Jeffrey W

Title: Merry Christmas from a Beautiful Mind

Moe is back from visiting his adorable grandbaby, yet here I am doing a back to back for Christmas. First, I want to wish you all the best of holidays this year, be it Christmas, Festivus, Kwanza or those that have already passed. I also want to wish the world better health for the rest of this year and all of next. I especially want to bring a year of good tidings to all the Cornerites starting with C.C. and Boomer. I won't be back here to blog until January 14, 2022. I also want to wish myself less dyslexic and other typing issues. 

On with the show. As is often a hallmark of JW's puzzles this has much going on with some diabolic cluing and a visual theme wrapped inside a word theme. All of this in his not uncommon 16 x 15 grid to allow room for all that is going on. And surprise, it all relates to Christmas.  The first level is the yuletime classic:

3D. Start of a seasonal title: THE TWELVE. 6D. Title, part 2: DAYS OF. 9D. End of the title: CHRISTMAS.

39D. With the contents of this grid's circles, part of the refrain in 3-/6-/9-Down: PARTRIDGE.

                     THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

I really love this innovative interpretation by PENTATONIX. We also have the first verse PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE which becomes the visual theme of the Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum) come to life by joining the circles with the central clues/fill like this:

That is brilliant work which he augments with some new and fun fill  BIG MOMENT,  INLAND SEA, I'VE SEEN IT, MADE A RULE and PAPERLESS none of which have ever been in the LAT and the only one to appear in the NYT in 1971 was INLAND SEA. I hope he tells us how long this construction took.

Across:

1. Tbsp., for example: AMT. Abbreviation begats abbreviation.

4. Touchy monarch?: MIDAS. Touchy feely, watch out for the Me Too movement, gold or no gold. 

9. "United States of Al" network: CBS. Unless you knew the show it is all perps.

12. "Very droll": HA HA. Ho ho!

14. Representation: IMAGE. Or perhaps ICON?

15. Edible seed: CHIA. Chia seeds contain quercetin, an antioxidant that can reduce your risk of developing several health conditions, including heart disease. But, they may cause an increased risk of choking

16. Port near the Red Sea: ADEN.  It is a city of Yemen and its temporary capital. It is situated along the north coast of the Gulf of Aden and lies on a peninsula enclosing the eastern side of Al-Tawāhī Harbour. This area is beset by pirates.

17. To date: AS YET.

18. Wild party: ORGY. This was wilder than the rave I began with.

19. Near-EGOT winner Midler (she's missing the O): BETTE. The O is for Oscar but she is special.

21. Org. with admirals: USN. United States Navy.

22. Reviews briefly: SKIMS. Or a politicians retirement plan.

23. Gets gasps from: AWES. 

24. Bit of rebar: ROD. I thought of him as a douche bag not a rebar.

25. Philippine currency: PESO. The long term influence of the Spanish in the Philippines. Remember, one L two Ps.

26. Word often contracted: ARE.  We're challenged here. 

27. Text lead-in: PREFACE. A literal clue/fill.

30. "Oversharing!": TMI. Too Much Information.

32. Home of the Green Wave: TULANE. I began my days as a poster at the Corner because someone suggested all college sports team mascots were plural.

34. Shrewdness: ACUMEN. Business skills which is guess why it was used to name this COMPANY.

36. Inventing middle name: ALVA. I doubt his middle name invented anything. 

37. Short two-pointer: TIP IN. This was a stumbling block as I wanted LAY UP. The crossing letters just would not work.

41. "Critique of Judgment" author: KANT. This was his third "Critique" and in it he distinguishes the beautiful from the sublime. Paraphrasing, the appeal of beautiful objects is immediately apparent, while the sublime holds an air of mystery and ineffability. A  statue or a pretty flower is beautiful, the movement of storm clouds or a massive building is sublime: they are, in a sense, too great to get our heads around. 

42. Animals drawn in the Lascaux caves: DEER. This fits the fill but I believe they were APEX.

43. Opposite of après: AVANT. Simple after and before en francais.

44. Madrid pronoun: ESTO. On to some masculine Spanish.

45. Like email notifications: PAPERLESS. I get some free stuff for going paperless.

48. 33-Down members: Abbr.: SRS. 33S. Organization for 48-Across: AARP. I was disappointed during my time as a member.

51. Update follower, perhaps: RESTART. Yes, the plight of modern technology; they keep updating which makes your restart your computer which requires that you forget what you know how to do. This blog is a perfect example.

