Wednesday, July 13, 2022 | (2023)

Lat3:50 (Gareth)

NOW3:49 (Amy)

WSJuntimed (Jim P)

Mike Shenks Wall Street Journal-Kreuzworträtsel, „When You Get the Chants…“ – Jim Ps Rezension

Theme: The mantra OM is added to various well-known phrases to create a crazy effect.

• 17a. [Typical shopper in a store?]GENERAL CUSTOMERSAIS.General Kuster.
• 25a. ["How to make your own beer"?]HAHEBREW LESSON.Hebrew Lesson.
• 42a. [Charity from a two-time Best Actor winner?]TAGIVE HANKS.Thanksgiving.
• 56a. [Interior of a fool car?]IDIOT’S DALICHT.Idiot's Joy. I don't know the base rate.It can refer to thatsome form of solitaire (the card game) or an old film and/or play from the 1930's.

Hey! This topic sounds familiar because I did it myself in 2018 … no less in the WSJ. SeeLaura's review here. And also,Here is a similar riddlewhat appearedthe day beforeMine. I won't say which of the three is best, but two of the three have retained the pronunciation of OM (ie, with a long O), and one of those two is "just funnier" than the other (not my words).

What do we still have? I likeLONER,FLASHES ON,SHOUTING, andRUSSELL. I am familiar with the termKILL FEESthese are not payments to assassins, but payments to authors whose projects are canceled through no fault of their own. I know the word lessWORKSHOPS[Art studios] but I've probably seen it in a crossword puzzle before.

A notice:

• 32a. [Main ingredient?].IVORY. Think piano keys.
• 25d. [Setting of Liliuokalani Gardens].HALLO. A four-letter Hawaiian entry? How many of us tried OAHU and MAUI first?

3,25 Sterne.

Addison Snell's New York Times crossword - Amy's essay

The subject in this left/right symmetry puzzle is real and fictional speakers/authors of "I am"/"am I" quotes/lyrics:

• 24a. ["Who am I?"], JEAN VALJEAN. fictional character inpathetic.
• 37a. [Mit 39-Across,"I am what I am"], GLORIA / GAYNOR. Never heard of this song. It was a 1983 dance hit, barely cracked the R&B chart, didn't make the Hot 100. Most of us know the singer best for "I Will Survive."
• 49a. [“I think therefore I am”], RENÉ DESCARTES.Philosophy/math guy.
• 55a. ["I love what I love"], POPEYE.Classic cartoon character.
• 56a. [“I am that I am”], YAHWEH.From a scene with Mosesin the book of Exodus.

favorite filling:GOOSEhoch,LIP SYNC, THE ROOM(Chicago has a main street named after it[French explorer of the Great Lakes]).

Most inconsistent note: The note forAH, 17a. ["Ah, me!"]. I have a feeling this is an editorial attempt to streamline the use of AHME in grids! Who says that? Everyone? firecrackers?

Three more things:

• 42a. [word with poison or pig], PEN. These are two completely different uses of PEN and that didn't help me get the answer! I'm embarrassed that I needed the crossroads to find out.
• 66a. [„You Dropped a Bomb ___“ (1982 Hit von der Gap Band)], ON ME. Well, that R&B hit from the early 1980s, Iagainremember. And as they might sayRuPaul’s Drag Race, the band members' outfits are stoned to the gods! (aka blinded.)
• 26d. [Georg, in Germany], JORG. The umlaut is missing: In addition to Jörg, Jürgen and Georg are other German forms of George. Hard filling here.

3.5 stars for me. I'm excited to see GLORIA GAYNOR in riddles, but the topic would have felt better to me if she hadn't been here with a little-known song as a clue.

Aimee Lucido und Rafael Musas AVCX, „Big Boxes“ – Bens Review

After last week's diversion to chart-less solving, the AVCX Classic is back to a more standardized style. Aimee Lucido and Rafael Musa collaborated on Big Boxes, and you may have to click on the image on the right to see what's going on in the squares the reveal is alluding to:

• 55A: Cryptocurrency technology or a literal reference to three squares in this grid - BLOCKCHAIN

As indicated above, three of the black squares contain the name of a "chain" that helps make the nearby cross and down entries make more sense:

• 4D/21D: Go from page to page on a digital reference page - WIK[I HOP]PING
• 19A: "Well done, asshole!" - [I HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY
• 26A: 1983 Al Pacino film which is a loose remake of a 1932 film - SCARF[ACE]
• 9D/31D: Trendiger Ort – THE PL[ACE] TO BE
• 25D/49D: Totally freaked out - GOIN[G AP]ESHIT
• 44A: Feature of Michael Strahan or Uzo Aduba's smile - [GAP] TOOTH

These chains would be IHOP, ACE Hardware and GAP. Cute!

Nice Wednesday!

