Funny, Funny Spots!
Jared Cappel, writer and champion Scrabble© player, hasconstructed crossword puzzles for USA Today, Universal, and othersites, and today makes his debut in the LA Times. I believe he mayhave another LAT puzzle in the oven for near term publication. His puzzleis a bit unusual for a Thursday, in that it has 5 theme clues, allclechos. There is no reveal, but all of the fills are two-word, in the languagephrases, and the perps are fair so the correct fill is not too difficult tospot ... 😀
17A. Spot for a spot?: PARKING LOT. Parking SPOTS are foundin PARKING LOTS.
24A. Spot for a spot?: WHERES WALDO. IllustratorMartin Handfordpublished the first in his series of Where’s Waldo books over 25years ago. The books challenge readers to find the titular cartoon man, clad inhis trusty red-striped shirt and red-striped hat, as he hides in a landscape ofred-striped red herrings. It turns out that for me, WALDO was not very easy tospot -- I had to search through at least a 1/2 dozen images before I could find oneto use for this clue. This one's a gimme ...
 |
| Ben Blat thinks he has a mathematic strategy for finding Waldo |
36A. Spot for a spot?: TEA CEREMONY. Everything you would want to know about theBritish ritualand theJapanese ritual.
47A. Spot for a spot?:TV BROADCAST. -- SPOT in this case being slang for an advertisement.
57A. Spot for a spot?: BENCH PRESS. I couldn't find a pictureof Stella doinga BENCH PRESS, so you'll have to settle for this one. Tsk, tsk --he's not using a SPOTTER!
Here's the grid ...
Here's the rest ...
Across:
1. Of the kidneys: RENAL. In a single day, your kidneys filter about 150 quarts of blood. Most of the water and other substances that filter through your glomeruli are returned to your blood by the tubules. Only 1 to 2 quarts become urine, which is passed to the bladder.
6. Mineral deposits: ORES. An Ektorp? Plural clue with the word "mineral" and a 4 letter fill -- what else could it be but ORES? OTOH, not all mineral deposits are destined for the smelter. For example Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) is not refined into the Alkaline earth metal Calcium (Ca) -- rather it is used to make plaster, wallboard, and other products.
10. Stacked on: ATOP.
14. Words of defeat: I LOSE.
15. Bigger than big: HUGE.
16. "Don't use that __ with me!": TONE. "Well what tone DO you want!?" Here's a father and son team who will make a set of wind chimes that will play any 8 TONE tune you want to hear ...
17. [Theme clue]
19. Symbol at the center of a Scrabble board: STAR. Jared shouldknow -- he's a STAR Scrabble player!
20. Virtual video game characters: SIMS. The Sims is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. It is also part of the larger Sim series, started by SimCity in 1989.
 |
21. Top under a hoodie: TEE.
22. Switches from a bottle to a cup, say: WEANS. IMO, more commonlyassociated with giving up mother's milk.
23. California's Santa __ Mountains: ANA. The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately 61 miles (98 km) southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside counties.
 |
| Santa Ana Mountains |
24. [Theme clue]
27. Language in which "w" can be a vowel: WELSH. Not only can "w" be used as a vowel in WELSH, but the latter's orthography (conventional spelling system) has 29 letters. Some examples of "w" as a vowel include “cwm,” which means “valley” and sounds like “coom,” as well as “crwth,” which is a stringed instrument and sounds like “crooth.” -- Book Riot.
29. Grade that may accompany a 26-Down message: DEE.
30. Particle exchanged in water purification: ION. Ion exchange is a process used in softening or demineralizing water, purification of chemicals, and separation of substances.
31. Square stuck in a corner: POSTAGE. This reminded me of a tone poem about a shy young man who stood in a corner trying to get up the nerve to invite the pretty girl on the other side of the room to dance -- and then he did, and she did! (a CSO to Yellowrocks) ...
Invitation to the Dance
Carl Maria von Weber
35. Mediterranean mountain: ETNA. The same one that erupted on theCorner just last week.
36. [Theme clue]
38. Threading target: BROW. String Theory: an inside look at eyebrow threading ...
 |
| Ouch! |
40. Economic improvement: UPTREND. What are trend lines and why are they useful?
41. Asset in darts: AIM. We'll skip the Ted Lasso clip this time around. Maybe next time.
42. Bases-loaded walk stat: RBI.
43. Beach tour destinations: ISLES.
47. [Theme clue].
52. Wonder: AWE. These days I wonder a lot about the Here After. I walk into a room to find something and then wonder "What am I here after?" 😀
53. Put on the payroll: HIRED.
54. Blonde hue: ASH. I used to be an ASH blonde, but what's left of my hair is on theverge of becoming SILVER blonde.
55. Printing shade: CYAN. The color CYAN, a greenish-blue, has notable tints and shades. It is one of the subtractive primary colors along with magenta, and yellow
 |
| CYAN, MAGENTA, and YELLOW |
56. Lions or Tigers: TEAM. or BEARS oh my! 😀
57. [Theme clue].
60. Pakistani tongue: URDU. Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan, where it is also an official language alongside English. Here is a distribution of native Urdu speakers in the major countries where it is spoken ...
61. Nirvana, for one: TRIO. This grunge rock TRIO is named forNirvana,the Hindu term for enlightenment. Here is a sitar, flute, and violinTRIO evocative of that state (15 min.) ...