52. "'And when I __ my lips let no dog bark!'": "The Merchant of Venice": OPE. It is a trademark of Jeffrey's to include some Shakespeare but now it seems all the Friday constructors do it.

55. Old TWA competitor: PAN AM. Who cares?

57. Coastal raptor: ERN. Birds and dinosaurs.

58. Shady place: ARBOR. You can ask Ann.

60. Signs: OMENS. Do you take them seriously?

61. __ al-Fitr: end-of-Ramadan feast: EID. Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while Fiṭr means "to break fast"; and so the holiday symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period, after the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan, on the first day of Shawwal.

62. Greek letter: THETA.

63. Apple product: i-PAD.

64. "Therefore ... ": AND SO.

66. Natural resources: ORES. When is an ore a rock? The BBC says an ore is a rock that contains enough of a metal or a metal compound to make extracting the metal worthwhile: low-grade ores contain a small percentage of the metal or its compound. high-grade ores contain a larger percentage.

67. "Star Wars" role: LUKE. If you do not know Skywalker you probably do not know...

68. Star in Orion: RIGEL. This is a big boy Star

69. "That's that!": DONE. Not quite.

70. 1974 CIA spoof: S*P*Y*S. This was a failed attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Gould and Sutherland in M*A*S*H.

71. Word with home or bed: STEAD. Homestead I know not beadstead:the framework of a bed on which the mattress is placed.

72. Tiny crawlers: ANTS.

Down:

1. Obsessed mariner: AHAB. Poor guy, they never leave him alone.

2. Added to the official playbook: MADE A RULE. This was vey hard to parse but the perps were fair.

4. Fla. NBA team, on scoreboards: MIAmi. A gimme for which...

5. "Not a doubt in my mind": I'M SURE.

7. Chair's prep job: AGENDA. The Chairman of the Board has his/her/their staff prepare it, let's be honest.

8. Wimbledon division: SET. Tennis anyone? I do worry about Peng Shuai.

10. Drumroll follower: BIG MOMENT. 

11. Comments: SAYS. Says you...

13. Part of a pot: ANTE. Followed by ...

15. Smelting fuel: COKE. Hmm.

20. "Around the Horn" airer: ESPN. 

22. It's risky to work on it: SPEC.

26. Slightly: ATAD.

28. Fix a messy package, say: RETAPE.

29. Certain rider's pace: CANTER.

31. Grooving on: INTO.

35. Short strings?: UKES.

38. Comment about a familiar film: I'VE SEEN IT.

40. Salton, for one: INLAND SEA.

46. __ control: ARMS.

47. RBI, e.g.: STAT.

48. Booty: SPOILS.

49. Increase: RAMP UP.

50. Not at all up-front: SNEAKY.

52. Puck handler?: OBERON.

53. Strong: POTENT.

54. Gets rid of: ERASES.

56. Long range: ANDES.

59. Mary's upstairs neighbor: RHODA.

64. MGM motto word: ARS.

65. Stale: OLD.

Gary Larson

 Title: Cinderella, what are you wearing to the ball? (See later inspiration)

Today our constructing phenom, Gary don't call me Far Side Larson,  presents me with his 6th Friday that I have blogged in 2021 (along with 2 for Moe) to go with his 7 Sundays. We have slang for 'clothing' which are the second word in a two-word in the language expression as the theme. I would say this is a whimsical effort overall. I am sure you missed Gary since his most recent LAT was all the way back on Sunday. In keeping with modern Fridays, this has more words and fewer empty spaces but the theme is tight and the amusement factor high. The longish non-themers BETRAYS,  BLAME ME, CALYPSO, CAPSULE, DINGBAT. DOGBANE,  ECOCIDE, ENDRUNS, FASTENS. FLAILED, LABORED, MADISON,  RISES UP  and TEHRANI are quite a diverse field. They are each 7 letters long. So we start:

15A. Outfits for a climber?: HIGH GEAR (8). A climber goes up wearing his climbing gear and his friend cruises in his car in high gear. LINK

18A. His-and-her outfits?: BINARY NUMBERS (13). The binary numbers (0 and 1) are how computers work. Per the Oxford English Dictionary, “number” has been used to mean “an article of clothing." gender specific clothing is binary. LINK

35A. Outfits for tourist town natives?: LOCAL  RAGS (9). When I was in boarding school the locals were the "townies." I think of our hometown newspaper as the local rag, but it can also be a worthless piece of cloth, especially one that is torn or worn. rags, ragged or tattered clothing.

