Paul Coulter

Title: As we approach summer it is time for PUN IN THE SUN!

One of our friends and a regular Paul Coulter is back. For those who do not remember, his first LAT TIMES PUBLICATION was 6 years ago.  It makes me a bit sad to these all those we do not see here any longer. It was very hard introductory puzzle but we did get to see wonderful pics of our own Lucy Dale. This puzzle was not as difficult if you have the 'proper' sense of humor, the themers are sound-alike puns. And like all of this type of puzzle, the humor is subjective, so you all might not be amused, but I was. Not to jump on the negative bandwagon, but this was not my favorite of Paul's puzzles. There were sacrifices to have the five long themers with 57 blocks dedicated to theme.  There was not much room for other sparkly fill. ISSUERS, MIDTOWN, UNCTION, NERVE ENDING and PAPER TRAILS do make the grid better but we do have an abundance of initialisms;  it is time to move to the theme.

17A. Winter wear made from tusks?: IVORY COATS (10). The Ivory Coast is both a pun and an anagram.

30A. Routines for barbecuing?: WIENIE ROTES (11). Wienie  Roast is a pun, but not an angram, but it does rhyme with 17A.

37A. Cuts back on one's livestock business?: GIVES UP THE GOATS (15). Gives up the Ghost must be the seed entry, and ta da also rhymes with...

46A. Carryalls made by Dior?: FRENCH TOTES (11). Many believe challah makes the best French Toast. 

60A. Useless castle defenses?: INNER MOATS (10). This also includes OATS, but is paired with yet a different rhyme Innermost. This an outlier, as it is one word, though I did find a clothing brand. I love that Paul found 5 different sounds that rhyme for his sound-alikes, but I am guessing some will say, "stop at four"and forget the outlier. But he would not have had the needed symmetry. Making puzzles is not for sissies. 

Across:

1. Jokers: WAGS. Unlike our Wild Ass Guesses, this goes back to the 1550s "person fond of making jokes,"  perhaps a shortening of waghalter "gallows bird," person destined to swing in a noose or halter, applied humorously to mischievous children.

5. Small ball on a string: PEARL. Our Friday cluing begins here.I needed the perps. Followed by a gimme...

10. Emulated: APED. Followed by personal poetry...

14. Classic Langston Hughes poem: I TOO. LINK.

15. Portmanteau metal producer: ALCOA. No, no, no! AL CO A, aluminum company of america is not words mashed together.

16. Alley unit: LANE. Now we insult Boomer with a bowling non-sequitur. 

19. __-FREE: contact lens solution: OPTI. Which actually may be a paortmanteau.

20. Asian holiday: TẾT  Tết short for Tết Nguyên Đán, Spring Festival, Lunar New Year, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. While Asian cultures celebrate the lunar new year, only Vietnam calls it by that name.

21. Publishers: ISSUERS. A bit of a pun and they issue issues. 

23. Onetime Tide competitor: RINSO. 

26. Less formal alternative to a toga: TUNIC. The toga was considered Rome's "national costume," but for day-to-day activities most Romans preferred more casual, practical and comfortable clothing; the tunic, in various forms, was the basic garment for all classes, both sexes and most occupations.

28. Like many AARP mems.: RETired. I guess 'mems' mean members...

29. "A Chorus Line" number: ONE. 

33. Blows it: ERRS. But it is human, unlike...

35. Mythical monster: ORC.

36. Airport abbr.: ARRivals

43. Classified ad abbr.: EEO. Equal Employment Opportunity 

44. Charged item: ION. I always pay cash when I buy ions.

45. Respectful group address: SIRS. Sexist, too.

51. PC linkup: LAN. Local Area Network. A CSO to all of our techies.

52. Long, long time: EON. The largest unit of time. era = A unit of time shorter than an eon but longer than a period.

53. Loudly laments: KEENS. We are back to Friday, not a proper noun but "lament loudly over the dead, bitterly wail," 1811, from Irish caoinim "I weep, wail, lament," from Old Irish coinim "I wail." Hence "to utter in a shrill voice" (1893). We have seen it a few times.

54. First signs of smoke: WISPS. 

56. Manhattan theater district locale: MIDTOWN. A MAP

58. Blame: PIN. You can't pin that on me!

59. Others, in Latin: ALII.

66. Advance: LEND. 

67. "Cool!": NEATO. With another similar made up word 38D. Smashing: SOCKO.

68. Google results: URLS. Uniform Resource Locators

69. Not at all cool: EDGY. I disagree, edgy can be way cool.

70. Midas' undoing: GREED. He had the touch.

71. What boors lack: TACT.

Down:

1. Popular console since 2006: WII. The active Nintendo console which you can buy used for $60.00 or so.

2. Off-roader's purchase, for short: ATV. All Terrain Vehicle.

3. Muck: GOO.

4. Varieties: SORTS.

5. Dispute resolution: PACT. Maybe music will help.

6. "Do Ya" rock gp.: ELO. 

