March 18, 2011
Dan Naddor
Theme: Outing — Theme answers are familiar phrases with the letterstring ING removed (i.e., taken "out").
Theme answers:
- 17A: Lodging surplus? (EXTRA INNS).
- 20A: Versace creation? (ITALIAN DRESS).
- 37A: Misplaced Yogi and Smokey? (LOST ONE'S BEARS).
- 58A: Plant at Sotheby's? (BRITISH SHILL).
- 62A: Investment in fine fabric? (SILK STOCK).
- 48D: Pleasure trip, and a hint to this puzzle's theme (OUTING).
Crosswordese 101 Round-up:
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Everything Else — 1A: Hardly a walk in the park (TREK); 5A: "American __" (IDOL); 9A: Provoke (ROIL); 13A: Russo of "Tin Cup" (RENE); 14A: Heavyweight fight? (SUMO); 15A: Snoring cause, perhaps (APNEA); 19A: Settles in (NESTS); 22A: Blotter letters (AKA); 25A: However, contracted (THO); 26A: Bygone Chrysler (LEBARON); 27A: Target of a military press (DELT); 29A: Animal rights org. (PETA); 31A: Penn et al.: Abbr. (STNS.); 32A: Backed up, in a way (ON DISC); 35A: Quad building (DORM); 42A: Limo occasion (PROM); 43A: Maker of pianos and bikes (YAMAHA); 45A: Pacific salmon (COHO); 49A: Scholarship drive donor (GRAD); 51A: Carnival starting point? (PIER); 52A: Blood specification (ONE UNIT); 54A: "Gotcha!" ("AHA!"); 57A: Hydroelectric structure (DAM); 61A: Busted (RAN IN); 66A: __ acid (AMINO); 67A: "Night" author Wiesel (ELIE); 68A: Way-back-when time (YORE); 69A: Coatrack items (PEGS); 70A: Just slightly (A TAD); 71A: Classic theater name (ROXY); 1D: What's a little past due? (TRE); 2D: Name fit for a king? (REX); 3D: Tonsillitis M.D. (ENT); 4D: "Felicity" star Russell (KERI); 5D: Thomas of the NBA (ISIAH); 6D: Maker of tires and tennis balls (DUNLOP); 7D: Present opening? (OMNI-); 8D: Silicon Valley city (LOS ALTOS); 9D: Grammy category (R AND B); 10D: Met expectations? (OPERAS); 11D: Supplement (INSERT); 12D: Reveals (LETS ON); 16D: Clubs: Abbr. (ASSNS.); 18D: One of two authorized U.S. iPhone carriers (ATT); 21D: Close at hand (NEARBY); 22D: Flap (ADO); 23D: __ Ration (KEN-L); 24D: Designer Gucci (ALDO); 28D: "My country __ ..." ('TIS); 30D: Swelling (EDEMA); 33D: Additive sold at Pep Boys (STP); 34D: Pembroke or Cardigan dogs (CORGIS); 36D: Start of an apology (MEA); 38D: View from Edinburgh (NORTH SEA); 39D: Band aid? (AMP); 40D: Bust (RAID); 41D: 2000 World Series stadium (SHEA); 44D: Ready for battle (ARM); 45D: Army attack helicopter (COBRA); 46D: Cloverleaf component (ON RAMP); 47D: Duff (HEINIE); 50D: Flowering plant used for food by the Aztecs (DAHLIA); 53D: Yucatán youngsters (NIÑOS); 55D: Hoofed it (HIKED); 56D: Roker and Rosen (ALS); 59D: Bank deposit? (SILT); 60D: About 10 trillion kil. (LT. YR.); 63D: Valentine symbols (OOO); 64D: '80s-'90s Honda model (CRX); 65D: Critical (KEY).
27 comments:
Tough challenge for me. I never heard of a couple answers: coho and corgis but a little more time on it I might have figured them out via the crosses. The spelling for heinie also through me off. I don't remember it spelled that way. I kept thinking golf with the clue duff so that didn't help. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the theme answers.
Trust me, and "OUTING" isn't always a pleasure.
I am new to LA Times crosswords. I enjoy this blog. Does anyone know of an app that allows the LA Times crossword on the I pad? ...thanks
Appropriately tough (for me) Friday puzzle, with typical Naddor wit.
I enjoyed the many "?" clues, but got stuck in the bottom left corner, specifically: coho crossing with Heinie crossing with ranin.
Not quite sure what PuzzleGirl is doing with the Access Control Policy Tool, but I'm sure she's doing it well.
Anonymously yours,
Upper right hard for me. I cheated!
My bugaboo was the second NW grid: didn't know Aldo, delt and so couldn't complete. Wanted to put Hilary for Duff but wisely held off!
@jim - i use the Crosswords app by Standalone. It cost 5 or 6 dollars, I think, but it is a fantastic program. it loads a ton of puzzles every day (you decide which ones you want) - including NYT, if you have a subscription.
It doesn't load LAT automatically, but you can download from cruciverb, and use the app to solve. Highly recommend.
Puzzle was over before I knew it.
I found this an easier Friday then usual. The theme was evident pretty quickly. The DELT/KENL crossing was my last fill. I had the TO of LOS ALTOS and filled in ATHERTON quite confidently which was my only real slip up. I loved seeing the old CRX from my teenage years, all the kids drove one.