56A. Outfits for the masses?: COMMON THREADS (13). Know your threads will not help you here. This is the simplest of the fill.

62A. Outfits for dairy farmers?: MILK DUDS (8). My favorite and the silliest. Duds as clothing come from Middle English dudde, originally meaning worn-out or ragged clothing. Dairy farmers milk their cows and we all know

MILK DUDS Candies were introduced by F. Hoffman & Co. of Chicago in 1928. The Candiesgot their name because their maker found it impossible to get the chocolate-covered caramels to form perfectly round balls, so he called them “duds.” He wanted candy symmetry but failed. Gary did not. This very symmetrical set of five themers has 51 spaces of the 225 in this 15x15 with no reveal. 

Across:

1. Follower of Jefferson: MADISON. President number 4 followed number 3.

8. Turn on: START. This works well for machines, but is more complicated with humans.

13. Polluter's crime: ECOCIDE. I put in ___CIDE  and ruminated for a while. 

14. Mountaintop home: AERIE. This variant of eyrie is the bird nest of an eagle, falcon, hawk, or other bird of prey.

17. Refuse: TRASH. I refused to be tricked.

21. The first "A" in A.A. Milne: ALAN. Alan Alexander was more than the creator of Winnie the pu pu platter (oops)...anyway, he studied under H.G. Wells and played cricket with J.M. Barrie, A.C. Doyle, and P.G.Wodehouse.

23. Fictional 1847 autobiographer: EYRE. Oh Jane you fictional woman.

24. __ Paulo: SAO. Brazil. 

25. Typographical ornament: DINGBAT. No this is not ...

but in the computer industry, a Dingbat font is a font that has symbols and shapes in the positions designated for alphabetical or numeric. Wingding is very popular.

29. Evasive tactics: END RUNS. To circumvent from the Football play.

31. Spot: SEE.  I got this right away.

32. Infuriates: IRES. I am irked.

34. Polynesian capital: APIA. Apia, town, port, and capital (since 1959) of Samoa. It is located on the northern coast of Upolu Island, in the South Pacific Ocean. Many famous athletes and actors come from Samoa. 

39. Jessica of "Dark Angel": ALBA. She played a genetically enhanced government superhuman prototype, Max Guevera who teamed with a journalist, played by Michael Weatherly (NCIS and BULL) in a post-apocalyptic Seattle to right wrongs. Seattle also was the home of iZombie another SciFi series. 

42. Long-gone time: YORE.

43. Tiger, e.g.: CAT. Deceptively simple.

46. Belafonte #1 album on which "Day-O" was the first track: CALYPSO. 

50. Turns on: BETRAYS.

52. Corp. alias letters: DBA. Doing business as.

53. Subway fare?: HERO. Not the price of travel...

55. Sword with a three-sided blade: EPEE.

61. They hold your horses: REINS. Literal but amusing.

65. Deejay, at times: EMCEE. DJ MC ...

66. Swung wildly: FLAILED. Facing a famed Twins pitcher...

67. Transfers, as a house: DEEDS. My bread and butter.

68. Secures: FASTENS.

Down:

1. Not so hot: MEH. The bloggers' safe word.

2. Handel's "__, Galatea e Polifemo": ACI. A most emotional TALE from the mists of myth. I will await comments from all of our musically educated posters.

3. Poisonous plant reputed to repel canines: DOGBANE. It is poisonous to dogs and looks like milkweed to which I am extremely allergic. It  does feel like a CSO to John Lampkin.

4. Chinese book of divination: I-CHING. My late brother David studied these rituals.

5. Register, with "up": SIGN. Be cause you ...

6. Music halls of old: ODEA. If you look up ODEA in the dictionary it tells you noun:the plural of odeum. Helpful.

7. Close: NEAR.
 
8. Ring bearer?: SATURN. A debut for this clue/fill combo. Very clever.

9. Called: TERMED.

10. Many an Omani: ARAB. And 12D. Like many "Argo" militants: TEHRANI. The capital of Iran.

11. Revolts: RISESUP. They have had their share in that part of the world.

16. White alternative: RYE. Just bread but it does rhyme with...

19. Emmy-winning scientist: NYE.

20. '90s-'00s Cubs star: SOSA. No indication of his being one of many being blackballed by the Hall of Fame voters. This ARTICLE is very long but should be of interest to our dedicated baseball fans.