7. 2010 health law: Abbr.: ACA. Affordable Care Act. Not aqui.

8. Twisty pasta: ROTINI. It is Italian for twists, I believe.

9. Classic movie girl played by a boy: LASSIE. Fun and truthful clue. There are some very fun LASSIE FACTS.

10. 1966 N.L. batting champ Matty: ALOU. I can hear the grumbling already but the perps were fair.

11. Hard-copy evidence: PAPER TRAILS. If you watch Television crime drama the good guys are always looking for these.

12. Main course preceder, in France: ENTREE.  A typical French lunch will consist of: a starter (une entrée), such as a mixed salad, soup, some terrine or paté. A main course, (le plat principal), typically a choice of meat or fish, with potatoes, rice, pasta and/or vegetables; a cheese course (often a selection of local cheeses) and/or a dessert. Desserts are sometimes not detailed on the menu, so you have to listen to the waiter. 

13. Jefferson et al., religiously: DEISTS. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind.

18. "Ouch!": YEOW. So many sounds...

22. Scrawny one: SCRAG. One who is scraggly

23. "The Witches" (1990) director Nicolas: ROEG. His BIOGRAPHY; the movie 

24. Calvary inscription: INRI. Iesvs Nazarenvs Rex Ivdaeorvm

25. Source of feelings: NERVE ENDING. No namby pamby emotion here, just the literal site of feeling.

26. Md. athlete: TERP. Maryland = Terrapin.

27. Religious fervor: UNCTION. This was very hard as I associate the word with the act of anointing, but a deep dive shows this connection for the word.

31. Chit: IOU. And I want to get my money!

32. Top medals, in Barcelona: OROS. There's gold in them there Olympics.

34. Caught in the act: SEEN. Caught you.

39. Have the __ for: HOTS. This idiom has no known origin, except perhaps the literal autonomic response to extreme sexual attraction.

40. Chicago-to-Lansing dir.: ENE. Going to Michigan!

41. Trick, in a way: TRAP. In a lie for example.

42. IRS IDs: SSNS. Social Security NumberS.

46. Doe, for one: FEMALE. She is back!

47. Stirred up: ROILED. Why not riled? If you roil someone you're stirring them up but not necessarily annoying them. To rile someone is to deliberately provoke or antagonize them. Vocab.com

48. Wielding an axe: HEWING. Or a new HOTEL in Minneapolis.

49. One percent of a G: TENNER. .01 x $1,000.00 = $10.00

50. Dip: SWIM. You must get wet!

55. Two-way, as a door: IN/OUT. Important in restaurants for the servers.

57. Like some sums: TIDY.  Some HISTORY.

58. Egg on: PROD.

61. Dumfries denial: NAE. Scotland.

62. Automne preceder: ETE. Simple French seasons

63. Altar in the sky: ARA. Moe just had it in his May 28 write-up.

64. Help for a sad BFF: TLC. Best Friends Forever /Tender Loving Care.

65. Retired flier: SST. SuperSonicTransport. I here they are coming back.

Don Gagliardo and Zhouqin Burnikel

 Title:

16A. Big house, hot water: CATS AND DOGS (11).

32A. Abstract concept, space needle: ARTS AND CRAFTS (13).

37A. Wee one, parlor game: BITS AND PIECES (13).

59A. Pepper jack, gold dust: POTS AND PANS (11).

Across:

1. Boxing legend Pacquiao: MANNY. He has held 8 world boxing titles and is still fighting at 42.

6. RxList selection: DRUG. So Don "HARD G" and C.C. are easing us into the solve.

10. Dad __: BOD. I knew it was going to be all right when I plunked this in immediately.

13. Roman playwright who advised Nero: SENECA. I told you guys all those years of Latin helped.  When Nero became emperor in 54, Seneca became his advisor and, together with the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus, provided competent government for the first five years of Nero's reign. Seneca's influence over Nero declined with time, and in 65 Seneca was forced to take his own life for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero, in which he was likely to have been innocent. Per wiki.

14. Traveler's need, perhaps: VISA. The passport kind not the credit card.

15. Dr. Cornelius, in a sci-fi film series: APE. One of my favorites.

18. "I like that!": YUM. Is ir Onomotopoeia or from the Sanskrit YUM? The word has been in dictionaries since the late 1800s.

19. Recording session rarity: ONE TAKE. That depends on the budget and the Producer.

20. "__ 13": APOLLO. The ill fated flight and the MOVIE. 

22. Swimming aids: FINS. I never found them easy to use.

23. TV forensics letters: CSI. Crime Scene Investigations. There is a revival coming for the fall 2021 SEASON.

26. Wintry mix: SLEET. A popular fill. 

27. Mushy ground: FEN.  FENway Park, which was named ny Red Sox owner John I. Taylor who claimed the name Fenway Park came from its location in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, which was partially created late in the nineteenth century by filling in marshland or "fens."

