July 17, 2011
John R. Conrad
[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: "Wi-Fi Interference" — "W" is changed to "F" in familiar phrases. (Or I should say "WI" is changed to "FI" to go with the title.)
Theme Entries:
- 24A: Angler's daydream? (FISHFUL THINKING).
- 33A: Participate in a food fight? (FLIP ONE'S FIG).
- 51A: Ophthalmologist's diagnosis? (EYE FITNESS NEWS)
- 83A: Auto design now, vis-à-vis the 1950s? (NO-FIN SITUATION)
- 101A: Offshore WBA venue? (ISLE OF FIGHT)
- 111A: Round up a passel of stoolies? (CATCH FORTY FINKS).
- 4D: Bulldozer specification? (FILL POWER).
- 82D: Unrestrained Kentucky Derby entrant? (FREE FILLY).
Did you see the clue for 1-Down? Lollapalooza! Which reminds me that the 4th Annual Lollapuzzoola crossword tournament is only three weeks away. If you're anywhere near the NY area, or even if you're not, you should make plans to be there. The tournament's going to be in Manhattan this year and will feature original puzzles by Elizabeth Gorski, Andrea Carla Michaels, Mike Nothnagel, Tony Orbach, Byron Walden, and me (Doug Peterson). If you like crosswords, you'll love this tournament. Heck, I'm flying across the country to be there. Added bonus: PuzzleGirl will be there too, and she only charges $5 for an autograph. Just look for the person wearing the Iowa wrestling shirt.
Bullets:
- 6A: "Forget it, I'm just ranting" (IGNORE ME). Great entry!
- 26A: Adler of the stage (STELLA). I'm not familiar with Stella Adler. Was she ever in "A Streetcar Named Desire"?
- 50A: Jawbreaker rock genre (EMO). From Wikipedia: "Jawbreaker was an American punk rock band active from 1986 to 1996 and considered one of the most influential acts of the early-1990s emo movement."
- 75A: Kowalski portrayer (BRANDO). See "Seinfeld" clip above.
- 77A: Enforcers, with "the" (LAW). I tried MOB first.
- 100A: Jennifer of "Pride and Prejudice" (EHLE). Another in our series of "Beautiful Actresses That PuzzleGirl's Never Heard Of." OK, I've never heard of her either.
- 121A: "___ Nothin'": "Oklahoma!" song (ALL ER). That's kinda ugly. And trying ALL OR screwed me up for a while in that corner, what with the EHLE and the OBAD and the DYADS.
- 50D: Midwest university with 23 team wrestling championships. (IOWA). That's actually a clue from Thursday's puzzle, but I figured some Hawkeye fans might enjoy seeing it again.
- 54D: Fictional captain who is the son of a raja (NEMO). Always nice to see a new clue for a crossword regular like Nemo.
- 86D: Asian nursemaid (AMAH). Crossword veterans will recognize this one. If you need a refresher, check out the Crosswordese 101 entry on AMAH.
- 104D: "Alice" waitress (FLO). I remember watching "Alice" when I was a kid, but I never really liked it. It was just on, and I was a TV zombie
- 110D: O.T. book after Amos (OBAD.). Good old Obadiah.
13 comments:
Pretty easy Sunday for moi, which was nice after yesterday's painful DNF.
I liked ISLE OF FIGHT and CATCH FORTY FINKS the best of the theme answers, although for some reason my brain kept wanting to put the word HI-JINKS in after I got the INKS part of it, which led me astray for a bit.
REDOLENT is a nice word.
Didn't like "ALL 'ER" either, nor SOAPER, who calls 'em that?
Also never heard of Ms. EHLE, but I don't think I even noticed that clue as EHLE all came through crosses.
Hi Everybody,
I'm sorry I'm posting on Saturday's puzzle here, but I was on the road all day yesterday when that puzzle came out and didn't get a chance to check out the comments. I note that quite a few people were bugged by my 1 Across entry PASQUINADE, so I thought I'd explain my thinking on that one.
I do understand it is not a word that is frequently used or even run across. Still, it's a lovely sounding word, I think, and I like it just for that. I am an
English teacher, and as someone noted on this blog or on Amy's it does occur in The Great Gatsby, and I was reminded of this word when I was teaching the book again last year with my senior class. I figured that as it is now a part of their vocabulary, why not give it a broader audience. In addition, I figured that most people out there will have read The Great Gatsby and thus come across the word. I admit that not every obscure word deserves a place in a crossword puzzle, but since Fitzgerald was so very careful about his use of language and since that novel is so widely read, I figured why not put it in a crossword. Maybe that's not the kind of thinking everybody likes in a crossword, but that's where my mind was with including it.
As to the PETRO/PETR crossing, yeah I deserve all the heat you've thrown my way. For that I do apologize.
Best,
Tom Heilman
@doug, always love your blogs.
Most enjoyable theme today. SE corner a potential DNF without my trusty CWP dictionary. (or is that cheating?) At least I don't google.
Not sure why folks don't like "All Er Nothin'" since that IS the title of the song.
JCTLK
I'll be at Lollopuzzoola! Can't wait to meet everyone in person.
The theme answers made me laugh today, all except FILLPOWER, which was so-so. I tried The Mob first, too. And I haven't heard of Jennifer Ehle, either. And oddly enough, I also remember watching "Alice" regularly as a kid even though I never really liked it. Why?!
$5 is a steal. She should charge more.
p.s. Does the Nightwish video cover up the next sentence about 86D on anyone else's screen?
Well, it took a while to suss out the theme, and the bottom was easier for me than the very top.
I did Google for SIERRA and OBADiah, so maybe that is why the bottom was easier ;-)
Like REDOLENT, HYDROFOIL, DOORMAT, EPAULET.
I had rotATE before GYRATE, took out the whole word, so that doubly slowed me down. Also, before I saw theme, had ISLandFIGHT.
Had to get HOLST completely from the crosses; I had confused Vaughan Williams with Vaughan Meader, the JFK impersonator. So I was looking for a contemporary in the both the wrong decade and the wrong genre.
Had FREEhorse at first, then when FREEFILLY fit, I wondered what that was about. Now I see... "Free Willy". Yes, NO FIN SITUATION is awesome. Some of the others also made me chuckle.
Good, (but long), puzzle.
Thanks for stopping by Tom and elucidating us about yesterday's PASQUINADE and The Great Gatsby.
I'm a big fan of the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and Jennifer EHLE as Lizzie Bennett. Ms. Ehle also played Geoffrey Rush's wife in The King's Speech, so I don't think she's so obscure as all that! I guess it helps to be fan of British drama.
Thank you to Tom for discussing yesterday's puzzle! Haven't read Gatsby in a loooong time.
PS @CoffeeLvr, me too on the wrong Vaughn! I don't think it ever occurred to me there could be two Vaughns. Except for Robert Vaughn, of course, but that's quite different!
@Tom, you're being too hard on yourself. The PASQUINADE comments were 95% positive. Pretty well no-one knew it, but most of us appreciated it - I know I did, it expanded my vocabulary and I love that.
Way late here, but I also liked PASQUINADE. Not a familiar word, but it seemed like one I used to know or should know. Thanks, Tom.
Stella Adler was Brando's acting coach.
Post a Comment