THEME: No theme today—Just a themeless Saturday puzzle
Usually I do the L.A. Times crossword on screen in Across Lite, but this one I tackled while putting my son to bed, with only a wee Book Owl light for illumination. I didn't look at the clock, but I had figured out a chunk of the answers at the top before I even picked up my pencil, and my write-overs indicate only a couple snags. If you usually have to fight your way through a Saturday puzzle, was this one more pliable?
The first snag I hit was 22A: Bible book before Nehemiah. I had the first letter in place, an E, so I plugged in ESTH., an abbreviation for the book of Esther. Then 12D: Online shopping mecca asserted itself—it was AMAZON and not AMASON, of course. So I changed my Bible book abbreviation to EZEK., for Ezekiel. Mind you, the clue had Nehemiah and not the abbreviated Neh., so there was zero reason for me to abbreviate the answer instead of going straight to EZRA.
The other hitch was a single-letter problem. 4D: Climb could be the verb ASCEND, which I started with, or the noun ASCENT. On Saturdays, you need to be wary of clue words that can be in different tenses (e.g., the verbs put or set or lay) or represent different parts of speech (as with climb today).
Crosswordese 101: My favorite old crosswordese answer in today's puzzle is 63A: ORTS, clued as food Disposal bits. Obviously, such a nutty little morsel of crosswordese has already been covered in this section, two times. (And both times by me. Whoops.) So instead, let's chat about the components of 2D: Uncommon thing, or RARA AVIS. That's Latin for "rare bird." The full phrase is, like every other eight-letter answer not remotely a common crosswordese answer. But its halves are. For AVIS, the constructor usually writes a clue relating to the rental car company, but what else can you do with RARA besides go with a fill-in-the-blank clue, ___ avis? Good constructors try to avoid RARA because there's only one clue for it, and either a solver knows the answer or she doesn't; there's no fun brainwork involved in sussing out the answer.Highlights:
- I enjoy conversational phrases dropped into a crossword grid. Doug gives us two, both super informal: 23A: "Care to make it interesting?" ("WANNA BET?") and 56A: "See ya!" ("I'M OUTA HERE!"). I prefer the two-T outta spelling, but my dictionary lists both spellings.
- I'm a fan or the first/last name combo in crosswords, too. Usually AMIS is clued by way of author Kingsley Amis or his son Martin Amis, but MARTIN AMIS (60A: "London Fields" novelist) looks cooler. I haven't read either Amis.
- 3D: Successor to the mini (IPOD NANO)—boy, crossword makers lucked out when Apple chose the iPod name. Alternating vowels and consonants, plus it's livelier than the other I*O* options, like IRON, IROC, IDOL, ICON, or IPOS.
- I'm a bit of a geography nerd, so I appreciate fill like 34D: Horn of Africa country (DJIBOUTI). Plus: That country, which is near Ethiopia and Somalia, practically rhymes with "shake your booty."
- 53D: Movers, but hopefully not shakers (VANS). You don't want a moving VAN to shake your boxes of fine china.
- Hey, I never knew this: 48D: Italian for "frozen" is GELATO. Gelid is a high-end vocabulary word meaning "icy" that's related. Opera fans may recognize the La Boheme aria "Che gelida manina," which is about Mimi's cold hands. (Why has no one written a song about my cold hands?) Despite GELATO and gelatin looking so similar, apparently the latter derives from a Latin word for "jelly."
Everything Else — 1A: Often dramatic number (ARIA); 5A: Dumps (SCRAP HEAPS); 15A: Finds fault with (RAPS); 16A: Dashiell Hammett's last novel (THE THIN MAN); 17A: Marsh critter (CROC); 18A: Tubeless and with no moving parts, electronically (SOLID STATE); 19A: Site of the mythical Lethe River (HADES); 21A: Little foxes (KITS); 25A: Trout spot (BROOK); 26A: Personification (AVATAR); 27A: How to see the obvious (PLAINLY); 29A: Feminine force (YIN); 30A: Speed limit posting, e.g. (ROAD SIGN); 33A: Lawn strip (SOD); 35A: Acknowledge silently (NOD AT); 36A: Obtain (GET); 39A: Wearing a bolero (JACKETED); 42A: Lab alert? (GRR); 44A: Some modern tribal operations (CASINOS); 47A: Grammy category (REGGAE); 49A: Recline next to (LIE BY); 50A: Blush, for one (COSMETIC); 52A: River to the Ligurian Sea (ARNO); 53A: Playback machines, briefly (VCRS); 55A: Move (away), like a coward (SLINK); 59A: Juvenile retort (AM SO); 61A: Prom dancer (TEEN); 62A: Very slow rate (SNAIL'S PACE); 1D: Majestic entrance (ARCHWAY); 5D: Bourbon and Sesame: Abbr. (STS.); 6D: Require the Heimlich maneuver (CHOKE); 7D: Kindled again (RELIT); 8D: Busting one's hump (AT IT); 9D: Profs' degrees (PH.D.'S); 10D: Casual greetings (HIS); 11D: Recording, as in a journal (ENTERING); 13D: Cop's duty (PATROL); 14D: Double-dealing (SNEAKY); 20D: Franco-German border region (SAAR); 24D: Rodeo mount (BRONCO); 25D: Specialty, slangily (BAG); 27D: Three-part H.S. exam (PSAT); 28D: Some water bottles (LITERS); 31D: NASA go-aheads (A-OKS); 32D: '50s pres. (DDE); 37D: Boggle accessory (EGG TIMER); 38D: Toy with an engine (TRAIN SET); 40D: Vague amount (ANY); 41D: 32-Down wasn't one of them (DEMS); 43D: S'poses (RECKONS); 44D: They may be staked (CLAIMS); 45D: Aviator (AIRMAN); 46D: Chihuahua female (SEÑORA); 50D: Espresso foam (CREMA); 51D: Courtier in "Hamlet" (OSRIC); 54D: Fellow (CHAP); 57D: '80s band '__ Tuesday (TIL); 58D: Language suffix (-ESE).
