Thursday, December 23, 2021, Paul Coulter
Today's constructor is Paul Coulter, who by my reckoning has
published 82 puzzles in the LA Times in the last 6 years, starting in
February 6, 2015. The works out to almost 1 a month!
Paul's reveal-less theme plays on
HOMOGRAPHS, words that are spelled the same but have different
meanings. Here pairs of
HOMOGRAPHS
in each clue are punned against one another:
17A Blades for trimming blades:
LAWNMOWER. A machine for trimming blades of grass:
28A Development that ended much development:
DIGITAL CAMERA. The invention of the DIGITAL CAMERA brought a steep
decline in the use of photographic film and dark rooms. The
Eastman Kodak
company didn't see this coming.
46A Club used at a club:
PITCHING WEDGE. In golf a pitching wedge is one of a subset of the iron family of
clubs designed for special use situations.
64A. Wheels for carrying wheels:
LIMOUSINE. Let's pick up the pace a bit. The "wheels" IN this LIMO don't get
much bigger (lyrics):
Here are the rest of the clues.
Across:
1. Some game pieces: PEGS. Pegs are used in the game of
CRIBBAGE.
Here's how to play it.
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Cribbage Board |
9. Like horses: MANED. On horses, the mane is the hair that grows from the top of the neck, reaching from the poll to the withers, and includes the forelock or foretop. It is thicker and coarser than the rest of the horse's coat, and naturally grows to roughly cover the neck.
14. Palm whose oil is used in cosmetics: ACAI. Same crosswordese, different clue.
15. David Copperfield wife: DORA. David Copperfield, is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to maturity. It was first published as a serial in 1849 and 1850, and as a book in 1850. Here he is with his wife Dora (née Spenlow)
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David and Dora |
19. Futile: NO USE. Or a NOSE with a U in the middle.
20. Channel that shows college games: ESPNU.
21. Banquet offering: TV DINNER. A bit of a stretch, but sadly it may be true these days.
23. Any ship: SHE.
24. Shine, in adspeak: GLO. Remember "Mop and GLO"?
27. Evasive: EELY. A slippery creature.
34. Disinfectant brand since 1889: LYSOL. This stuff flew off the shelves at the beginning of the pandemic, but it now seems to be available again in our neck of the woods.
35. Nipper: PUP.
36. Collapsed: SANK.
39A. Bell invention with a bell: PHONE. Even though it's short fill I thought about adding this to the list of themers, but all the others pair nouns, whereas Bell as used here is an adjective. Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish inventor, living in Ontario (Hi CanadianEh!) at the time of the telephone's invention. The first words ever uttered over the telephone were"Mr. Watson [Bell's assistant], come here! I want you!", a call for help after the inventor spilled battery acid on his pants. The telephone network, layered on top of the network of existing telegraph wires, eventually morphed into what is now the Internet. BTW, Bell did invent other things besides the telephone.
42. Farm mom: MARE. See 9A.
43. "Bravo!": OLE.
44. Unaccustomed to: NEW AT.
52. Centuries-old discipline: YOGA. A CSO to Lucina, and a hand up please from any others here who practice it. Yoga has had a major impact on the world over the millennia, particularly in the East. It first came to the United States in 1893 through Swami Vivekananda. I highly recommend the book Autobiography of a Yogi, a personal and intimate account of the interior life of yogi Paramahansa Yogananda, first published in 1946.
53. Pod opening: TRI.
54. Japanese computer giant: NEC. NEC Corporation is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo.
57. Call dibs on, with "to": LAY CLAIM.
61. 1736 writer of a seminal paper on graph theory: EULER. Leonhard Euler (15 April 1707 – 18 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in many other branches of mathematics.
63. From an earlier time: OF OLD.
67. Setting for a Tony-winning Miller play: SALEM. Arthur Miller's play was The Crucible, a fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials of 1692–93 set in Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony. The play was a veiled criticism of the McCarthy hearings investigating Communist influence in the U.S., conducted from the late 1940s through the 1950s. During the hearings Miller was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended. The conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court.
68. Persia, now: IRAN.
In the Western world, Persia was historically the common name for Iran.
In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates to use the Persian
term Iran
(meaning the land of Aryans in Persian), the
endonym
of the country, in formal correspondence.34. Disinfectant brand since 1889: LYSOL. This stuff flew off the shelves at the beginning of the pandemic, but it now seems to be available again in our neck of the woods.
