Saturday, October 26, 2024

Peter Collins’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 10/26/24 – no. 1026

Shout-out to the central spanner, ORGAN TRANSPLANT. The organ in question was a kidney, transplanted from one twin to his brother. Transplant science has come a long way in the decades since! Also nice to see: Big MAMA Thornton, IDENTITY THIEVES (strictly as a crossword entry, of course), the STANLEY CUP, SELF-PITY, and RAVISHING.

Not so keen on SUN LOUNGE, MINK STOLES, LAWN TOOL, UNENTERED. I’m feeling some arbitrariness in their midst. And ACNED is unappealing as words go.

Actress VIBEs with Joan CUSACK, Judith IVEY, MERYL Streep, and Laura INNES. LOOS and RHEA could also have been clued via actors) but “I hate trivia” folks would have complained.

A gimme: 48d. [Chicago’s ___ Center, formerly known as the Amoco Building], AON. Real ones still think of it as the Standard Oil Building, of course. It was hilarious when they had to replace the entire marble cladding on this 83-story building because it had been a poor choice to use thin sheets of Carrara marble.

3.25 stars from me.

Adam Aaronson’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 10/26/24 by Adam Aaronson

I really liked this puzzle! There were some fresh, new-to-me entries, and some very clever cluing of ones I’ve seen before. Highlights and only a couple of lows:

• 15A [Speaker of the house?] is AMAZON ECHO. Haaaahahahahhaa! I knew I was going to like this solve a lot when I dropped this entry in.
• 18A [Quantity of strontium in an award-winning 2018 photograph] is ATOM. I completely missed this clue when solving, but it’s a super interesting way to clue an otherwise throwaway entry.
• 19A [Professor’s domain] is EDU. Again, this is an entry that’s normally a throwaway, but that little bit of deviousness makes the clue special.
• 36A [Stallone role] is RAMBO, but could very easily be ROCKY if you get in via the first letter, which I did. (I knew better than to fill anything in until I had another crossing!)
• The bottom right stack of 10s was my one “meh” area of the puzzle. IMO the clue [Made a solo arrangement?] couldn’t save LIVED ALONE from being a somewhat boring entry, and I think every crossword editor saw DESIRE PATH from a different constructor at the same time and thought, “That’s a sparkly entry!” I think I’ve filled it in three or four times in the last month and could deal with not seeing it again for a while. APPLETINIS and its singular also feel like they go in that “lively the first time, becoming overused” category.
• The NW corner with the J and a bunch of Zs between JAZZ FUSION at 1A and the crossing ZAZU and ZZZ is a flex! (A good flex!)
• 13D [Energy consumption unit?] is a PROTEIN BAR, which is both an entry I don’t feel like I’ve filled in a million times, and also a great clue.
• 25D [Fast-fashion giant based in Singapore] is SHEIN. Given the ubiquitousness of clothes from SHEIN these days, I think it should be in the rotation of 5-letter entries in puzzles, and I’m glad to see it here.
• 27D [Crudely drawn cartoons expressing frustration] is RAGE COMICS. This phrase is new to me. Color me interested!
• 39D [Likely ticket holder?] is SPEEDER. Here’s another great clue I completely missed while solving.

Gary Larson’s Wall Street Journal, “Back to Nature” — pannonica’s write-up

WSJ • 10/26/24 • Sat • “Back to Nature” • Larson • solution • 20241026

Theme is phrases where in the original versions the second part is a homophone of an animal, and the animal’s name is used instead.

• 21a. [Fast-running mammal raised out of the elements?] INGROWN HARE (hair). Novel—and weird—interpretation of ‘ingrown’.
• 23a. [Unsteady amphibian?] TIPPY TOAD (toed).
• 49a. [Grizzly mentioned in an online forum?] THREAD BEAR (-bare).
• 81a. [Bitter mollusk?] SORE MUSSEL (muscle).
• 110a. [Fish in a play?] ACTING KOI (coy).
• 113a. [Flat mate?] KINDRED SOLE (soul).
• 32d. [Antlered animal dressed to the nines?] STYLING MOOSE (mousse).
• 37d. [Pet for a computer technician?] CRASHING BOAR (bore). “Pet”?