29 comments:
I agree this was ultra-easy for a Saturday. Had the same ASCEND/ASCENT hiccup, but blazed through it otherwise from NW all the way round clockwise. DJIBOUTI was the highlight of the puzzle for me.
*David*, what's the other aristocratic site besides this one? And the "hoi polloi" site?
I got "Osric" by remembering Robin Williams in a movie version of Hamlet. :o)
Oops, wrong character!
Sheesh! I was right. Got to quit second-guessing myself.
I had a number of AHA moments while working on this enjoyable puzzle. Had a bit of trouble in the SW because I wasn't sure of the spelling of DJIBOUTI. I had the "DJ" (fortunately) and the terminal "I" but the rest was up in the air. For a long while, I just could not see CASINOS even after I had most of the letters. The intersection of MARTINAMIS and OSRIC was a problem too as I misspelled AMIS as AMOS and did not know OSRIC so OSROC didn't wave a red flag.
LOL at 42A Lab alert? GRR ....good one.
Big AHA at IPODNANO (successor to the mini) after I was rummaging around in the clothing department for a time.
Thanks, Doug P. and Orange, for this satisfying and amusing Saturday fun.
Another easy-breezy puzzle for a Saturday, but that's okay with me... just more time to spend outside on this beeeoootiful weekend. I like tough puzzles, but I love my garden just a tad bit more.
I knew 34d was DJIBOUTI, but just wasn't sure how to spell it... thank God for my A to Z Crossword Dictionary or I'd never get these geographic names.
I struggled mostly with NW. I'm one of those old fashioned dudes (or maybe duds), so things like IPODNANO don't come easy, but the easy crosses sure helped a lot. As Orange said, RARA and AVIS are used a lot in puzzles, but when HADES and WANNABET revealed the AA in 2d, It took a while to reason that it was two words and so RARA emerged in my mind. Logically I put AVIS with it and voile!
I forgot about OSRIC (Hamlet's courtier), so that stymied me a bit.
I got ATIT (8d) okay from the crosses, but I'm not sure where the two word breaks are. LOL
Oh yeah, I got a real chuckle out of 42a GRR = "Lab Alert", and also 53d VANS = "Movers, but hopefully not shakers"
Nice smooth puzzle. Odd that I could picture every piece of a Boggle set *except* the EGGTIMER.
And from today's Blog I learned: 1) what 'rara avis' actually means and 2) that the Horn of Africa is not where I thought it was.
@Orange: Thank you so much for the Pavarotti aria - gorgeous, gorgeous -- the world is so much paler with his passing.
NW corner killed me, with the ascenT and the raraavis and the ipodnano - GRR! (<--loved that clue, though!)
Other than that, this tops off the LA Times "Easy Squeezy Week" of puzzles. I assume we will be back to harder ones next week, but this was fun.
this was a pretty sweet puzzle. DJIBOUTI is great, of course, but actually all of the long fill was pretty darn good. the shorter stuff was smooth, too. RELIT, AM SO, A-OKS and LIE BY aren't my favorites, but they're perfectly valid and if those are the "worst" entries in the grid, it's a rock-solid puzzle. there was nothing obscure at all.
this was easily the fastest i've ever done a themeless on paper, but i haven't been doing these on paper for that long. at any rate, all of the recent saturday LATs have been pretty easy, i think—often easier than fridays and/or which ever day features dan naddor that week. i don't think there's been a single one as hard as even an easyish NYT friday since the TMS merger.
Good time.
Figuring out the answers for the north-west corner nearly made my brain explode, but it's good to feel that brain muscle-burn.
Malone, my lab, who always sits on my lap while I do the puz, was excited to see his peoples mentioned in clue 42A.
Agreed. Way easy Saturday puzzle, but not without its pleasures. Really liked the triple stacks of 10 in the NE and SW. DJIBOUTI is awesome fill. SNAIL'S PACE is cool and pretty much sums up my solving experiences, although I polished this one off in about 18 minutes, so there may be hope for me yet.
You know you've been spending too much time on the blogs when you see the clue "Boggle accessory" and instantly think CHARLES.