As soon as I got EXTRA INNS, I looked up and sure enough it was a Dan Naddor puzzle. Loved that OUT ING was a literal clue to the theme, although I had already figured it out for once.
Never knew that Aztecs ate DAHLIAs. Enjoyed being reminded that the same company, YAMAHA, makes bikes & pianos (now I wonder why). Best entry was those LOST BEARS.
Overall it struck me as a good puzzle, and I didn't even groan at the puns this time.
Thanks, @PG for the post. We'll be waiting to hear a full report on ACPT when you return.
Happy Friday, y'all.
ASSNS, STNS, LTYR... not just abbreviations, non-standard abbreviations.
And while the Army once used COBRA attack helicopters, they have all been phased out and replaced with Apache gunships. The Marines still use COBRAs though.
Had a terrible time with this puzzle. don't know of it was me or the puaale, I suspect it was me. Jim, I've heard that cruciverb.com has the puzzles but I've has major problems registering from my iPad and just gave up.
@CarolC - Yamaha started as a piano manufacturer. In the immediate post war period it was one of the few remaining industrial concerns which hadn't been destroyed, and started making motorcycles.
Could someone kindly explain OOO for Valentine symbols. I should have thought XXX, for kisses, would have been more to the point
@Palamedes - You need hugs (O's) to go along with those kisses.
Hmm, found this puzzle pretty simple for a Friday. Never thought I'd see the town I live in a x-word puzzle once but now it's happened twice in the past two months. Hmm, I hope they don't raise the property taxes due to all the new exposure the town is getting.
Can somebody please explain LTYR? No idea what this is. Tough Southwest got me today.
How many more Naddor puzzles are there?
@Anonymous - LTYR is a very weird abbreviation for Light Year - approximately 10 trillion kilometers.
Tough for me today, SW quadrant especially. Liked the puns and the theme answers.
Way too easy for a Friday, put up hardly any resistance at all. Liked the Dunlop & Yamaha minitheme. My first pair of skis were Yamahas & my brother had a Yamaha guitar.
Felt about right for a Friday. Had some really clever misdirection in the clues:
1D, A little past due and 10D, Met expectations caused me to burn a few brain cells. 60D abbreviation of kilometer as kil instead of the more common km threw me off.
Excellent theme, horrible fill.
The NW, West, and SE sections were heinous.
NW--ENT was a bad clue (I know its short for Ear, Nose, and Throat, but "Tolkien tree being" would have been better), and so was TRE and REX. KERI?
West--KENL? DELT? ONDISC? ALDO's not great either
SE--OOO is lame. CRX is lazy. LTYR is weak. Apparently the constructor wanted a high "scrabble" score, so he threw in some unnecessary X's.
The puzzle had too many ? clues, and yet "Cloverleaf component" (ONRAMP) should have had one and didn't. It was a clever clue (since onramps look like 4 leaf clovers from above) yet needed a question mark because, on ramps aren't actual clover leafs.
Still, great theme, and some decent fills. But too many unnecessary uncommon abbreviations.
Greg, you need to ease up on the coffee, my friend. Cloverleaf is a pretty standard description of an expressway interchange with four on-ramps. I've heard it used at least as often to mean that as the clover leaf. I admit ENT was tricksy, but the Tolkien reference for ent is used in clues all the time.
And I'm sorry, but "A little past due" was a great clue for TRE. (Of course, I only think so because I got it, but still.)
My fastest Friday solve ever by far. I liked the theme and found it helpful in solving the puzzle.
I only got TRE by crosses, but once I understood it I had to give Dan props for a brilliant clue. Also liked "Met expectations" for OPERAS and "Bank deposit" for SILT.
LTYR isn't great, but I liked the misdirection of "kil." in the clue. I kept thinking, what the heck could possibly weigh 10 trillion kilograms?
Never seen that spelling of "duff" before. To me the standard spelling, if there is such a thing, would be HINEY.
Good learning moments in "military press" and that Aztecs used to eat DAHLIAs.
A pretty solid Naddor, sorta breezy for a Friday but more difficult than a Thursday IMO.
I am in awe of those who found this easy. I only got tre because I'm Italian. Did you know that Yogi and Smokey were star catchers in MLB in the 50's? Messrs. Berra and Burgess.
@John Wolfden - Agree on HEINIE v hiney. Also, HEINIE was, in its day, a slur.
Tough, but good. I did not get the theme until I solved the OUTING key. Until then, it was no pleasure, but the answer turned my slog into fun. SE was my last corner; I couldn't for the longest time figure what "kil." stood for and had to get YORE and ROXY to work back.
I knew ltyr I think im starting to figure out some of these oddball abbrs ive eaten coho before I think its more white th other salmons and if you ever see queen elizabeth with dogs they will certanly be corgis I think it might be the official dog of the united kingdom
Rather liked the theme, but HTG for KERI Russell, whoever she is.
And in the NE, had a little mess with my own wrong answers, with bOIL and bANDs, etc. Also, the abbrev. I didn't like was there - for Penn - state, school, or station?
Also, had "circle" before ONRAMP and "girl" before IDOL. So, it was challenging.
Also, didn't know Aztecs ate DAHLIAS.
I ate some sort of lily yesterday. Tasted like lettuce.
Mini-themes: bust, busted; maker of - 2 unlike products.
@Anon815 - We've had ALDO Gucci lately. He's a son of Guccio Gucci, the founder.
Pretty sharp puzzle.
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