Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “30 for 30” — thirty years*, so let’s go themeless! – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 10/22/24

Hello lovelies! This week’s Jonesin’ is a celebration of his first professionally published crossword, a themeless that ran just under 30 years ago! Congrats Matt! Let’s go over a few entries.

• 1a. [“Pulp Fiction” star [November 4 marks the 30th anniversary of my professional crossword debut, so here’s a throwback to that first puzzle!]] UMA THURMAN
• 33d. [Dip with fruit, onions, and salt] MANGO SALSA. The description sounds much less delicious than the food to me.
• 61d. [“Hollywood Squares” block] XOO. I thought this was referring to one of the celebrity squares themselves, but it actually means a win-preventing tic-tac-toe move. Nice!

Congrats again to Matt Jones on 30 years! Until next week!

Scott Hall’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Got the Time?”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that feature one word that could also be part of a wristwatch. The revealer is “JUST WATCH ME!” (58a, [“I’m doing this no matter what…” (and a hint to assembling pieces of 17-, 29-, 35- and 43-Across)]).

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Got the Time?” · Scott Hall · Tue., 10.22.24

• 17a. [“Here’s an example…” ] “CASE IN POINT“
• 29a. [“Curb your enthusiasm!”] “DIAL IT DOWN“
• 35a. [“Sorry, I can’t help you”] “IT’S OUT OF MY HANDS“
• 43a. [“We have to accept reality…”] “LET’S FACE IT“

Nice theme. What I like most is the use of colloquial sayings. This isn’t an essential part of the theme, but it’s consistent and makes the whole thing more lively.

In the fill I liked “NO BOTHER” (another colloquialism), LOST OUT, and FAKE IDS. Not sure about UNHUSK and WAPITI [Elk’s Shawnee name] (though it was interesting to learn). REDEALT ain’t great, but I like that it crosses HANDS. Some shorter musty fill also detracted from the grid (OTHO, CCC, SSRS, TBAR, ETCHA).

Clue of note: 20a. [Faux passes at the tavern?]. FAKE IDS. Whoa. I just read this as “faux pas” up until just now. Sneaky, or else I’m just not paying attention. Probably both.

Three stars from me.

Barbara Lin’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 10/22/24 – no. 1022

The theme answers are made by adding an S to the end of a familiar phrase, turning them into goofball items of apparel. “Long story short …” becomes LONG-STORY SHORTS, [Bottoms decorated with characters from the “Odyssey”?]. “Sleep tight” becomes [Close-fitting pajamas?], SLEEP TIGHTS. I guess just the pajama bottoms? The song “Billie Jean” ends up as [Offering in Eilish’s clothing brand?], BILLIE JEANS. (Big and baggy, judging from what she wore as the SNL musical guest last weekend). “Cut me some slack” becomes [Request to a custom tailor?], “CUT ME SOME SLACKS.” I don’t love that the fourth one is a verb phrase rather than a noun phrase like the other three themers.

Fave clue: 66a. [Place for grape nuts?], NAPA. As in fermented grape juice in Napa Valley wine country.

Fave fill: BIG CHEESE, LOSES FACE, END UP ON TOP. Overall, smooth fill.

Four stars from me.

Elizabeth C. Gorski’s Cr♥ssw♥rd Nation puzzle (Week 699), “Bargain Hunting!”—Ade’s take

Crossword Nation puzzle solution, Week 699: “Bargain Hunting!”

Hello there, everyone! We’re just over a week until Fright Night and I hope all of your Halloween decorations are up and ready to go! 

Today’s puzzle was a departure from the norm, as I’m not sure the last time a rebus puzzle featured. In this trick, three across answers end in the word “price,” but the letters to that word puts on a TURN SIGNAL (28D: [Blinking light at an intersection]) at the “p” before the rest of the letters go downward — and also make up part of the corresponding down answer. The final theme entry, PRICE DROP, acts as the reveal (59A: [Bargain hunter’s dream … and the puzzle theme!]).

• • • • STARTING PRICE (16A: [Initial number at an auction]) + REPRICE (7D: [Reduce the cost, as for a sale])
      • VINCENT PRICE (29A: [Legendary actor who starred in “House of Haunted Hill”]) + AT ANY PRICE (10D: [By hook or by crook])
      • STICKER PRICE (44A: [Showroom cost of a new car]) + CAPRICE (38D: [Whimsy])

A part of me didn’t want to think I was dealing with a rebus given the usual Tuesday-ish New York Times difficulty that’s the feature of Crossword Nation, but the gimmick became totally clear when coming across the clue to Vincent Price — and it’s nice to have a Vincent Price shoutout given that we’re so close to Halloween. VIS-À-VIS was the highlight for me outside of the theme, as I use that and tête-à-tête a lot in conversations and in my story writing after first coming across those terms (14D: [Compared to]). Oh, and how amazing was it to see CELINE in the public eye again when performing in Paris before the start of the Olympic Games (38A: [Diva Dion who performed at the 2024 Paris Olympics])?