36. Collapsed: SANK.
39A. Bell invention with a bell: PHONE. Even though it's short fill I thought about adding this to the list of themers, but all the others pair nouns, whereas Bell as used here is an adjective. Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish inventor, living in Ontario (Hi CanadianEh!) at the time of the telephone's invention. The first words ever uttered over the telephone were"Mr. Watson [Bell's assistant], come here! I want you!", a call for help after the inventor spilled battery acid on his pants. The telephone network, layered on top of the network of existing telegraph wires, eventually morphed into what is now the Internet. BTW, Bell did invent other things besides the telephone.
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Alexander Graham Bell |
43. "Bravo!": OLE.
44. Unaccustomed to: NEW AT.
52. Centuries-old discipline: YOGA. A CSO to Lucina, and a hand up please from any others here who practice it. Yoga has had a major impact on the world over the millennia, particularly in the East. It first came to the United States in 1893 through Swami Vivekananda. I highly recommend the book Autobiography of a Yogi, a personal and intimate account of the interior life of yogi Paramahansa Yogananda, first published in 1946.
53. Pod opening: TRI.
54. Japanese computer giant: NEC. NEC Corporation is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo.
61. 1736 writer of a seminal paper on graph theory: EULER. Leonhard Euler (15 April 1707 – 18 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in many other branches of mathematics.
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Leonhard Euler |
67. Setting for a Tony-winning Miller play: SALEM. Arthur Miller's play was The Crucible, a fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials of 1692–93 set in Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony. The play was a veiled criticism of the McCarthy hearings investigating Communist influence in the U.S., conducted from the late 1940s through the 1950s. During the hearings Miller was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended. The conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court.
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Arthur Miller |
69. "Check this out!": PSST. IMHO the clue's a bit of a stretch.
70. Seriously weaken: ERODE. Loss of stability due to erosion.
71. Bind, in a way: TAPE.
72. Eye ailment: STYE. Possibly leading to a CHELAZION. My oldest sister used to get these a lot, but outgrew them.
Down:
1. Loses color: PALES. What causes sudden PALE skin? That last link is enough to make me afraid to get out of bed in the morning.
2. PayPal payment, e.g.: ECASH. Very convenient, but it does have its problems. If you're considering signing up for this service, here is everything you need to know and more. Well, maybe not everything.
3. Rubbernecked: GAWPED. GAWPED vs GAWKED? What's the difference? The former's Brit and the latter's Yank. Caveat: the Gawker site mentioned in the preceding article no longer exists. It was effectively driven out of business by billionaire Peter Thiel, the founder of Paypal, to get even for the site's outing of his sexual preferences. Could that be why Paul put these two clues together?
4. __ Féin: SINN. Sinn Féin (shin FAYN Irish; English: "[We] Ourselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
5. "What will __ now?": I DO. If you happen to be standing on an ALTAR at the moment, you'd better say I DO, or you might find yourself in the middle of a really big ADO.
6. Intimidate: COW.
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| Merriam-Webster |
E.g., having a COW MOO in your ear could be pretty intimidating.
7. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Saberhagen: BRET. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.
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Bret Saberhagen |
8. Show amazement (at): MARVEL. Richard Feynman on marveling at a flower.
9. Western Pacific island capital: MANILA. Manila, capital and chief city of the Philippines. The city is the center of the country’s economic, political, social, and cultural activity. It is located on the island of Luzon and spreads along the eastern shore of Manila Bay at the mouth of the Pasig River.
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Manila, Philippines |
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| from Merriam-Webster |
13. Big game: DEER.
18. Wet weather word: MUGGY.
22. Holiday mo.: DEC. Timely fill.
25. Speak like Sylvester: LISP . A speech impediment common among AI programmers, and also in a certain cartoon cat:
26. Texter's "Then again ... ": OTOH.
29. Breed: ILK.
30. One way to sing: ALONG.
31. Acid Rain Program org.: EPA.
32. Capek classic: RUR. Czech writer Karel Čapek's science-fiction play "R.U.R." ("Rossum's Universal Robots"), which turned 101 this year, and shows just what a seer the author was:
