Newsday 12ish, while watching TV and talking with family
LAT 8:45
NYT 5:06
Have we seen a themeless crossword by Pete Muller before? He seems like one of those twisty-theme specialists to me, so maybe this New York Times crossword is his first published themeless. And maybe it isn't. As I traveled through this puzzle I had a few missteps. [Idols, often] are SEX OBJECTS, but I started out with SEX SYMBOLS. I had to change that when [Rambler's lack] was going to be a 7-letter noun starting with a Y, which just looked implausible. For [Drink with a bite], I decided the lemon drink was a cocktail called a LEMON SOUR. Hmm, what would that be? Googling suggests that's a cocktail ingredient. The actual answer here is LEMON SODA, which is not sold in most groceries as far as I can tell.
Favorite answers and clues:
- SMART DRUGS are [Enhancers of cognitive abilities]. My first thought was SMART FOODS, but that didn't wish to cooperate with any crossings.
- Lucy [Lawless vehicle] is XENA, Warrior Princess. That show was awesomely good cheese.
- The [Rambler's lack] is BREVITY.
- FRANK means [Open], while [Somewhat open] clues AJAR. Don't you want to tell someone who's only opening up a bit to you that they're ajar?
- LIVE-IN MAID is an [Upper-class luxury]. Just how much was Mike Brady earning as an architect that the Brady Bunch could afford shoes and clothes for six kids and Alice, the live-in housekeeper?
- A [Spot to show off alpine plants] is a ROCK GARDEN.
- [Icing] isn't just sugary frosting—it's also DOING IN, as in assassinating.
- MIMES are [Those whose actions speak louder than words?], and TALKING is the [Activity avoided by 24-Down].
- [Pyrexia] means FEVER. Do not treat this with Pyrex.
- I got the answer to a football clue! [Choice for third and short] is a SNEAK. Is that a quarterback sneak?
- ["Grease" co-writer Jim] JACOBS is not known to me. Nor is FIFI, [Maggie's dog in "Bringing Up Father"].
- [The Louvre's Salles des ___]...hmm, looking for a French word. Why is it ETATS? Will someone who's been there tell me?
- CIRE is a [Glazed, waxy fabric finish]. I've seen this word once or twice before in crosswords but needed all the crossings to remember it.
- [Solitaire game of matching pairs of cards] is MONTE CARLO.
- RICO is the name of [First baseman Brogna].
Tom Heilman's themeless LA Times crossword is perhaps the hardest LA Times puzzle in a year. I got through the northeast and southwest quadrants okay, but the southeast put up a fight and the northwest tried to kill me. There were some answers that were flat-out unfamiliar to me:- [Rm.-and-meals systems] are APS. I don't have the foggiest idea what this abbreviation stands for.
- BLACK MASS is a [Parodic ceremony]. Who's doing the parodying?
- [Tribe originally from Carolina] is TUSCARORA.
- Now, those two longer ones were stacked together in the northwest, and the crossing answers tended to have tough clues.
- [Capital of Iran's East Azerbaijan Province] is TABRIZ. The specificity of the clue might help if you're Googling or looking at a map, but otherwise? No. Very few American crossword solvers keep tabs on the various provinces of Iran.
- [Get ready to take off]—like a plane? like someone leaving? like clothes? No, like shoes: UNLACE.
- [Presidential briefing?] is a clue I don't like. The answer is CIC, as in "commander-in-chief." "Briefing" is not a standard way of pointing us towards an abbreviation, is it?
I do like the inclusion of a mini-theme (sort of) in the middle answers: The [Pedestrian right-of-way] is sometimes called a ZEBRA CROSSING, and the pedestrian may be waiting a while in RUSH-HOUR TRAFFIC ([Cause of many a clogged artery]). Other tough clues or bright spots:
- SOCCER MOM is a [Suburban stereotype].
- [E-mail letters] clues AOL. I wish AOL didn't have those two vowels, because those make it show up in far too many crosswords. The clues tend to accord AOL the importance it had a decade ago, but now Comcast and AT&T have many more customers than AOL. AOL needs to go away...
- [Silicate minerals] are MICAS. I've done enough crosswords (too many?) that this was a total gimme with the M in place.
- I didn't know [Naomi Campbell, e.g.] was AFRO-ASIAN (via a Chinese Jamaican grandparent). I also didn't know that there are about 70,000 Chinese Jamaicans in Jamaica.
- The religious holiday/feast/what-have-you of Epiphany was the same day as my grandma's birthday, January 6. [When Epifania del Senor is celebrated] is ENERO, or January in Spanish.
- Pants INSEAMS are clued [They end at the ankle].
- LAO TSE is [Literally, "old master"].
- ZEROES IN means [Focuses]. Good answer.
- SPYWARE consists of [Invasive programs]. Another good answer.
1-Across had a little trick to it. The answer to [Signifies] doesn't end with an S, it ends with a TO. So I wrote an S before T, thinking of something like POINTS TO. Eventually I worked through the rest of that corner and discovered it was ADDS UP TO, with tha P starting PITA, a [Mediterranean staple]. Did you know that a [Surname shared by at least eight related sports pros] is UNSER? I thought of the three Alous and ran out of ideas. [Rig devices] means devices in truckers' rigs: CB'S. That crosses CREATE for the verb [Institute], BARTER for a [Kind of commerce] (with the ARTE in place, my mind only saw CARTEL), and photographers' SPEEDS.
