Tuesday, June 11, 2024 | (2024)

LATuntimed (Jenni)

NYT5:05 (Amy)

WSJ5:45 + 1 error (Jim)

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Out for the Count” — a familiar set. – Erin’s write-up

Hello lovelies! We’re back to themed puzzles this week, with an easy 1, 2, 3, 4 flanking the theme entries.

• 19a. [Night of amateur comedy or music, more formally] OPEN MICROPHONE
• 31a. [City between Cleveland and Akron which hosts an annual festival for multiple births]TWINSBURG OHIO
• 40a. [Shel Silverstein children’s book that has drawn controversy]THE GIVING TREE
• 53a. [Washington, for one]FOUNDING FATHER

Other things:

• 41d. [Singer/songwriter Shepard who recurred on “Ally McBeal”] VONDA. She recorded the show’s theme song “Searchin’ My Soul” as well as five soundtrack albums.

Until next week!

Geoff Brown’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Domain NameS”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are famous people whose first names are also U.S. state capitals. The revealer is HUMAN CAPITAL (55a, [Employee knowledge and skills, and a clue to 20-, 27-, 37- and 45-Across]).

• 20a. [Best Actor nominee as Elvis in “Elvis”] AUSTIN BUTLER. Austin, TX.
• 27a. [Former three-term senator from Maine] OLYMPIA SNOWE. Olympia, WA.
• 37a. [“A Place in the Sun” star] MONTGOMERY CLIFT. Montgomery, AL.
• 45a. [Fashion designer who introduced the bubble dress] PIERRE CARDIN. Pierre, SD.

Nice theme. There certainly aren’t that many well-known names that fit in this category, so I’m impressed a suitable set could be found. The names are decidedly older, but at least there’s one newer name included. Austin Powers could’ve fit where AUSTIN BUTLER is, but then the puzzle would’ve been inconsistent with one fictional name. With such a tight theme, I think we can look past the pronunciation change in the last entry.

I did finish with an error that I couldn’t find, however. I answered 10d [Use a keyhole, say] with PEEk IN instead of PEER IN. This gave me AUSTIN BUTLEK which looked odd, but having never heard of the actor, seemed feasible. I never even considered an R there.

PEER IN isn’t great fill and there were some other entries that detracted from the puzzle as well: KEPI, RAU, UHS, ORT, IN RE, REHOOK, and the UP trio: UP AT, “I’M UP,” and RE-UP. All that plus RICRAC [Zigzag ribbon trimming] which was completely new to me and uninferable. Some of that would be tough to expunge from the grid, but I’m sure it could be cleaned up at least a little bit. For example, the artificial REHOOK could become REHOME by changing OHIO to EDAM and WALK to LATE.

Highlights CHAIR LEG, CHIA PETS, CAN OPENER, and SKI BUM were quite nice on the other hand.

As for the puzzle title, I was convinced it was an error, but now I’m not so sure. The “capital S” may just be a hint that the theme answers include “capitals”. Let me know if you agree.

Nice theme, but the fill knocks it down a peg. 3.5 stars.

Chloe Revery’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap

Today’s theme revealer is FIRST LADY, [Title for Jackie or Jill, and a hint to the answers to the starred clues], and the four themers begin with words that can complete “Lady ___”:

• 17a. [*Crazy for], GAGA ABOUT. Props to Lady Gaga, but I’m not gaga about GAGA ABOUT as a crossword entry. HAPPY ABOUT wouldn’t fly at all as an unthemed entry, right?
• 23a. [*Title role for Lee Marvin in a 1962 western], LIBERTY VALANCE. The movie is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
• 36a. [*Get seriously fortunate], LUCK OUT.
• 48a. [*Meteorological description in a Beatles song], MARMALADE SKIES. In a line from Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” Also not loving this as a crossword entry. “Lady Marmalade,” of course, is also a song, albeit with a different pronunciation vs. the common noun marmalade.

I just bought a pair of Danskos, which did not help me one whit with 14a. [Danish shoe brand]. Designer Marc Ecko and kitchenware brand Ekco interfered, too. The shoe brand is ECCO.

Did not know: 16a. [Poet Frank who led the 1950s-’60s “New York School”], O’HARA. I have now read three of his poems. Here’s one of them, “The Eyelid Has Its Storms…”.

Also did not know, and I’d wager maybe 1% of us have ever encountered this word: 38d. [Trumpet flourish], TUCKET. What the tuck is that? The crossings are reasonable, but boy, I wasn’t expecting to run into such vocab in a Tuesday puzzle.

Fave fill: “I CALLED IT,” MCGRIDDLE (eww), POMPEII, NOTRE DAME.

Three stars from me.

Will Nediger + Jeffrey Martinovic’s Universal Crossword, “On the Bandwagon” — Matt F’s Review

Ba-dum-tss! This one is for the music fans out there. We have some lively musical puns in today’s theme. Let’s dig in and see what Will and Jeffrey cooked up for us.

Theme Synopsis:

Take a list of instrument parts: strings… keys… sticks… slides… ok, nice grouping. Now, find common phrases that use these words in a different context, and voila, you have a crossword theme!