33. Parrot: APE. Which is smarter, the PARROT or the APE?
36. Bribe: SOP.
37. "Aladdin" prince: ALI. From the 1992 film Aladdin" - "A Whole New World" (lyrics)
38. After expenses: NET.
40. Colorful salamander: NEWT. Common denizens of Cwds in both their immature (EFT) and adult (NEWT) forms. Not only colorful, but varied:
41. Big-mouthed one that can hold its wine?: EWER. Here's an oldie, but goodie. I wouldn't call it "big-mouthed", but it does look like it could hold a lot of wine:
42. Sess.: MTG.
45. Bye word: ADIEU.
47. Recurred at regular intervals: CYCLED. It's about time!
48. Loving request: HOLD ME. A CSO to all the DWs and DHs on the Corner.
49. "Hometown Proud" supermarket: IGA. The Independent Grocers Alliance, founded in 1926, is an American chain of grocery stores that operates in more than 30 countries. Many of these stores operate in small-town markets and belong to families that manage them.
50. Ace a test: NAIL IT.
51. Join: ENLIST.
55. Tiny: EENSY.
56. Minotaur's home: CRETE. The Minotaur lived in the center of a labyrinth in Crete where he lived on the flesh of Athenian youngsters. They were sent to the island yearly as a sacrifice by the city of Athens, to atone for the death of King Minos' son Androgeus, whom the Athenians had once killed out of jealousy for beating them at the Panathenaic Games.
57. Get rid of: LOSE.
58. Hardly around the corner: AFAR.
59. Risk-taker's acronym: YOLO. "You Only Live Once", unless perhaps you're a Hindu. See 52A.
60. Actress Sorvino: MIRA. Mira Katherine Sorvino; born September 28, 1967) is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Mighty Aphrodite (1995).
62. FedEx rival: USPS.
65. Plan (out): MAP.
66. "A Chorus Line" number: ONE. A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante, and lyrics by Edward Kleban:
29. Breed: ILK.
30. One way to sing: ALONG.
31. Acid Rain Program org.: EPA.
32. Capek classic: RUR. Czech writer Karel Čapek's science-fiction play "R.U.R." ("Rossum's Universal Robots"), which turned 101 this year, and shows just what a seer the author was:
33. Parrot: APE. Which is smarter, the PARROT or the APE?
36. Bribe: SOP.
37. "Aladdin" prince: ALI. From the 1992 film Aladdin" - "A Whole New World" (lyrics)
38. After expenses: NET.
40. Colorful salamander: NEWT. Common denizens of Cwds in both their immature (EFT) and adult (NEWT) forms. Not only colorful, but varied:
41. Big-mouthed one that can hold its wine?: EWER. Here's an oldie, but goodie. I wouldn't call it "big-mouthed", but it does look like it could hold a lot of wine:
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Greek Style Italian Ewer Ca. 400 BC |
45. Bye word: ADIEU.
47. Recurred at regular intervals: CYCLED. It's about time!
48. Loving request: HOLD ME. A CSO to all the DWs and DHs on the Corner.
49. "Hometown Proud" supermarket: IGA. The Independent Grocers Alliance, founded in 1926, is an American chain of grocery stores that operates in more than 30 countries. Many of these stores operate in small-town markets and belong to families that manage them.
50. Ace a test: NAIL IT.
51. Join: ENLIST.
55. Tiny: EENSY.
56. Minotaur's home: CRETE. The Minotaur lived in the center of a labyrinth in Crete where he lived on the flesh of Athenian youngsters. They were sent to the island yearly as a sacrifice by the city of Athens, to atone for the death of King Minos' son Androgeus, whom the Athenians had once killed out of jealousy for beating them at the Panathenaic Games.
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The Minotaur |
58. Hardly around the corner: AFAR.
59. Risk-taker's acronym: YOLO. "You Only Live Once", unless perhaps you're a Hindu. See 52A.
60. Actress Sorvino: MIRA. Mira Katherine Sorvino; born September 28, 1967) is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Mighty Aphrodite (1995).
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Mira Sorvino |
65. Plan (out): MAP.
66. "A Chorus Line" number: ONE. A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante, and lyrics by Edward Kleban:
Here's the grid:
waseeley
waseeley
And thanks as always to Teri for proofreading and constructive criticism.
Cheers,
Bill
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