These are … mildly entertaining? Might be my mood this morning.

• 1d [Creature sacred to Thoth] IBIS. Not part of the theme. Nor is 56a [Jellied dish] EELS.
• 17d [Tackle’s neighbor] END. Football.
• 30d [You hold them in your arms] ULNAS. “Hold” is a little sketchy, but sure.
• 51d [Bronco halter] BRAKE. The vehicle, not the horse.
• 71d [Bee relative] WASP. They both belong to the Hymenopteran suborder Apocrita, along with 103d ANTS [Aardvark nibbles]. Neither are part of the theme.
• 79d [Shad product] HARD ROE, which is the same as roe. “Soft roe” is actually milt.
• 82d [Clear Chinese liquor] MAOTAI.
• 40a [Key inogredient in pie] LIME. “Key”.
• 54a [Circular stuffers] INSERTS. Think mail.
• 96a [Destination of a flight, perhaps] NEST. The rare time when I first think about stairs, I get double-faked.
• 98a [Voters’ problem] APATHY. Note the location of the apostrophe.

p.s. vote!

Lester Ruff’s Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s write-up

Newsday • 10/26/24 • Saturday Stumper • Ruff, Newman • solution • 20241026

This week’s ‘less rough’ offering was an unusual solve for me, in that I didn’t really conquer sections. Instead, the grid was gradually filled in all-over, kind of the way a slow-loading image dithers from low-resolution to high. A sort of crystallization process.

• 16a [Southern Living’s “#1 must-have plant”] AZALEA. Is that like an annual determination, or what?
• 17a [News of interest] RATE HIKE. Nice little double-entendre clue.
• 30a [Combination plate?] KEYPAD. For instance, on a security system terminal.
• 32a [Sherwood forest dwellers] OAK TREES. Tricky, with the ‘dwellers’ leading one to think of more animated inhabitants.
• 36a [Covered, as mysteries] JACKETED. Books. Stretchy clue.
• 46a [Cost] ARE. For such an open-ended clue/answer it’s best to just leave it to crossings.
• 50a [What a pointer points at] SCENT. Not exactly a tangible object.
• 63a [Frankfurt fruitcake] STOLLEN, not STRUDEL.
• 3d [Stitching tool with an eye] AWL. This would have been my first answered entry, but I wasn’t sure about it. As it turned out, it was one of the last filled in.
• 4d [Churchill’s “categorical inexactitude”] LIES. Was thrown off by the singular/plural discrepancy. Wikipedia seems to suggest that the phrase was terminological inexactitude, but perhaps it was something he repeated in various forms.
• 6d [Idly] FOR NO GOOD REASON. Nice SPANNER (19a [Brit’s wrench]), though I have the sense of encountering it several times before.
• 8d [Abdominal space-savers] LITES. “Abdominal”? Huh?
• 9d [Opposite of “question”] AVER. As a verb.
• 11d [Narrative excerpt] EPISODE, not PASSAGE.
• 20d [Emulatee introducer] À LA. Easily my least favorite clue in the puzzle.
• 23d [Exclamation coined for Buck Rogers] ZAP. Nifty bit of trivia.
• 35d [Not expected to take the lead] REACTIVE. Nice clue, not what I would have expected.
• 39d [Decisive things in rings] KOS. 59a [Thing in a ring] NAPKIN.
• 44d [Frankincense and myrrh] RESINS. Synchronicity! RESIN appears in both the NYT and WSJ crosswords today.
• 51a [Ephesians’ place in the New Testament] TENTH. Didn’t understand this during the solve, but I’m now thinking that it’s simply the TENTH book therein?
• 54d [“For __” (Contact dedication)] CARL Sagan, who I assume died while the film adaptation of his novel was in production.
• 55d [Fabric favored by Pepys] LACE. It’s been a very long time since I read his published diaries, and I certainly don’t recall that.