Friday, May 19, 2017

Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: Over easy? No, I prefer them scrambled.

An ambitious Friday from JW that is the second step in my returning to my post as Friday sherpa. It took solving a couple of the theme fill that made the theme obvious, though hard to describe. The first word of a known expression becomes an anagram to provide a different and witty definition. All have a four letter word which is scrambled, and all are words both before and after.

17A. Aging hero Jones, in his latest film? : GRAY (GARY) INDIANA (11). Poor Harrison Ford, killed in Star Wars, dissed in Supergirl by his wife, Calista Flockhart and then he crashes a plane.

24A. Pitt portraying Shakespeare? : BRAD (BARD) OF AVON. (10). I can't picture this.

33A. Skill displayed at the gift counter? : WRAP (WARP) SPEED (9). The anagrams are easy.

45A. Times when hokey humor prevailed? : ERAS (EARS) OF CORN (10). Or when C. Moe appeared.

54A. Early stage of muffin production? : BRAN (BARN) RAISING (11). My favorite of the theme fill, but I grew up in New England farm country.

Jeffrey also provides a wonderful panoply of non-theme fill...BIG NEWS,  ACROBAT,  DIAMOND, STRASSE,  TEL AVIV,  IN A HOLE,  CABANAS, POINT AT,  WANGLES,  OVERALL,  SARA LEE,  PLANETS,  CRANIAL,  AIRINGS,  DAMAGED, AUSTRIA,  BONKERS,  LESSEES, RIDERS UP,  PEAR TREE

Let us see where else we went.

Across:

1. 1987 Michael Jackson album : BAD. his eventual follow up ALBUM to Thriller.

4. Road where Mozart was born : STRASSE. Street in German and probably Austrian. Research reveals Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart (1719–1787) and Anna Maria, née Pertl (1720–1778), at 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg. Clecho: 43A. Where Mozart was born : AUSTRIA.

11. Recurrent behavior : TIC. Really?

14. Henri's here : ICI.    Just French.  

15. Identify : POINT AT. Dramatic at a trial, but silly if the defendant is sitting at a table with his/her attorney.

16. "Bambi" doe : ENA. Auntie to Bambi.

19. Sci-fi setting : LAB.

20. "... let __ put asunder": Matthew : NO MAN.

21. Send out : EMIT.

22. Island band The __ Men : BAHA. The Baha Men are a Bahamian band playing a modernized style of Bahamian music called junkanoo. They are best remembered for their Grammy Award-winning hit song Who Let the Dogs Out? wiki.

23. Shakespeare's jet? : EBON. Fancy ways to say black.

26. Acquires through cunning : WANGLES. I love this word because it does not sound real.

28. Undefeated Ali : LAILA. Cute; his daughter was undefeated as a boxer.

29. Norm: Abbr. : STD. Standard.

30. His, to Henri : A LUI. More French.

32. "John Wick" star : REEVES. KEANU not GEORGE.

35. Fish-eating raptor : OSPREY. These BIRDS OF PREY are the logical descendant of the dinosaurs.

38. Sassy : PERT. And if you become too sassy, you will be a....

39. Boorish sort : CAD.

42. Sound : VALID.

49. Loosen (up) : WARM. Is this from muscles or people?

50. Storm : RANT.

51. Settled on a branch : A LIT.

52. Beatle ending : MANIA.

53. Cakes go-with : ALE. Oh how many recall this from a recent JW puzzle?

56. Decide not to stop : LET.

57. Off one's rocker : BONKERS.

58. Vital statistic : AGE.

59. Paul with guitars : LES. He built the first successful electric guitars and his name leads into....

60. Landlord's customers : LESSEES.

61. Ergotamine derivative popular in the '60s : LSD. More of LES. It is my excuse for being crazy. LINK.


Down:

1. Front page material : BIG NEWS.

2. One seen in a ring : ACROBAT. Pretty vague for me, but I understand the clecho.

3. One seen in a ring : DIAMOND. This made it easier.

4. Short drive : SPIN. Never understood this expression, spinning is not what I have in mind when I drive.

5. Lading measure : TON. We all remember our lesson on bills of lading.

6. Kentucky Derby call : RIDERS UP.  LINK.

7. Jungian concept : ANIMA. He had to have his own words, not Freud's  ego, super-ego and id.

8. Solemn : STAID.

9. Introduction to Domingo? : SANTO. Well done, geography.

10. Greek letter : ETA.

11. Mediterranean metropolis : TEL AVIV.

12. Saddled with debt : IN A HOLE.

13. Seaside resort array : CABANAS. VIEW.

18. Half a philosophical duality : YANG. Where is YIN?

22. Called from the field : BAAED. So cute, lamby pie.

24. Fasten, at sea : BELAY. Cute also because of the two definitions. verb
1.(a running rope) around a cleat, pin, rock, or other object, to secure it.
2. nautical slang: stop; enough! "“Belay that, mister. Man your post.”"

25. Groups at sea : FLEETS. More at sea.

27. City on the Rio Grande : LAREDO.

31. Net neutrality beneficiary: Abbr. : ISP.

32. Any "Twilight Zone" episode, now : RERUN.

33. Omega holder : WRIST. The watch.

34. Part of a traditional holiday gift : PEAR TREE.

35. From one extreme to the other : OVERALL.

36. Frozen dessert brand : SARA LEE. Nobody does not love Sara Lee.

37. Seven-movement Holst work that omits Earth, with "The" : PLANETS.

39. Like the olfactory nerve, e.g. : CRANIAL.

40. Television fare : AIRINGS.

41. Flawed : DAMAGED.

44. "__ brillig ... " : TWAS. `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
                                               Did gyre and gimble in the wab
I had a roommate who was a C student, but could recite the entire poem as well as PI to the 50th place.

46. Denmark's __ Islands : FAROE. I had no idea. LINK.

47. Highland groups : CLANS.

48. Sounds from pens : OINKS. This little piggy...

52. Pine for : MISS.

54. OPEC unit : BBL. Barrel.

55. "... such stuff / As dreams __ made on": Prospero : ARE. JW squeezes his Friday Shakespeare in at the end.

Well I have stumbled to the finish line once again, having managed to unravel all of JW's tricks. Great fun...hope you had a good time, Lemonade out.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Taylor Johnson

Title: After Thoughts Welcome back Taylor to the LAT where we just solved your Saturday themeless collaboration with your mentor, the prolif...