28. Los Angeles birthplace of astronaut Sally Ride: ENCINO. No way I knew this trivia but perps to the rescue.

31. Scandinavian demonym: DANE. One from Denmark, as it is the name used for the people who live in a particular country, state, or other locality. For example, demonyms for the residents of Michigan are Michigander and Michiganian but not Michiggenuh.

35. Even one: ANY. Literal.

36. Game for an "it" girl?: TAG. Very cute, not relating to the showbiz it girls, just the kids game.

44. "This looks like trouble": UH OH. There is no known origin story.

45. Shire equivalent: COUNTY. Shire in England and Hobbitland.

46. Letters before an alias: AKA. Also known as.

49. Acidic, in Germany: SAUER. Kraut became a popular insult to Germans in WWI.

51. "Snowpiercer" channel: TNT. I knew nothing of the book, movie or SERIES but three letter channels are limited.

52. Just: EVEN. Meh, I think it needs even-handed.

53. Many a news team: TV CREW.

55. Clothing: RAIMENT. c. 1400, "clothes, an article of clothing, vesture" (archaic), shortening of arayment "clothing" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French araiement, from Old French areement, from areer "to array" (see array (v.)).

58. Grassy stretch: LEA. Popular in GB.

62. Augsburg article: EIN. Another German reference.

63. Lake fed by the Detroit River: ERIE. Oh goody, another was to clue the Lake.

64. London-based tea giant: TETLEY. A fascinating history of tea and the COMPANY.

65. City grid nos.: STS.

66. Mardi Gras follower: LENT. This year it began on February 17(Ash Wednesday) and ended on April 3, the day before Easter.

67. "Siegfried __": Wagner symphonic poem: IDYLL. A romantic STORY.

Down:

1. Nasty sort: MEANIE. Not George. 

2. Radio interface: ANTENNA. Interface? 

3. Cardinals' homes: NESTS. I thought they came from St. Louis.

4. Sports org. that evolved from one created under Teddy Roosevelt: NCAA. The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS), now known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), was formally established on March 31, 1906 to reform the rules and regulations of college sports. Early football games often resulted in injury and even death, prompting some colleges and universities to close their football programs. The reforms were encouraged by President Roosevelt in 1905, after his son was injured while playing football for Harvard.

5. Pull hard: YANK. Don't go there.

6. Data storage device: DVD. Digital Video Discs are obsolete I am told.

7. Kia subcompact: RIO. 

8. Golf rules org.: USGA. More organizations.

9. Expresses shock: GASPS. I wasn't so I did not.

10. Herb from the laurel tree: BAYLEAF. Be careful which Laurel Tree. LINK.  We always had Mountain Laurels in our yard- no no! The use of the leaves as a spice goes back to Roman Days where it was treasured and part of an...

11. Lavish: OPULENT. Lifestyle.

12. Downgrades: DEMOTES. Start with your basic PROMOTE and add "DE" take away "PRO." 

13. Sneeze (at): SCOFF. mid-14c., "jest, make light of something;" mid-15c., "make fun of, mock," from the noun meaning "contemptuous ridicule" (c. 1300), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse skaup, skop "mockery, ridicule."

17. U.S. record label since 1934: DECCA. Quite a history. LINK.

21. Gerontology focus: OLD AGE. Gerontology is multidisciplinary and is concerned with physical, mental, and social aspects and implications of aging. Geriatrics is a medical specialty focused on care and treatment of older persons.

24. Original __: SIN. Did anyone else watch this year's LUCIFER episodes?

25. Unaffiliated: Abbr.: INDependent.

28. Mediterranean tourist site: ETNA. Why go to an active volcano?

29. "It's Gonna Be Me" band: NSYNC.

30. Mendelssohn's Opus 20, e.g.: OCTET.

33. Bacon portion: RASHER.

34. Suggestive: RACY.

37. Is astir with activity: BUSTLES.

38. "Aha!": I HAVE IT.

39. Large-billed birds: TOUCANS.

40. URL component: DOT. How cute, the little period.

41. Carlin's "Atheism is a non-prophet institution," e.g.: PUN.

42. Prefix with dermal: INTRA.

43. Backup command: SAVE ALL.

47. Vacation rental?: KENNEL. Board the pets while you go frolic.

48. Pumped: ANTSY. In the pantsy.

50. Ward off: REPEL. So if you want the guy across the bar to pay attention you would PEL him?

52. Recycled item: EMPTY. You are supposed to empty them, budo you wash them?

54. Sported: WORE. Kim Kardashian sported the 7 carat ring.

56. Pro fighter: ANTI. Not a boxer just and ideologic opponent.

57. Pointed at, say: ID ED. Yeah, he did it!

60. Mint container: TIN. Altoid anyone.

61. Math group: SET. Like my algebra teacher has a nice set?