@Stan: I'm glad I'm not alone about misplacing the Horn of Africa. I thought it was the bottom part of the continent. My knowledge of African geography could stand some serious improvement....
My other true confession about geography and this puzzle: I thought Djibouti was a city (which it is) but I couldn't remember the name of the country it was in. Another gaping hole in my brain file on Africa.
@shrub5: Well, at least now we know! Come to think of it, I may have been mixing up Cape Horn with the Cape of Good Hope for who knows how long...
Pavarotti's voice still manages to give me goosebumps...
What a great puzzle! I also ran into trouble in the NW most likely because of my lack of IPOD terminology. On the first go-around I wanted Styx for the Hades, "All rise" for the majestic entrance, and gig for bag.
Thanks, Doug and Amy!
Definitely enjoyable, but, wow, I did this one quickly -- 5:05 in the latimes.com app! Usually the NYT will take me 20-30 minutes or more for a weekend puzzle, though I do them on paper.
Good puzzle, regardless! I wanted some sort of a skirt or car where IPOD NANO went. And correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Boggle come with a little plastic hourglass?
What a great day to have an easy Saturday puzzle! I was able to finish it fast (an unheard of Sat. feat) before driving to The Clark Mus. in Williamstown, MA. to a Georgia O'Keefe exhibit and to visit old friends by Renoir and Monet. How nice to see Hammett, Heimlich, and Hamlet in the same puzzle. The NE came easily as did the slangy 23a and 56a, but it took a while to finish the NW. I just didn't think ARCHWAY was "majestic" enough. Guess I was thinking of the arch in my dining room instead of the Arch de Triomphe. Is Boggle a game?
@anna: A dictionary tells me that an egg timer is "traditionally in the form of a miniature hourglass." Who knew? Not I.
@Parsan: Boggle is a game in which you shake 16 cubes with letters on them so that they fill a 4x4 board. Then you make as many words as you can from adjacent letters. You get more points for longer words.
@parsan...we have a home 15 mins away from the Clark Art Museum...are you a Williams College alum...I'm '75 and my eldest is 2004/the O'Keefe/Dove collection is stunning; try to see the College museum while there and time permitting go over to North Adams and see the vast new Sol DeWitt installations at MassMOCA
anyway, puzzle very challenging for me but w a little help here in Seattle from my two oldest we successfully concluded. Had experiences similar to those of @shrub5 and @johnsneverhome--spelling of DJIBOUTI and stumbling around the NW corner until hit on IPODNANO...RARAAVIS...used since the 1600's? only now do I get GRR for Lab alert; very clever--wife and youngest spent am at puppy breeder...liked RECKONS since we actually say that in So. VT, where things often proceed at a SNAILSPACE
did not like-or don't get-SENORA for female chihuahua...is that a dog breeder term>nice write-up @orange, I also like a little slang IMOUTAHERE; WANNABET-but two a day is my personal limit
@Chas. Bogle: Chihuahua is a place in Mexico, so the clue's like [Acapulco female], i.e. Spanish word for "woman." Although SEÑORA means Mrs., doesn't it, and not woman? Hmm. Troubling.
I used to have the Cape of Good Horn wedged in a corner of my brain. Hard not to muddle the two Good Ho** places, isn't it?
I also get confused by the very different locations of these two capes. Both were named by the Dutch, though, and this one (Cape Horn) was named for a small, very pretty town on the (crosswordese) Zuiderzee/IJsselmeer called Hoorn.
I think to the Dutch seafarers, used to the flat countryside in the Netherlands, they looked very much alike.
@orange thanks for the response on SENORA--it gets stickier, no? And @Greene thanks for shout-out
Martin Amis is one of my favorite contemporary authors. If you haven't read him, I highly recommend.
Djibouti was easy for me as I went clockwise around the puzzle and had only the D left to fill in.
Had trouble in the NW corner as well, had HADES, WANNABET and ASCEND (my only write-over) and the rest just wouldn't fall for the longest time (well 4 or 5 minutes).
As an electrical engineer enjoyed SOLIDSTATE. Liked SNAILSPACE too. Didn't get the GRR answer until I came here, the dog, Doh!
Nice puzzle Doug, and as usual a sparkling write-up by Orange. Thanks!
@Orange: I am bilingual English/Spanish and SEÑORA can also mean "lady". As in, "I spoke with that lady yesterday." [Hablé con la señora ayer] Of course you would have to be talking about a woman of a certain age; a younger lady or even girl would be SEÑORITA or CHICA. So technically, the clue is kosher.
And there's your Spanish lesson of the day. ¡Buena Suerte! [Good Luck!]
@Wayne: Hey, thanks for the información!
Too easy, but nice fill. Felt easier than a Thursday NYT. I haven't read "London Fields" but I really liked "The Information", funny.
Just noticed Tyler Hinman at 16A. "The T Hinman"
FWIW, the Spanish for woman (in general) is mujer, but senora works too, I suppose. My main quibble would be with the imoutahere: I've never seen it spelled with one "t" before. Nice puzzle, without such obscure clues or the need to be tied down to Google. Refreshing change for the weekend. Now if they'd bring back the quips and quotes....
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