“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: DEAN (35D: [University bigwig]) – In the 1970s and early 1980s, the late Fred Dean was one of the most feared pass rushers in the National Football League. A four-time Pro Bowler and two-time Super Bowl Champion, Dean recorded a career-high 17.5 sacks in the 1983 season while playing for the San Francisco 49ers, including a then-record six sacks in one game against the New Orleans Saints in November of that season. Dean was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

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

Brooke Husic’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up

New Yorker • 10/22/24 • Tue • Husic • solution • 20241022

Another not-too-difficult Tuesday offering from the New Yorker. The northwest and southwest aren’t tightly integrated with the rest of the grid, but the fill and cluing ensure that it isn’t an issue.

• 1a [Accessory with a medallion] BOLO TIE. Needed rather a lot of crossings for this, so 1-across was one of my last completed entries.
• 14a [Pass gingerly] EASE BY. Nice, succinct clue.
• 21a [Key for getting out of a window] ESC. My first fill.
• 30a [Chunks caked in cleats] CLODS. 52a [Trudges] CLOMPS.
• 31a [Smart-__ ] ALECK. Had to change this from ALECS, which was a bit of a hunt to complete the puzzle correctly. Crossing entry: 5d [“Pokémon villains who announce that they’re “blasting off again” after being defeated] TEAM ROCKET.
• 48a [“Lonely Together” singer born in Kosovo] RITA ORA. Full-name sighting.
• 53a [Nineteenth-century cowboy who claimed to have earned the nickname Deadwood Dick in a roping contest] NAT LOVE. New to me.
• 55a [Prepped a cookie sheet, perhaps] GREASED. Okay but parchment paper is usually a better and easier option.
• 2d [Swear words often broadcast uncensored?] OATHS. Nicely turned.
• 7d [Home venue for Mexico’s national soccer team] ESTADIO AZTECA. Nifty entry.
• 10d [Pie option] PEPPERONI. My least favorite pizza topping. Too often it’s poorly spiced and overly greasy.
• 16d [1982 Wayne Wang film set in San Francisco’s Chinatown] CHAN IS MISSING. I know of it but have not seen it.
• 26d [Deploy the bat signal?] ECHOLOCATE. Cute.
• 27d [Yiddish “Eat!”] ESS. The German infinitive is essen.
  
• 49d [Chain whose first theatre was in Kansas City] AMC. Some trivia.

George Jasper’s Universal Crossword, “Alien Invasion” (ed. Taylor Johnson) — Matt F’s Review

Universal Solution 10.22.2024

At first I thought I would find theme answers clued as if the “ETs” did not exist. When the theme answers started going in straight as-clued, I saw the “ETs” and wondered if there would be anything else to the gimmick besides “here are some words that contain the letters ET.” And, fortunately, there is! The reveal was a welcome surprise that really pulled this puzzle together:

• 69A – [Core principles … and when parsed differently, what you’ll find across all of the answers to the starred clues] = TENETS (that’s 10 ET’s!)

Each of the 5 theme answers contain 2 ET’s each, tallying up to 10 total ET’s in the puzzle.

• 8A – [Prepare] = GET SET
• 20A – [Romeo Montague’s love interest] = JULIET CAPULET
• 28A – [Event for socializing with a public figure] = MEET AND GREET
• 46A – [Occupation for Ace Ventura of film] = PET DETECTIVE
• 57A – [1850 Nathanial Hawthorne novel featuring a red “A,” with “The”] = SCARLET LETTER

I wasn’t a fan of the last 2 theme clues. Do people really need to know that Ace Ventura is “of film?” I suppose the movie is 30 years old… so maybe. That’s not as painful as the last theme clue. If you’re going to reference the “red ‘A'” anyway, why not just say, [Red “A,” in Hawthorne’s 1850 novel]? I don’t think this needed to be explicitly clued as “The Scarlet Letter.”

The puzzle overall is nicely constructed. It’s not easy to squeeze so much theme material into a grid and still keep everything so clean. The guiding philosophy for an “easy” puzzle is clean fill over everything, which results in some bonus slots being consumed by STATESMEN (meh). But then you do find corners that lend themselves to shinier stuff like SLITHERED, and at the end of the day you have to make the most of what you’ve got.