LAT3:10 (Stella)
Newsday21:22 (pannonica)
NYT6:07 (Amy)
Universaltk (Matthew)
USA Todaytk (Matthew)
WSJuntimed (pannonica)
Spencer Leach’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 8/10/24 – no. 0810
I suspect this puzzle will be polarizing, but I really enjoyed it.
Now, 1-Across stumped me. [Political adviser Dunn]? It’s ANITA, and here’s her Wikipedia page. She only just left the Biden White House a week and a half ago. 1-Down was also stymieing me. [AC units?] clues AMPS, I guess because alternating current is measured in amperes? Not my wheelhouse. Anyway, if you were struggling with those entries and didn’t kinda know 13a [Brand of brightly colored hair dye with a rhyming name], you’re probably cranky. But if you’ve seen MANIC PANIC at Sally Beauty or Ulta, well, then it’s a fun entry.
Fave fill: PICKLEBALL, GALE FORCE winds, OPENLY GAY, nested MATRYOSHKA dolls, “that’s a YOU PROBLEM” (second YOU entry here), IN REAL TIME, TIKTOK DANCE, CLUB FED country-club prisons, TWISTER MAT, a figurative MICROSCOPE, and a GEOCENTRIST with a fun clue, [To whom one might say “Not everything revolves around you!”].
Three things:
- 44a. [Inits. on a food assistance card], EBT. It’s electronic benefit transfer, the modern version of food stamps.
- 41a. [Any of the Apennines], MONTE. The Apennine mountains are in Italy, I gather.
- 35d. [Contracts for shrinks, e.g.], SYNONYM. I always like clues like this, for ANAGRAM or ANTONYM or this. Contracts and shrinks are both verbs here.
4.25 stars from me.
Gary Larson’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Tit for Tat” — pannonica’s write-up
WSJ • 8/10/24 • Sat • “Tit for Tat” • Larson • solution • 20240810
Very straightforward theme. The letter A has been replaced by an I in each of the entries’ phrases.
- 22a. [Skating venues in Chapter 11?] BROKE RINKS (broke ranks).
- 24a. [Galapagos excursion to view blue-footed birds?] BOOBY TRIP (booby trap).
- 43a. [Jambalaya, e.g.?] RICE COURSE (racecourse).
- 68a. [Family ancestry for a knight’s apprentice?] SQUIRE ROOTS (square roots).
- 95a. [Wears scuba footwear?] SPORTS FINS (sports fans).
- 117a. [Regret not calling a handyman?] RUES THE D.I.Y. (rues the day).
- 120a. [One coveting another’s lollipop?] LICK LUSTER (lackluster).
- 15d. [Seventh-inning refreshments?] STRETCH PINTS (stretch pants).
- 63d. [Yelp review for a barbershop?] SNIP JUDGMENT (snap judgment).
Note that for each entry, there is only one A, and after the transformation that letter is the only I. That makes for a rather RIGID (74a) constraint.
- 16d [Musical interval nicknamed “the devil’s interval”] TRITONE. Not new to me, but I definitely had forgotten it.
- 23d [Scoundrel] KNAVE, 37a [Scoundrel] VARLET.
- 43d [Combines] REAPERS. Agricultural equipment.
- 92d [Their dens are called couches] OTTERS. “The collective nouns for otters are bevy, family, lodge, romp (being descriptive of their often playful nature), or, when in water, raft.” (Wikipedia)
93d [Copyright concern] FAIR USE.
- 105d [Start of an uncomfortable idiom] ILL AT [… ease]. 46d [Mitigator] EASER. Deft.
- 27a [Outback order] MEDIUM. Steaks, in the steakhouse.
- 125a [First name in pharmaceuticals] ELI Lilly.
- 129a [One who cries foul] REF. 38d [Writer’s reference] ROGET’S. I cry foul.
Not a super-exciting crossword, but enjoyable enough.
Rich Feely’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 8/10/24 by Rich Feely
This puzzle added up to the “gentle challenge” listed in LAT’s Saturday specs, which I thought it did by being extra-hard in one section (the NW corner) and the rest much easier.
- 17A [Deep-sea pod cast?] isWHALE SONG. Legit but tough entry + punny clue = boy was that hard!
- 19A [Offensive deception?] isNO-LOOK PASS. See comment above, although I suppose this is not a tough entry if one is a basketball fan.
