Friday, February 2, 2018

Randolph Ross’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s write-up

NY Times crossword solution, 2 2 18, no 0202

Kind of a mixed bag here. Standard Friday difficulty, some crisp fill, some blah stuff.

To the bullets!

• 26a. [Sellers at a craft show], ARTISANS. “Farts & crafts.” Just putting that out there.
• 17a. [What the British call a station wagon], ESTATE CAR. Bleh. This term was just the basis for a theme entry in the 1/24 NYT. Too much ESTATE CAR! “Speak American, dammit!”
• 20a. [Hot dogs], DAREDEVILS. We were all thinking wieners instead of people engaging fearlessly in heedless stunts, weren’t we?
• 31a. [Taunts], JIVES. What? No. I checked two reputable dictionaries and neither includes this as a meaning for JIVES. Gibes, sure, but not JIVES. When the dictionaries do include other definitions for JIVES, why would go with this? I mean, I could see playing dirty pool and using a tertiary definition from a particular dictionary for the Newsday Saturday Stumper, but not for a Friday NYT.
• 1a. [Biased investigation], WITCH HUNT. *looking askance at clue*
• 32a. [Twice, musically], BIS. … Not a common bit of musical crosswordese.
• 47a. [Author much used by other authors], PETER ROGET. Blanked on his first name and really wanted to fill in ROGER ROGET.
• 4d. [Narrow openings], CRANNIES. I love this word! Not sure why.
• 

  Yes, I totally stole this ferret photo from Martin Ashwood-Smith’s Facebook. Look how cute his pet ferrets are!

  8d. [Member of the C.S.A.], N.CAR. For Farrar’s sake, constructors, kill this entry in your word list.

• 30d. [Brown family member], EARTH TONE. I pondered the Ivy League and people named Brown first.
• 34d. [Pharmacy brand], BAYER. Pharmacy?  *Googling* Ah, yes. Bayer makes some Rx meds along with their over-the-counter aspirin products.
• 37d. [Uncovers, with “out”], FERRETS. ⇒⇒⇒
• 48d. [Spoiler of a perfect report card], ONE B. No, no, no. Do not glue a stack together with a ONE B. Backtrack, re-fill.

3.4 stars from me. How’d you fare?

Stu Ockman’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Laura’s writeup

Laura in for Gareth today; yesterday I was in for Jim who was in for Gareth. We at the Fiend like to help each other out.

LAT – 2.2.18 – Ockman – Solution

We’ve got some recipes in the clues, and some reversals in the grid:

• [4d: Tequila, triple sec and lime juice]: Well, that’s a margarita. But no: the grid wants ATIRAGRAM (Will the revealer be STRAIGHT UP?)
• [10d: Champagne and orange juice]: Mimosa reverses to ASOMIM
• [21d: Bourbon, water, sugar and garnish]: Something’s missing, at least if we were making a mint julep at my house … just “garnish?” Okay, PELUJTNIM
• [36d: Whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters]: I prefer a drier Manhattan, made with rye. NATTAHNAM
• [44d: White rum, sugar, lime juice, soda water and garnish]: The best mojito in the world is made at Churrascaria Plataforma, on on W. 49th St in Manhattan. OTIJOM (also, what’s with the garnish only on some of the drinks?)
• [59a: Bar exhortation … and a hint to how to answer five puzzle clues]: DRINK UP

And when you’ve had your fill …

• [31d: Sometimes offensive, briefly]: Me: Please don’t be NONPC or NOTPC. Grid: NOTPC. Me: {sigh}
• [15a: Somewhat off]: A BIT ODD. Me: Who is Abi Todd?
• 54d: Kitchen gadget brand]: EKCO. I have many OXO products in my kitchen, but no EKCOs. Also to be distinguished from ECKO, the clothing company.
• [6d: Emperor relative]: ADELIE. As in the adélie penguin, resident of Antarctica. Robin Williams voiced a trio of adélies in Happy Feet.
• Back in my hippie days, we invented a drink called “the Donovan”: vodka and MELLO [26d: ___ Yello]. Crosswordese Trivia: IONE Skye is Donovan’s daughter.

Winston Emmons’ Chronicle of Higher Education crossword, “Edge of America” — pannonica’s write-up

CHE • 2/2/18 • “Edge of America” • Emmons • solution

15d/47d^R [… the entirety of this puzzle’s perimeter] STATE | ABBRS. Indeed, those 12 entries are each four-letter words composed of pairs of standard two-letter abbrevs. Fitting that it appears on 2-2, no?

• 1a. [Silent performer] MIME (Michigan, Maine).
• 5a. [Purchase in the Potterverse’s Diagon Alley] WAND (Washington, North Dakota). I continue to be resoundingly disappointed in every pseudo-clever name/spell/appellation that I see from that source. Dreadfully clumsy.
• 9d. [Installed, as brick or carpet] LAID (Louisiana, Idaho).
• 12d. [Reject] DENY (Delaware, New York).
• 30d. [Pen fillers] INKS (Indiana, Kansas).
• 60d. [Godwin who wrote “Father Melancholy’s Daughter”] GAIL (Georgia, Illinois).
• 70a. [Spoken] ORAL (Oregon, Alabama).
• 69a. [University of Miami athlete, colloquially] ’CANE (California, Nebraska). Short for ‘Hurricane’, I presume.
• 68a. [Air balls miss them] RIMS (Rhode Island, Mississippi).
• 56d. [Steep, high cliff] SCAR (South Carolina, Arizona).
• 31d. [Formal agreement] PACT (Pennsylvania, Connecticut).
• 1d. [When doubled, a luau protein source] MAHI (Massachusetts, Hawaiʻi). Mahi-mahi, and such a luau would reasonably be set in Hawaiʻi.

None of the other four-letter entries—nor any of the other even-lettered ones (none longer than six letters—in the grid is similarly constituted.

• 16a [Fugitive racketeer in “The Third Man”] HARRY LIME. You could say that he operated on the fringes of society.
• 17d [Toadied to, in a way] YESED. I prefer the double-S version, Same for bussed.
• 64d [Suffix for shapes] -GON. See again 5-across.
• 27d [One of the three R’s of eco-friendliness] RECYCLE. The others are reduce and reuse.
• 52d [Bellini opera that opened the Met’s 2017–18 season] NORMA. Hi, Brad!
• 61a [ __ d’Alene, Idaho] COEUR. Not strictly a duplication (9d) but it feels inelegant.
  
  (It’s like a parody of everyone’s idea of French films, non?)