Wednesday, Feb 21st, 2024, Natalie Tran & Sean Ziebarth

GREATEST AMERICAN

Suddenly I'm upon top the world....

A fine puzzle that was a good challenge for me with some fresh clues, and nary a name in the mix~!  (OK, there was one*).  I know that the appearance of circles puts a fair number of people off; I'm OK with them - I didn't really notice them, but as I got close to finishing, I only had a partial fill for the reveal at 55A. Despite knowing that the word was spelled wrong, I was trying to figure out what "heroes AND _ich" meant.  And then the V-8 can - it needed to be parsed the other way....I believe this may be a debut construction for Natalie Tran.

20. Make a fool of: PUT ONE OVER ON - Neo, hero of "The Matrix" movies

34. Hide-and-seek exclamation: THERE YOU ARE~! - Rey, hero(ine) of the three "Star Wars" second series of sequels, from Disney, not Lucasfilm

42. Determines the age of, as archaeological finds: CARBON DATES - Bond, James Bond - 'nuf said - and a gratuitous image for C.C. of the last actor to portray him....

IMO, he was the best - but I was born 10yrs after the franchise began

55. Sub, and an apt description of 20-, 34-, or 42-Across: HERO SANDWICH - hero, hoagie, grinder, Italian, and a couple I was not familiar with - wedge and spuckie - are alternate names for the submarine "dish", depending on your region

I guess that makes these people the "meat", huh~?

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Glow of virtue: HALO

5. Fort Knox supply: GOLD - speaking of Bond, Auric the villain was going to contaminate the GOLD stored at Fort Knox with nuclear fallout in the third installment film "Goldfinger"

9. Wet: RAINY - I like rainy days; we get a LOT of them here in NE CT

14. __ of March: IDES - Iron Maiden would warm up before a concert with this instrumental -

The Ides of March

15. 57-Down for a diva: ARIA

16. Run onstage?: EMCEE

17. Some inbox attachments: PDFs - Portable Document Format; I thought it was "PRINTable"

18. Change course suddenly: VEER

19. Puts together: MAKES

23. Decline, with "out": OPT

24. Sounds of pain: OWs -and- 46. Sounds of relief: AHs -and- 11D. Grossed-out reaction: ICK -and- 30D. Verbal stumbles: ERs - there's a lot of "noise" in this grid today~!

25. Pencil topper: ERASER

29. Air filter acronym: HEPA - High Efficiency Particulate Air (filter)

31. Christmas poem contraction: 'TWAS

33. Smooching on the kiss cam, say: PDA - Public Display (of) Affection

37. Bae: LUV - cringe - I have gotten "bae" twice now as a guest blogger; I'd rather have "ALOE"

38. Charged particles: IONS

39. Joan of __: ARC - Jane Wiedlin, guitarist from the "Go-Go's", played Joan in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure"

40. Harmful habit: VICE

41. Big name in anonymity: DOE - Family members John and Jane; they work in the morgue

47. In case that's the case: IF SO

48. Masseur's supply: OILS - How about body paint~?  Look closely; it's two women - let's hope it's acrylic paint~!

Artist Johannes Stötter

49. Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, for one: LATINA

51. Sock part: TOE

52. Seasoned pro: VETeran

59. Wedding figure: GROOM

62. Invalidate: VOID

63. Pasta __ checca: trattoria dish: ALLA

64. Animated British piglet of kid's TV: PEPPA - I knew this - I've watched many an episode with my buddy's two-year old daughter

65. Feminine Spanish pronoun: ELLA

66. Shutter section: SLAT - meh.  Part would have been better

67. Fleming subjects: SPIES - IMHO, "Fleming" makes this a dupe with the theme - anything other than the author of James BOND would have been more appropriate

68. In someone's business: NOSY

69. Loved ones blessed at the Feast of St. Francis: PETS - filled via perps; it was not until I wrote up the blog did I see this clue/answer


DOWN:

1. River-dwelling mammal related to whales and dolphins: HIPPO - I tried OTTER first; Bzzzt~!

2. Tally: ADD UP

3. Flew off on one's own: LEFT THE NEST - Eleven-letter non-theme fill

4. Bone, in Italian: OSSO

5. Collapsed: GAVE WAY

Gallopin' Gertie - The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, 1940 - poor Tubby

6. Double Stuf treats: OREOS - I like these cookies, but my spellcheck doesn't like this plural

*7. Actor Schreiber: LIEV - this guy

8. Be bold enough: DARE

9. Guilty feeling: REMORSE

10. Kitchen appliance brand: AMANA

12. Wedding page word: NÉE

13. "Let's": YES - the "Y" was my last fill; "let us, tomato"

21. "Forget it": "NOPE."

