU. Link is to the Wikipedia page, because I suspect the official website is nothing but merchandising.
• 17a [Understood why something shouldn’t have been done] KNEW BETTER. A common phrase that’s surprisingly difficult to define succinctly.
• 26a [It’s longer than a pair of shorts] DOUBLE FEATURE. I twigged to the clue’s wiles right away, but hesitated to complete it, wondering if there might be something not quite as long.
• 29a [Pergamon __ (structure described at the beginning of Peter Weiss’s “The Aesthetics of Resistance”] ALTAR. This is a heavy puzzle. First a reference to the SEVEN volumes of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time (14a), and now invoking Weiss’ three-volume masterwork.
• 35a [U.K.-based online fast-fashion retailer] ASOS. New to me.
• 39a [“Cosmogramma” musician, to fans] FLYLO. Was really feeling out of it here. My mind went to Jennifer Lopez, J-Lo, who had an early break as a fly girl on In Living Color. But! It turns out this is an unknown-to-me shortened version of Flying Lotus, who I have at least heard of.
• 44a [History-making conductor Marin] ALSOP. She is the first woman to be a conductor of a major US orchestra.
• 47a [Marx who wrote, “Theory itself becomes a material force when it has seized the masses”] KARL. More chewiness.
• 49a. [Tree painted by John Constable] ELM. Not sure offhand which painting this is referring to. Aha! I did not know about this very accomplished study.
• 59a [Undated?] STAG. Nice.
• 3d [“Run along now,” in Britain] OFF YOU TROT. Okay.
• 6d [Comment following some reflection] I’VE BEEN THINKING. Nice, in-the-language grid-spanning entry.
• 9d [Ones suspended for playing blacktop games?] TETHERBALL. Why blacktop specifically?
• 12d [Folded part of a Scottish Fold cat] EAR. I learned only in the past year that the distinctive ears are actually a symptom of an underlying health issue, osteochondrodysplasia. Maybe we shouldn’t be encouraging propagation of this breed?
• 14d [Move like the Kraken] SKATE. It’s an NHL team from Seattle.
• 23d [Computing product that’s no longer supported by its publisher] ABANDONWARE. I knew this without knowing it.
• 52d [South Korean automaker with an angular logo] KIA. As of 2021, per the diagram (from Jason Torchinsky at The Autopian). It’s taken some heat for looking like ‘K-backwards-N’, but I  like it. Besides, in English we don’t have much employ for ‘backwards-N’ so how strong a pull is it? (This is a comment following some reflection.)