Theme: "Final Advice" — Familiar phrases are clued as if they're advice for students of certain academic subjects.
[Note: This is the syndicated L.A. Times puzzle. It does not appear in the actual newspaper, but is available for free at cruciverb.com.]
Theme answers:
- 23A: To ace Music Theory, don't wander off __ (IN LA LA LAND).
- 28A: To ace Oceanography, don't let the prof know you've __ (GONE FISHING).
- 69A: To ace Electrical Engineering, don't fall __ (ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH).
- 95A: To ace Math, avoid being __ (AT SIXES AND SEVENS).
- 114A: To ace Cosmology, don't get __ (LOST IN SPACE).
- 120A: To ace Culinary Arts, avoid being __ (OUT TO LUNCH).
Crosswordese 101 Round-up:- 21A: Role in the 1992 film "Chaplin" (OONA).
- 39A: Arab League member (OMAN).
- 54A: Waterfront org. (ILA).
- 55A: Sudanese president __ al-Bashir (OMAR).
- 81A: Cheri of "SNL" (OTERI).
- 93A: Jump for Sonja (AXEL).
- 3D: Inspiration for Van Gogh (ARLES).
- 58D: Mennen lotion (AFTA).
- 96D: "Night" writer Wiesel (ELIE).
- 108D: Big name in compacts (ESTÉE).
Everything Else — 1A: 1996 Dream Team nickname (SHAQ); 5A: Hit hard (SMASH); 10A: Bit of dough (CLAM); 14A: Puritans (PRIGS); 19A: Machu Picchu's country (PERU); 20A: It goes from one joint to another (TIBIA); 22A: "Filthy" dough (LUCRE); 25A: Word with clerk or hall (CITY); 26A: "Save me __" (A SEAT); 27A: Closet hangers (TIE RACKS); 30A: Piquant (ZESTY); 31A: Sycophant (YES MAN); 34A: Rear-end (SLAM INTO); 35A: Held by us (OUR); 37A: Done for (KAPUT); 40A: To ace Agricultural Science, avoid __ (GRASPING AT STRAWS); 46A: Clarified butter (GHEE); 50A: Clerical VIP (REV.); 51A: Mink kin (STOAT); 52A: Certain about (SURE OF); 57A: Vacuum, e.g. (CLEAN); 60A: Film studio VIP (DIR.); 61A: Olympic racers (LUGES); 63A: Brobdingnagian (GOLIATH); 66A: Shape using heat (FORGE); 68A: Beach protection (SUNHAT); 73A: Scrapped, as a car (JUNKED); 75A: Car dealer's deal (LEASE); 76A: Poetic "soon" (ERE LONG); 79A: Ref. set (ENCYC.); 80A: Harmless cyst (WEN); 84A: Smack back? (-EROO); 85A: Fed. medical org. (NIH); 86A: "We build, we fight" military member (SEA BEE); 89A: Tennessee father-son politicos (GORES); 92A: Turn on the waterworks, so to speak (SOB); 99A: Uruguay's Punta del __ (ESTE); 101A: Rationed (out) (DOLED); 102A: Clavell's "__-Pan" (TAI); 103A: Kids' transports (SCOOTERS); 107A: Removed soap from (RINSED); 110A: Holy quest object (GRAIL); 116A: Clementi work (SONATINA); 118A: Mideast capital once called Philadelphia (AMMAN); 119A: Mata __ (HARI); 122A: With 64-Down, wiseguys (SMART); 123A: Love god (EROS); 124A: Creeping joints (KNEES); 125A: French state (ETAT); 126A: Piano players? (HANDS); 127A: Rear end blemish? (DENT); 128A: Shabby (SEEDY); 129A: Sonoran assent (SI SI); 1D: Thick-furred dog (SPITZ); 2D: 1932 Lake Placid gold medalist Sonja (HENIE); 4D: Publishing formats for Shakespeare (QUARTOS); 5D: Played crisply and detached, in mus. (STAC.); 6D: Like liquid in 10-Down (MILKY); 7D: Denigrate (ABASE); 8D: Sloth, for one (SIN); 9D: Possessed (HAD); 10D: Palm produce (COCONUTS); 11D: Cut of meat (LOIN); 12D: Chips in a chip (ANTES); 13D: Puritans' transport (MAYFLOWER); 14D: TV type (PLASMA); 15D: Super Bowl stat category (RUSHING); 16D: Trap up north, maybe (ICE IN); 17D: Research money (GRANT); 18D: Ready followers? (SET GO); 24D: Dream Team shots (LAYUPS); 28D: Voids (GAPS); 29D: Retort to a skeptic (I AM SO); 32D: Emulate 2-Down (SKATE); 33D: Pin cushion? (MAT); 36D: Slowing, in mus. (RIT.); 38D: Plod (TRUDGE); 40D: Blackbeard's quaff (GROG); 41D: San __: Riviera resort (REMO); 42D: Big snow fall? (AVALANCHE); 43D: Night, in Nogales (NOCHE); 44D: Liq. measure (GAL.); 45D: Taurus preceder (ARIES); 47D: Haughty attitude (HIGH HORSE); 48D: Zeno's town (ELEA); 49D: Right way to go? (EAST); 53D: Toaster's glass (FLUTE); 56D: Dicey (RISKY); 59D: Skeptical retort (NOT SO); 62D: Org. in a '60s spy series (UNCLE); 64D: See 122-Across (ALECS); 65D: Knight on TV (TED); 67D: Part of the anc. art of discourse (RHET.); 68D: Common