- 23A I wasn’t really fond of the entryHIDE ME.
- 39A I generally dislike entries like CAPITAL G, SHORT I, andthis one (which is also a plural, meh),SILENT E’S. But if you’re going to do it, a clue like [Elements of love and hate] is the way to go.
- 45AYOU BET I CAN is nice and lively.
- 52A [Five-spice powder ingredient], as a clue forSTAR ANISE, isEASY-PEASY (the entry just below it at 54A).
- 2D [Fifth letter of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet],ECHO,was one of the few easy toeholds in this area.
- 11D [When Obergefell v. Hodges was issued] is a nice tie-in with the entry,PRIDE MONTH.
- 24D [“Hi hungry, I’m __”] isDAD. LOL. I missed this completely while solving!
- 28D [Gymnast honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022] isBILES, and oh yeah, she’s gotten some more medals since this puzzle went to press.
Matthew Sewell’s Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s write-up
Newsday • 8/10/24 • Saturday Stumper • Sewell • solution • 20240810
Am surprised at my time because I was deeply stymied in various parts of the grid.
- 1a [Without a hem?] ASAP. 62a [Without a hem?] STAT. I wasnot expecting these to be cluing the same type of answer.
- 5a [Mensa accepts it in lieu of IQ] LSAT. Ha, that’s just perfect for them.
- 16a [Charger in an outlet] STORE OWNER. Takes the prize for most ridiculous clue in the puzzle. My interpretation is that outlet = a type of store, and charger = someone who asks for money (for goods).
- 19a [“Dear me!”] WHOOPSIDAISIES. Not sure I’d end up spelling—or saying—it like this if left to my own devices.
- 22a [Letters for a much-used hub] USB. Was reluctant to go with this answer, as I didn’t thinkhub was a great descriptor here, even though I know usb hubs are a thing. The clue is definitely a misdirect for an airport code such as ORD or ATL.
- 25a [A whole bunch?] NANAS. Takes the prize for most ridiculous entry, if I’m correct in assuming that it’s short forbananas.
- 31a [Thatcher follower] -ITE, as MAJOR clearly doesn’t fit.
- 32a [Very badly] TO HIGH HEAVEN. Typically colocated withstinks.
- 40a [Science practiced by multiple Nobel laureates] ECONOMETRICS. After reaching an impasse with —METRICS, I decided to take a risk with the prefix here, and it paid off. Very lucky.
- 48a [Dumpster fire] SNAFU. 38d [Dumpster fire] TOTAL ZOO. After having TOTAL— for a time, ZOO finally occurred to me and I was able to finish out that lower left corner, the final section of the grid to fall.
- 54a [Nicely named ground beef/mozzarella dish] SLOPPY GIUSEPPE, an Italianized cognate for a sloppy joe. Not sure why ‘nicely’ is in the clue.
- 59a [Sambuca cousin] OUZO. Was stuck thinking of other Italian aperitifs rather than similarly anise-flavored spirits from elsewhere.
- 64a [Whom the Corps of Discovery met at the Missouri] OTOE. Even though I didn’t get the answer right away, the phrasing of the clue allowed me to narrow down 5d [Corps of Discovery guy] to either LEWIS or Clark, where I had previously been nonplussed by that clue.
- 66a [Veggie Poppables producer] LAYS, not AMY’S.
- 1d [Word from the Greek for “panting”] ASTHMA. Good to know, but I’ll probably forget this.
- 10d [What you can fix it with] ADHESIVE, because it’s a fixative.
- 17d [Big 10, Big 12, or Pac-12 sch.] OSU. Was helpful that a crossword earlier this week alluded to the various O-State Universities—I believe it was Ohio, Oklahoma, and Oregon?
- 26d [Directional letters] ATTN. Tricky. I was definitely thinking of permutations of NEWS.
- 36d [Offends, these days] NEGS. Boo!
- 49d [Surname of more than a couple of podiatrists] FOOTE. Kind of a dumb clue, but it was fairly easy to guess at, so I’ll take it.
- 58d [Lofty area in Vietnam] ETNA. A cryptic-lite clue (Vietnam contains ETNA). “Lofty” seems an odd word choice to me.
- 59d [Abrazo del __ (hearty embrace] OSO. Literally, a bear hug.