22. Foster: REAR

26. Potential "destination" for a troubled relationship: SPLITSVILLE - now this clue/answer I like; I can't check if this is the first time it's made it into a crossword puzzle - and the other 11-letter non-theme fill

27. Elicit: EDUCE - I do the DOWN clues first; tried EVOKE first; 40% correct

28. Gushes: RAVES - not FLOWS; a mere 20%

31. __Tax: Intuit software package: TURBO - 'Tis the season~!

32. City on the Brazos: WACO - Here's a bridge that did NOT collapse

Check out this website

34. Word with pool or basin: TIDAL

35. Ruckus: HOO-HA - ado/to-do/hullabaloo - free-for-all/a rhyme for you~!

36. Dinghy duo: OARS

It's TWO oars, they're just, uh, joined....

40. Actor Kilmer: VAL

42. Projection places: CINEMAS

43. Hardly a hop, skip, and a jump away: AFAR

44. Time when shadows are shortest: NOONDAY - spellcheck thinks this is just fine, but where I'm from, no one says "noonday" - it's just "noon"

45. Petered out: DIED

50. Optimist's words: "I HOPE"

51. Follows surreptitiously: TAILS - Still making my way through the "Nero Wolfe" detective series; about once every other book, Archie, or Saul Panzer, who is the best at it, "tails" some character

53. Brilliance: ÉCLAT - I knew there was a "tk" over a vowel in the word somewhere....

54. Dean Martin's "__ Amore": THAT'S

56. Baker: OVEN - slight misdirection; another clever clue/answer

57. Song for one: SOLO

58. Insect that first appeared in the Jurassic era: WASP - I did not know this

59. Family docs: GPs - General Practitioners; does it bother anyone else that a musician can "perform", while a doctor can only "practice"~?

60. Sales agt.: REP

61. Brand at a nail salon: OPI - becoming a crossword staple that's catching up with "ERA"

Splynter

Wednesday, February 7th, 2024, Alan Massengill & Doug Peterson

CHARGE~!

 Today's theme and reveal totaled 60 squares - I don't have the comparison software, but I think that's a pretty high count.  I suppose this was a "typical" Wednesday-level puzzle, but once again, it felt like there were way too many proper names - this is becoming the "Universal Solving Bane" of many LA Times crosswords these days; call it the 'theme' that 'carries over' via 'flash drive' from puzzle to puzzle - but your experience may vary.  OK, I'm done ranting....Since I typically do the DOWN clues first, the reveal at 67D. gave away the theme - when I looked back at my partially filled grid, U, S, & B had already filled in at 24 Across via perps, and therefore verified the "connection".  Ta-DA~!


17. Place that takes care of bad Apples: GENIUS BAR - I have had several disappointing experiences with Apple products in the past, so in my world they're all "bad" Apples; I am 22D.

24. Agency that conducts a decennial count: CENSUS BUREAU - I have changed states since the last census

40. No joke: SERIOUS BUSINESS

52. Congressional economic boost: STIMULUS BILL

66. Top-quality meat: ANGUS BEEF

ANGUS~! (Young, that is) - AC/DC

67. Connection port, and the connections found in 17-, 24-, 40-, 52-, and 66-Across: USB - Short for Universal Serial Bus - the Wiki

And A Name We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Crowd-sourced review site: YELP

5. "Or __ what?": ELSE

9. Tennis star Naomi: OSAKA - considering the number of names ( this is #1) in the grid, could we not have made this clue "Japanese city"~?  Crossing ARRAU is just cruel, as I had to WAG the last "A"

14. See 62-Down: see 62-Down

15. Capital of Qatar: DOHA - I knew this name only because I do crossword puzzles (#2)

16. Henry VIII's house: TUDOR - I happen to like the "style" of Tudor homes, tho there's an argument that it's not actually a "style" - more of a conglomerate of English building details - I plan to do the front of my home in this "style" - and yes, anonymous trolls, I recognize "house" means 'ruling family' here....