honorific (SIR); 70D: Common folk (PLEBS); 71D: Virgil epic (AENEID); 72D: More than strange (WEIRD); 73D: German university city (JENA); 74D: Windows alternative (UNIX); 77D: Certain halfway point (NOON); 78D: Oodles (GOBS); 80D: Transition point (WATERSHED); 82D: "Tarnation!" ("EGADS!"); 83D: '70s-'80s pitcher Guidry (RON); 87D: Corroded (EATEN); 88D: Dispossessor? (EXORCIST); 90D: Part of ETA: Abbr. (EST.); 91D: "Fire Down Below" star (SEAGAL); 94D: It's named for a trapeze artist (LEOTARD); 97D: H. Clinton, once (SEN.); 98D: Good points (VIRTUES); 100D: Tours of duty (STINTS); 103D: / (SLASH); 104D: , (COMMA); 105D: Turkish empire founder (OSMAN); 106D: Doughnut for the road (SPARE); 109D: Fussed over, with "on" (DOTED); 111D: "__ a stinker?": Bugs Bunny line (AIN'T I); 112D: Machu Picchu natives (INCAS); 113D: Emmy winner Christine (LAHTI); 115D: Schoenberg's "Moses und __" (ARON); 117D: Curious to a fault (NOSY); 120D: Green lights (OKS); 121D: A, in France (UNE).
6 comments:
Good morning, all.
A pretty darn good Lampkin (Sunday-level) puzzle for the LAT.
Nice well-known sayings for the theme. No wonder I like it, I’m really big into idioms.
If you’re unfamiliar with some WEIRD saying, you can usually find its meaning in the online idiom dictionary which is compiled from the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms and the Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms.
The clues were a lot of fun (eg.)---
“Bit of dough” = CLAM
“Filthy dough” = LUCRE
“Brobdingnagian” = GOLIATH
Something new for me---
“It’s named for a trapeze artist” = LEOTARD
Also that an EXCORCIST is called a “Dispossessor.”
Can anyone explain what “Clarified butter” (GHEE) is, and what it’s used for?
Now here’s a song that’ll stick in your head all day long and perhaps even drive you nuts (COCONUTS, that is).
I’m sorry… perhaps I can redeem myself with this delightful clip of a 4 yo girl playing Clementi’s SONATINA opus 36.
Time to don my SUNHAT and get out in the garden.
@JNH: Googled GHEE myself, having never seen the word. It's described as traditional Indian clarified butter, and can be used in religious rituals or as fuel.
Enjoyed the puzzle today - not too easy, not too hard. Cute theme that made getting the crossed downs pretty straightforward.
LOST IN SPACE - yet another tribute to the '70s. This week has been in my wheelhouse, generationally speaking.
Thanks again, PG!
GHEE/ELEA = Natick
Otherwise a very nice puzzle.
FUN Sunday offering.
Themes were OK, IN LALALAND was my fave.
Nice little mini-theme tribute to the SKATEr, Sonja HENIE.
My pet lobster votes no on the tradtional Indian clarified butter, GHEE. He really hates it.
Learning moment of the puzzle.
Pretty SURE OF not being thrilled with the I AM SO
and NOT SO.
My KNEES aren't creeping, but in the winter
they are creaking.
Time to go OUT TO LUNCH.
@Van55, agree about GHEE/ELEA, but that section’s even worse. I got through this one without googles in half an hour, and had a good time doing it (had just come from DNF collision with the NYT that caused traumatic brain injury). But…my notes also called natick on ELEA/ILA.
Lucky me, I remembered ILA after a few seconds of “AFL? Nah. CIO? Nah. ILWU? Too long. Hang on, that L doesn’t stand for Labor—what’s that word?…” Yeah, like that. Perhaps more annoying, I knew that I knew “ZENO of WTF” from previous puzzles, but could not dredge it up.
Funniest moment was when I worked out LOST IN SPACE and my brain seized up. I’d read the clue as “To ace Cosmetology…” Like I said, traumatic brain injury.
CrazyCatLady here. Greetings from INLALALAND. GHEE is simply the Indian word for clarified butter. It's unsalted butter that is heated 'till foamy and then the milk fat is skimmed off the top. Same thing most of of us dip our non pet lobsters into. It's also a base for many of Julia Child's sauces.
Puzzle was long, but very gettable. The calendar puzzle today was way more challenging.
CrazyCatLady - The blog won't let me sign in. What's going on?
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