21. GEICO highlights: ADS. Most of their's are funny. I see you LIMU!

22. Tell tales, maybe: LIE. Maybe, baby?

26. Book jacket text, often: BIO.

27. Semicircle, say: ARC. 

28. Leaves for a spot: TEA. A CSO to many at the Corner who enjoy a spot of tea, but not a cup. It is a more confusing IDIOM.

30. Student housing VIPs: RAS. Resident Assistants.

33. Wily: SLY. Sly E Coyote just didn't work.
 
35. Set down: LAY. Two versions: I set down the book on the desk. Or, I laid down stricter rules for my...

36. Take badly?: ROB. A now common clue/fill to deceive the audience.

37. "__ you done?": ARE. No, we have many clues left.

38. Perceive: GET. I perceived Gary's meaning.

39. Like some appliances: AC/DC.

40. Worked: LABORED.

41. Words of confession: BLAME ME. Meh. That is not a confession.

43. Tablet alternative: CAPSULE. Not computer but pills.

44. Supportive response: AYE. Nay!

45. "The Waste Land" monogram: TSE. The best link I could find for those interested in THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT.

47. Called: PHONED. Someday this to will be gone from the lexicon.

48. It's sometimes necessary to come to them: SENSES.

49. Food bit: ORT.

51. Website with "Ask Me Anything" interviews: REDDIT.

54. Unit of resistance: OHM.

57. Laptop navigation aids: MICE.

58. Jazz phrase: RIFF.

59. "Enchanted" movie girl: ELLA. Recently this version

60. Aliases: AKAS. Also Known As.

63. Thieves' place: DEN. A concept from the Christian Bible.

64. Radical '60s org.: SDS. Students for a Democratic Society. Very active at my college alma mater.

Jeffrey Diton

Title: A timely tribute to Broadway.

We all know (or should know) that puzzles are scheduled long before publication. However with the recent death of Broadway ICON Steven Sondheim, it seems some outside influence created this time slot for our entertainment and reflection. And dramatically none of the eight (8) huge hits were created by Sondheim. I am however, foreshadowing the write-up, so it is time to get to work.

My internet sleuthing located Jeffrey Diton both at the Crossword Collaboration Directory* and on Facebook.  It seems he is "retired and living the dream in Cary, North Carolina" though I know not his vocation.  This is his world wide debut puzzle so let's give him a round of applause. (too much foreshadowing)? Not unexpectedly this puzzle does not check all the usual Friday difficulty boxes - too many words, word lengths too short - but he does bring some pizzaz.  PET MD, ICEMAN,  KRAUSS, LOW-RES, MIDORI , YASGUR, ALL YEAR,  MISTRIAL and SLEEPERS are all solid fill. The ones in red are new. If you did not trek to Western NY on August 19, 1969, you probably don't know Max Yasgur and his farm in Bethel. N. Y. but those are stories for a different day. What he does do is include in each theme answer 2 one-word Broadway musicals. I find no commonality within the selection that determines which he chose, I hope he comes by and explains. 

16A. Nightclub for seasonal workers?: ELF CABARET (10). Malls hire elves to accompany Santa and we all enjoy a night out at a cabaret, old chum. LINK 1 and LINK 2

22A. Reaction to opening a can of Whiskas?: CATS APPLAUSE 

(12). I do not know any kitties who applaud but maybe you all have videos. LINK 1 and LINK 2

47. Like the Charles River in February, to a local?: WICKED FROZEN (12). You need to know the Charles flows through Boston where wicked is a catch all adjective and its does get f.... I mean wicked cold. Watching WICKED  on Broadway starring Idina Menzel with my two sons is a great memory for me. This group also is the only one of the themers I know of in which a star (IM, not ours) stars in both. I have not seen the  FROZEN musical.

56A. Styling gel for a '50's teenager?: HAIR GREASE (10). HAIR with it's nudity was very bold for Broadway and GREASE  a wonderful tribute to WEST SIDE STORY a Stephen Sondheim musical.

And the unusual Friday reveal:

34. Hit shows, and a hint to four puzzle answers: BROADWAY SMASHES. I am not sure if this was Jeffrey's intention, but I parse the clue for the show with individual names as Broadway Smashes, but for the entire answer Broadway's Mashes. YMMV.

