Monday, July 17, 2017

Tom McCoy’s New York Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up

NYT • 7/17/17 • Mon • McCoy • № 0717 • solution

Counting! By twos! Yawn.

• 55a^R [Miscellany … or a description of the final words in 15-, 23-, 38- and 43-Across] ODDS AND ENDS.
• 15a. [President’s plane] AIR FORCE ONE.
• 23a. [Cry before “You’re out!”] STRIKE THREE.
• 30a. [“Up top!”] GIMME FIVE.
• 38a. [Conclusion of a close World Series] GAME SEVEN. Baseball, again? There are other best-of-seven contests.
• 43a. [Ecstatic] ON CLOUD NINE.

Eh.

• 62a [Suffix with differ] -ENT. Wow.
• 57d [Like some library books and  babies] DUE. Um.

Not feeling it, but maybe I’m just numb.

Daniel Hamm’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Body Language” — Jim’s review

Our theme today is body of water puns.

WSJ – Mon, 7.17.17 – “Body Language” by Daniel Hamm (Mike Shenk)

• 17a [Body of water comprising tresses?] LOCH OF HAIR. Lock of hair.
• 30a [Division of a body of water?] SEA SECTION. C-section.
• 43a [Address about a body of water?] STRAIT TALK. Straight talk.
• 58a [As large as a body of water?] BIGHT-SIZED. Bite-sized.

These seemed to work fine, but nothing really got me going. (I will admit that I solved while watching Game of Thrones, so my attention was, shall we say, divided.)

I did like the inclusion of “bight,” since, to be honest, I never knew its definition. M-W.com defines it as “a bend in a coast forming an open bay.”

It seemed to me this theme had probably been done before, and I was right. I found an instance of it from 2009 by none other than the wonder duo of Heaney and Quigley. It contained both SEA SECTION and STRAIT TALK plus 7(!) other entries. That’s right, it was a 21x puzzle, and guess what, it was a Friday WSJ. So not only was it done before, it was done in this same publication.

There’s quite a lot of long fill in the grid, though most of it is strictly functional such as REHEARSE, PETITIONER, LAOTIAN, and AFTER A SORT. I did like PYRENEES and NOT SO BAD, though.

I have a love/hate relationship with OPEN WIDE at the moment. Truthfully, it makes for a great entry, but after my recent dental escapades (a tooth extraction a few weeks back), I am still trying to recover and can’t even OPEN WIDE enough to get my thumb in my mouth. (Good news! I’ve finally given up the pacifier!)

My favorite bit in the grid was the combo of 15a DANNY DeVito and 41a LOUIE DePalma. Taxi still ranks up there as one of my all-time favorite shows. It featured smart writing and a brilliant cast, especially DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, and Andy Kaufman.

All in all, despite the rehashed theme, the grid is pretty clean and there’s some fun stuff in there. Conclusion: NOT SO BAD.

One more thing. Tomorrow, Fiend newcomer Laura Braunstein will be making her debut as she takes over the WSJ Tuesday slot from me. As for me, I’m looking forward to spending my extra free time focused on mandibular rehabilitation. Ciao!

Joe Schewe’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up

LAT • 7/17/17 • Mon • Schewe • solution

• 36a^R [Borden cow … and a phonetic hint to this puzzle’s four longest answers] ELSIE, i.e., “L-C”
• 17a. [’70s Wonder Woman portrayer] LYNDA CARTER.
• 23a. [Wonderland creator] LEWIS CARROLL.
• 44a. [Her fashion company made the Fortune 500 in 1986] LIZ CLAIBORNE.
• 55a. [“Who’s on First?” funny guy] LOU COSTELLO.

•

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s website crossword – “Themeless Monday #423” — Jenni’s review

Good morning! I haven’t had coffee yet – slow start today. Brendan gives us a themeless with a tiny mini-theme, just to keep us on our toes.

The two longest answers have something in common:

BEQ 7/17, solution grid.

• 19a [Military credo] is HURRY UP AND WAIT. I have no doubt that this happens in the military, but is it a credo? Def: “a statement of the beliefs or aims that guide someone’s actions.” Hmm.
• 48a [Do a fair share of work] is PULL ONE’S WEIGHT. {redacted rant about the praise dads get for this}

A few other things:

• I’m also not sure about 7a [Cause of some charley horses]. The answer is CHARLEY HORSES. I always thought a charley horse was a cramp. No?
• 11d [Southampton shrimp] had me looking for British slang for a short person. Nope. It’s PRAWN.
• 26d [Game that takes place on a pyramid] gives us the always-misleading Q without a following U: QBERT.
• 31a [Got back together] is the unpleasant REUNED. Reunions are delightful. REUNED is not.
• 51d [Woman’s name that sounds like two letters] is EVIE. I tried ELLY first.
• 54a [Zombie flick cry] is IT’S ALIVE. RIP George Romero.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that AMSTEL beer has two lions on the label. I never looked at it that closely.