• 18A: What harpists do? = PULL STRINGS
• 24A: What expert pianists do? = MASTER KEYS
• 34A/36A: What drummers do? = PICKUP STICKS
• 49A: What expert trombonists do? = ROCK SLIDES
• 54A: Bring together the instrumentalists in [all of the above] = POOL PLAYERS

Overall Impressions

That long diagonal string of black squares is something found more commonly in a themeless. Interesting to see it utilized here in a themed puzzle. The split central entry makes it possible. Even with that dividing line, the top and bottom theme pairs have five crossing entries each that go through both theme answers. It’s hard enough to cross 2 themers twice, let alone 10 times. Kudos to the constructors for keeping this all so clean. What I like most about this theme is that each phrase, normally, is an adjective + noun pair, and in the musical context here the adjective changes into a verb. This is a subtle yet important shift that really elevates this theme. The final theme answer works double duty, fitting the theme gimmick and also service as a semi-reveal to tie the other themers together. Furthermore, I love the double 8’s that hold down the NW/SE corners: NEED ASAP + APRÈS SKI \ KEN DOLLS + SIDEKICK – excellent use of those slots. This puzzle is certainly no ATROCITY. Great stuff all around.

Thanks for the puzzle, Will and Jeffrey!

Elizabeth C. Gorski’s Cr♥ssw♥rd Nation puzzle (Week 681), “Common Knowledge”—Ade’s take

Hello there, everyone! Summer weather is here, and I hope you are enjoying it so far!

There’s a progression that is featured in the theme, as all of the theme answers are two words (or two syllables). Starting with the first theme answer, TRACK STAR, the first word in the next theme answer is the last word of that previous themed answer, and so on and so on, until the last theme answer ends with the word that began the cycle.

• • • TRACK STAR (17A: [Sha’Carri Richardson or Florence Griffith-Joyner])
    • STARBUCK (25A: [Ahab’s first mate])
    • BUCKEYES (30A: [Ohio State athletes])
    • EYES LEFT (41A: [Drill instructor’s command])
    • LEFT BACK (45A: [Defensive position in soccer])
    • BACK TRACK (58A: [Retrace one’s steps])

Four nine-letter, non-themed answers featured in this grid, with STEAM BATH giving me reason to sweat even more as I’m sitting in my already-warm room (35D: [Sweater compartment?]). Not much of a fan of peanuts, so, unfortunately, I have never enjoyed MACAROONS the way many others have (9D: [Delicate almond-flavored cookies]). We’re moving closer to the 55th anniversary of the moon landing, so nice to see ALDRIN featured so close to that historic day of July 20, 1969 (40A: [Apollo 11 astronaut “Buzz”]).

“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: OTTO (62A: [Sgt. Snorkel’s canine]) – As much as I want to talk about the name of my alma mater’s mascot, Otto the Orange, I’ll talk about one of the great offensive lineman in NFL history who passed away last month, Jim Otto. Otto, who was one of the rare players to wear “00” as his jersey number, was an original member of the Oakland Raiders when they began operations in the 1960, and did not miss a game in any of his 15 years as a pro with the Raiders, playing (and starting) in 210 consecutive games. Otto was inducted into the Pro Football HAll of Fame in 1980.

Thank you so much for the time, everybody! Have a wonderful and safe rest of your day and, as always, keep solving!

Take care!

Ade/AOK

Jay Silverman’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up

The revealer was the most entertaining part of the theme. It’s a fine Tuesday puzzle.

I noticed something about the theme entries.

• 18a [Like some boots] isTHIGH–HIGH.
• 23a [Jewish New Year] isROSH HASHANAH.
• 37a [With 39-Across, considered carefully] isTHOUGHT/THROUGH.
• 48a [“How do you tell them apart?”] isWHICH IS WHICH.

and the aforementioned revealer: 57a [Youth organization that 18-, 23-, 37/29-, and 48-Across could be members of?] isthe FOUR H CLUB. Cute!

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that Portia deROSSI was in“Arrested Development.”

Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up

Well. This one seemed appropriate to the ‘moderately challenging’ designation.

I completed the grid with one error, which I needed to hunt up—it was the crossing of 29a [Actress who played Sandra Clark and Lisa Landry] JACKEE HARRY and 9d [Cal, by another name] BERKELEY. Perhaps influenced by the unusual spelling of the former, I conflated Boston’s BERKLEE College of Music with Berkeley University. And neither is to be confused with Berkeley Square in Mayfair, London.

• 1a [Something drawn before a slash?] SWORD. Agard throwing down the gauntlet right at the outset!
• 22a [Memento __ ] MORI. A classic example is a skull in artwork, especially during northern Europe’s Vanitas movement.
• 39a [Vote that sounds like a letter] AYE. 42a [Animal that sounds like a letter] EWE. 44d [Verb that’s a hom*ophone of 45-Down] WON, 45d [Number that’s a hom*ophone of 44-Down] ONE.
• 43a [They’re researched by S.E.O. specialists] KEYWORDS. SEO issearch engine optimization.
• 12d [Ball two?] HEMISPHERES. That works.
• 23d [Orders of magnitude?] DECREES, but with the DEC- in place I tried for DECIBELS, which (a) doesn’t fit, (b) doesn’t actually make sense for the clue.