62. Patisserie purchase: TORTE. What’s the difference between Gâteau, Cake, and Torte? Here's a recipe for an an almond TORTE.
 |
| Almond Torte |
63. Howls: BAYS.
64. Electrical unit: WATT. A WATT is a unit of power, named after Scottish engineer James Watt, which measures the rate of energy transfer. A watt, in electrical terms, is the rate at which electrical work is done when one ampere (A) of current flows through one volt (V). I've included this link for those who have spotted that A and V are not the standard symbols used in Ohm's Law.
 |
| James Watt (1736–1819) |
65. Church recesses: APSES. There are two types: the large one at thefront of the church with the ALTAR, and in some churches there aresmaller ones (niches) around the sides with statues or images of saints.
 |
| Apses in the Crypt of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Washington, D.C. |
Down:
1. Lumber mill tool: RIPSAW. Lumber mills use RIPSAWS to rapidly rough cut lumber because they are designed to cut along the grain, which is parallel to the growth of the tree. CROSSCUT saws have more teeth and are designed to make finer cuts across the grain of a finished lumber ...
... more discussion for wood geeks on the Woodworking StackExchange
2. Only main "Seinfeld" character who was not in the show's pilot episode: ELAINE. This one was handed to me ...
3. "The truly fearless think of themselves as __": Margaret Atwood:NORMAL. While Margaret is known for championing women's rights, notice that in this meme she isn't excluding men ...
4. Responds on "Jeopardy!": ASKS.
5. Hula hoop?: LEI. Cute clue.
6. "My stars!": OH GEE. So said Alice Cooper ...
7. Arendelle's Elsa, for one: RULER. Another empowered woman ...
8. Narcissist's problem: EGO.
9. Volleyball move: SET. One of my granddaughters plays volleyball. SET sounds like a simple move, but it takes a lot of practice to master.
10. Between ports: AT SEA.
11. Climactic moment during an eclipse: TOTALITY. While we didn't experience totality in Baltimore, it did get dark here for several minutes. Here's a national geographic explanation of how it happens ...
12. Ad infinitum: ON AND ON. See 18D below.
13. Lady Gaga, for Stefani Germanotta: PERSONA. A PERSONA is the personality that a person (such as an actor or politician) projects in public: i.e. their IMAGE. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Here's her song Just Dance (her PERSONA in Poker face was just a little too gaga! for me) ...
18. Ultimate degree: NTH. -- a term used to describe the most recent in a long series of things, when you do not know how many there are. This is truly the NTH time we've seen this.
22. Royal Rumble org.: WWE. World Wrestling Entertainment.
24. "Holy moly!": WHOA. The first word that popped into my head, Batman! 😀
25. Path maintenance tool: EDGER.
26. Teacher's directive: SEE ME. Is she going to pat you on the head and tell you what a good job you did on the test? Or to talk about the 29A you got?
28. Erupt: SPEW. Like 35A.
32. PADI certification activity: SCUBA. Hand up if you're PADI certified? If you aren't and want to be here's a clip on course 101 ...
33. Halfhearted: TEPID.
34. Objet d'__: ART. Today's French lesson: "Object of Art" or ...
35. Burnt brisket bits: ENDS.
36. Only person to win seven Super Bowls: TOM BRADY. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and was a central contributor to the franchise's dynasty from 2001 to 2019. In his final three seasons, he was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady is widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time. He was also the greatest 6th round draft pick (199th player) of all time ...
 |
| Tom Brady |
37. "Right away, boss!": ON IT.
38. Rubber duck's place: BATHTUB. Do De Rubber Duck With Ernie ...
39. Côte d'Azur, e.g.: RIVIERA. More French: literally "Azure side" -- a reference to the blue Mediterranean Sea perhaps. Eight must-see spots on the Côte d'Azur.
42. Ned Flanders' oldest son: ROD.
 |
| Rod Flanders |
44. Tiers: LAYERS. E.g. a 62A is usually multi-tiered.
45. Fried Apples?: EWASTE. Funny clue, but not funny fill.
46. Has an inkling: SENSES.
48. Brother in Rome's foundation story: REMUS. The other brother was Romulus, who lived to tell the story. They were raised by a she-wolf ...
 |
| Romulus and Remus Capitoline Museums, Rome |
49. "Pipe down!": CAN IT. Another clecho. Be quiet and you'll hear it.
50. Fancy neckwear: ASCOT. An ascot tie or ascot is a neckband with wide pointed wings, traditionally made of pale grey patterned silk. This wide tie is usually patterned, folded over, and fastened with a tie pin or tie clip, modeled here by American expatriot artist John Singer Sargent ...
_-_1880_ca._-_by_Paul_Berthier_(1879-1916).jpg "L.A.Times Crossword Corner (20)") |
| John Singer Sargent in a pleated Ascot tie c. 1880, and the subject of a recent Tate Exhibition. |
51. "Pipe down!": SHH. Another clecho. Be quiet and you'll hear it.
55. Do some photo editing: CROP. Sometimes it's necessary in these reviews. And video editing too.
57. "I should tell you," for short: BTW. -- but the time's too short ...
58. Common __: ERA. I am in AWE of how BCE suddenly became CE in the course of a single weekend? 😀
59. Org. that may organize after-school activities: PTA. What wouldconstructors do without them?
Cheers,
Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
