Joseph Knecht

  Today we have another visit from relatively new constructor David P. Williams, who believe it or not came out of the starting gate with a Saturday themeless puzzle on May 15, 2021.  Here's Husker's review .  David followed that up pretty quickly with a puzzle on Sunday, June 20, 2021.  Here's C.C.'s review .  As  near as I can tell this puzzle is his third with the LA Times. David invites us out on the dance floor to get down and boogie with a genre that may seem new to many Cornerites.  It will be easier to see what's going on if we start with the reveal: 60A. Acrobatic street moves ... or a hint to parts of the answers to starred clues:  BREAK DANCES. The clues are paired, and the "parts" are the END of the first clue and the BEGINNING of the second clue, "broken" by a single BLACK square in the 2nd clue.  Here are the themers with the dance parts highlighted in RED...

   Our constructor today is Roland Huget who has made many visits to the Corner (over 40).   Here's a review by Gary from December 5, 2020, with a bit of biographical information on Roland .  One piece of information he mentions in that review is no longer true, as he finally stopped by for a Sunday puzzle, blogged by C.C on August 22, 2021 . I should start with a SPOILER ALERT .  This puzzle is an extended CSO to one of our tangier reviewers, who tag teams on Fridays with one of our wackier reviewers.  I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which. Here are the themers: 20A Wind tunnel test object: AIRP LANE MODE L.   Here's a description of Wind Tunnels for grades K-4 , a CSO to our Maître des avis , Husker. 34A. Keats work with the line, "She dwells with Beauty--Beauty that must die": O DE ON MELA N CHOLY .   ...

  Today's puzzle was constructed by LA Times Crossword veteran Jerry Edelstein , whose last appearance here was on August 18, 2021 .  Today he appears in a MASTER 's TOURNEY , turning the last word of each themer into the first half of the reveal.  Here are the seeds:   20A. Retiree's investment goal: INCOME STREAM .  A CSO to JzB . 34A. Performers in cages: LION TAMERS .  Marcus Loewe, Samuel Goldwyn, and Louis Mayer generated quite an INCOME STREAM by TAMING this LION :   42. Cornell's "Far Above Cayuga's Waters" and others: ALMA MATERS .  A CSO to any of our Cornell alums on the Corner.  Hands up please!   And the reveal:   54A. "Mona Lisa" and "Guernica" ... and, in a different way, the last words of 20-, 34- and 42-Across: MASTER PIECES , all the themers being acronyms of the first two syllables.  I found the contrasts between these two masterpieces to be intriguingly ...