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Thursday, November 14, 2024, Lynn Lempel

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 A SIMPLE THEME Today veteran Lynn Lempel returns with a simple letter insertion theme.  Each of her 3 themers is clued with a perfectly reasonable question and the resulting 2 word fill is a pun on the clue, prefixed with the letter  which when removed results in a new in the language phrase.  This was a helpful theme and if you found the reveal it made the puzzle easier to solve.  Here are Lynn's themers ... 16A. Reason for copyright suits filed by Atari?:  APING PONG .  I recall playing Atari's  PONG in college back in the 60's at a local eatery in College Park, MD.   It was one of the very first video games.  I'm sure it was often imitated, but I don't know if Atari actually sued anyone for APING it. It was played on a computer controlled CRT mounted in a table top and looked like this ... 24A. Where squirrels stash treats?:  ACORN HOLE .  Where else would they stash them?  OTOH C orn Hole is a game -- here's how it's played ...  3
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Thursday, November 7, 2024, Simon Marotte, Trenton Lee Stewart

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  Making Ends Meet   As near as I can tell today's constructors Simon Marotte and Trenton Lee Stewart  are both making their debuts in the LA Times, although they have previously published with the NYT here and here .  Their 4 themers remind us that even famous people had to take odd jobs to make ends meet when they were starting out.  Each clue consists of two famous people, tells us what their (fictional) side hustle was, and plays on it to give us a punny two word fill ... 17A. Earnhardt and Andretti work as ushers?:  DRIVERS SEAT .  Ralph Dale Earnhardt (April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001) was an American professional stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series.  Sadly, Earnhardt died in a racing accident in 2001 . Dale Earnhardt Ma
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