Dan Caprera's universal crossword "Bowwow!" — attribution of pannonica

• 28d^R[Yoga pose shown three times in this puzzle?]DOWNDOG. Hidden words in vertical entries, as indicated by the circled squares in the grid.
• 3d.[Beginning of a fatalistic spell]DAMN IF I DO(Fido) … damned if I don't. More often with the slightly more intenseDamn it.
• 5d.[Specific Java]FOR-OVER-KAFFEE(Rover). I was thinking more in terms of regional varieties than cooking methods.
• 15d.[Unqualified Professional]ARMCHAIR EXPERT(Rex).

Along withJob, these three are grizzled, classic, almost generic dog names. As such, they are rarely used these days and naming your pet that is an act of ironic rebellion. Especially if it's a cat.

• 19a [Huffing and snorting]BLOW. Not sure if this is correct. I mean the answer is thoughtful because of the utterances of the wolf in the story of the three little pigs, but aren't puffing and puffing precursors to blowing?
• 25a [return from Osaka, shall we say?]LOB. Tennis star Naomi Osaka. Yes, that hint fooled me well.
• 52a [Thompson from "Thor: Ragnarok"]TESSA. Also from the newThor: Love and Thunder, which receives mediocre reviews. I think Thor uses an AX these days? 56a [Chopping Weapon: Var.]
• 70a [Solo like "Musetta's Waltz"]ARIE. It's from PucciniBohemian.
• 72a [relatives of the nun?]MONK. The question mark is definitely needed.
• 68d [basis of modern society?]TEN. Probably out of most societies throughout history, I would expect.
• 37a [Body Snatchers, z. B. kurz]ETS.

Elizabeth Gorski's New York Crosswords - Amy's Summary

favorite filling:"IT NEVER HAPPENED", REVERSE ENGINEER, GOSSAMER, DANES, AMANDA PEET.

The wordCRITICISMis indicated as[Remarks that are ideally constructive], so I will say that I would have liked the puzzle better if it had fewer abbreviations, partial words, foreign vocabulary and other non-English words.EGAL, SDI, IS A, TDS, PDA, ROI, ALLA, CTR, LBS, ONE-A, BDRM, A DECKEL, IPOS, LTDS, LTR, CIA, EPS, andRSTpenetrated the puzzle and gave a somewhat choppy atmosphere.

Favorite Hint:27d. [Course in African Geography?], CONGO RIVER.

2.5 stars from me.

Alexander Liebeskind & Jeff Chen's LA Times Crossword - Gareth's Summary

Alexander Liebeskind & Jeff Chen give us a hint/answer reverse theme of sorts today, but a rather whimsical one. The Revealer isTHATSANORDERand each of the four answers (one divided into two entries) is an example of a type of order: foodFISH AND CHIPS, sort byFROM A TO Z, fineKNIGHTS TEMPLE, and taxonomicPRIMATES(one of the few that is the same in English obviates the need to use, say, CHIROPTERA or CARNIVORA). Very creative theme game!

I found it a very easy Wednesday puzzle, partly because of the boxy grid design, which meant lots of medium-length entries that fell quickly. Not too many unusual entries,DIE AMISH, gets a specific item thrown in.VISITGuess when sushi tripped me up too, but there were cross walkers.ESMEas a Twilight character, it might be new to some, but I think it's gotten around enough that it's popped up in a few puzzles.

From a personal point of view[Pfizer's rival], MERCKis amusing since the companies in my world are called Zoetis and MSD. The latter is my main supplier of vaccines.

Regards
Gareth

Zhouqin Burnikels USA Today Crossword, „The Climb“ – Sophias Zusammenfassung

Editor:Erik Agard
theme: The last word of every topic answer is a thing you can climb.

• 18a [diagram with branches] –FAMILY TREE
• 26a ["This Kiss" singer] –FAITH HILL
• 48a [Place from which all cardinal points go north] –SOUTH POLE
• 59a [Puzzle changing one letter per "rung"] -WORD LEADER

I call upon the spirit of Miley Cyrus to solve this riddle:

I liked this one very much! It's a nice touch that none of the key phrases refer to the physical, climbable thing - they're all metaphorical, at least to some degree. I loved "This Kiss" so much in middle schoolFAITH HILLwas a no-cross gimme for me. I liked the note forSOUTH POLEbecause it reminded me of the old riddle "What color was the bear?" – Do other people know this? And of course I did my best as a crossword solver/designerfair sharevonWORD LEADERRiddle so it felt appropriate to take that as the answer!

More information:

• Man, was this puzzle obsessed with logos or what? 36d [His logo features a swoosh]NIKE, 42a [His logo shows a boomerang]POT, and 19d [Its logo contains an exclamation mark]JAHOOall have referred theirs.
• Some great extra fillingsNear misses, old pros, andSEE YOU LATER!