Across:

1. Some model home residents: DOLLS. A very cute beginning.

6. Wrinkle, as one's brow: KNIT. HISTORY.

10. Rocky greetings: YOS. From the movie, not a bad romance. 

13. '40s-'50s "Giant Brain": ENIAC. This is the 48th appearance of this fill in the LAT.

14. Streaming biggie: ROKU.  Read all about IT.

15. Gas station convenience: MART. This one was slow in coming for me. 

18. Capital on a fjord: OSLO. Norway here we come.

19. Easter supply: DYE. Of course EGG fits also.

20. Watson portrayer opposite Jonny Lee Miller's Holmes: LIU.

21. California athlete: ANGEL. Baseball in Anaheim.

26. Hardly well: RARE. Very nice Friday deception, not ill but not cooked much.

29. Surprise hits: SLEEPERS. This sense of the word may have originated in the world of gambling in the nineteenth century. When a card player unexpectedly drew a winning card, the card was called "a sleeper."

30. Pontificates: OPINES. C.C. has mostly eliminated that from this blog's posts.

33. Narrow strip of wood: LATH. The name derived from the spreading action, which is like pulling an accordion open. wiki

40. Top-notch: A-ONE. From astronauts HG?

41. Note in the key of B major: D-SHARP. I know nothing but B major (or the key of B) is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯, and A♯ are all part of the B major scale. more wiki

42. Hung jury result: MISTRIAL. A victory for a criminal defendant.

46. Pop of pop music: IGGY. An 80's phenomenon.
                             

50. Nice thoughts?: IDEES. The French Connection.

51. What "W" may mean: WIN. L loss.

52. Pilot or Explorer: SUV. The world has been overrun by this vehicle choice. The fact that they now can get 30 to 50 mpg or are electric has helped.

55. Gold rush town where Wyatt Earp ran the Dexter Saloon: NOME.  LINK.

60. "Dagnabbit!": DRAT.

61. Wind from the French for "high wood": OBOE. The name oboe was originally hautbois, or "high, loud wood" in French, also sometimes spelled hoboy in English. The Italians transliterated the French name to oboè, and the English followed around 1770 with oboe. Oo has friends called Bo which leads me to many bad musical puns.

62. Baseball VIP: OWNER.

63. Half of a Chinese pair: YIN. I wouldn't YANG your chain about that.

64. Conference giveaways: PENS. I have so many free pens in my house but they do not last long as they are very...

65. Demanding attention: NEEDY.

Down:

1. Act: DEED. Do a good one. It

2. Just: ONLY. Takes a moment and can improve someone's

3. Long sentence: LIFE. A strined bit of incarceration humor.

4. Lakers rivals, on NBA scoreboards: LAC. The Clippers

5. Milan's La __: SCALA. Charlotte has her Ballet debut this coming Sunday.

6. Alison of bluegrass: KRAUSS. An intersting Duet.
                                        
7. Scand. land: NORway. It's back.

8. Prez after Harry: IKE. Nicknames noy initiala

9. Tsk relative: TUT. King?

10. Max who owned the Woodstock farmland: YASGUR. An interesting HISTORY.

11. Discount phrase: OR LESS. Is it ever less?

12. Pinched: STOLE.

15. "Hidden Figures" actress Janelle __: MONAE. This MOVIE

17. Tiny amount: BIT.

21. Top dogs: ALPHAS. They no longer are just males.

22. Wrestler-turned-actor John: CENA. Thank you all for last week, as I was unsure if "S" or "C."

23. Not seasonal: ALL YEAR.

24. Pod residents?: PEAS.

25. Website for animal owners: PET MD.

26. Hold up: ROB.

27. Fig. in lending: APR.

28. 2016 Olympics city: RIO.

31. Tinder outings: E-DATES.

32. There's a point to it: SWORD.

35. "It's not __, it's a when": AN IF.

36. __ guard: SHIN.

37. Crone: HAG.

38. Unit of energy: ERG.

39. Bond, for one: SPY.

42. Olympic skater Ito: MIDORI.

43. Certain clutch player, in sports parlance: ICEMAN.

44. Shooting competition: SKEET.

45. A bit fuzzy, as an image: LOW RES.

47. Blowing a lot: WINDY.

48. Evasive maneuver: ZIG.

49. 2001 scandal subject: ENRON.

52. Sound: SANE.

53. Secondhand: USED.

54. To a high degree: VERY.

56. Bunny __: HOP.

57. White House nickname: ABE.

58. Charged particle: ION.

59. Farm mom: EWE.