Henry the Eighths actual "house"

19. Asparagus piece: SPEAR

20. Treats wrinkles: IRONS

Oh, not that kind of iron....

21. Upscale hotel chain: OMNI - been a popular fill lately

23. 47-Across, in Spanish: ELLA - meh.  Not only circumreferential, but a "foreign" word as well; crossing a name I had never heard of = Natick

27. Contemporary of Julius Caesar: CICERO - Name #3

30. "Singin' in the Rain" studio: MGM - I had the first "M"

31. Hubbub: ADO

32. Like paper clips: BENT - uh, well, yeah, I guess they are, in fact, bent....

36. Hawaii's sixth-largest island: LANAI - I've never been to Hawaii, and I didn't pay enough attention while watching Hawaii Five-O to recall which is "Number six" on the largest island list....name #4

And I forget the "Big Island" is named "Hawai'i", too

44. NORAD tracking target: SANTA - target~?  Someone at NORAD is gonna end up on the 'naughty' list....

45. Cab: TAXI

46. Chowed down: ATE

47. Personal pronoun: SHE

49. Raucous bird: MAGPIE

58. NPR's Totenberg: NINA - #5

59. "Thinking about it": "I MAY..."

60. Word with dots or bands: POLKA

64. Radiology study: IMAGE

68. Jeans fabric: DENIM

69. Award-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust: MAUS - name #6, filled via perps, and a WAG at the "A" - I was going to link the Wiki, but it seemed to graphic for the blog

70. Firmly declare: AVER - I had the "R", so it was not AVOW

71. C-suite types: EXECS

72. Metrical foot: IAMB - the poetic "beat"

73. Stitch's buddy: LILO - Disney movie I have not seen; name #7


DOWN:

1. Jellystone Park bear: YOGI - "smarter than your AVERage bear", name #8

2. Of all time: EVER

3. Fallon predecessor: LENO - The Tonight Show hosts; #9

4. Paisley Park Records founder: PRINCE - The "artist formerly known as Name Number 10"

5. Mag honchos: EDs - editors of magazines

6. University of New Mexico athletes: LOBOS - filled via perps

7. Former SeaWorld headliner: SHAMU - name #11 -  I didn't know the history of the show animal

8. Comes by honestly: EARNS

9. Tense sports periods, for short: OTs - overtime, plural.

10. Character who debuted in Action Comics #1: SUPERMAN - this was my guess, but I waited on perps, and, technically, a name

11. Singer known for numerically titled albums: ADELE - and numerically name no. 12

12. __ bear: KOALA

13. Chilean pianist Claudio: ARRAU - Yeah, not much you can do with the "U" at the end of CENSUS BUREAU, so this was a necessary evil - still, name #13

18. __-friendly: USER

22. "Big Blue": IBM - The "anti" Apple - the Personal Computer (PC); or would it be the "Orange~?"

25. Asian fusion chain: NOBU - Never heard of this; it would appear that the closest locations to me are both in NYC - and, technically, a name

26. Jamaican tangelo: UGLI - semi-orange~?

27. Mama of pop: CASS - a name ( #double-digits ) that I did know

28. Notion: IDEA

29. Biofuel source: CORN - You can tell when someone has converted their car to biofuel, because the exhaust usually smells like fast food fries

33. Guessed-at fig.: ESTimate

34. Thunder's org.: NBA - Oklahoma City's National Basketball Association team

35. Gala garb: TUX

37. Tide type: NEAP

38. Province bordering Turin: ASTI - geographic name #, uh...

39. "Makes sense": "I SEE."

41. Cheeky comeback to "How did you do that?": "IT'S MAGIC"

42. Hawaii's third-largest island: OAHU - I found this fascinating reference image of my home state

43. California's __ Valley: SIMI - geographic - OK, I've lost count of the names....

48. Yalie: ELI - from doing crosswords

50. Range in Europe: ALPS - another geographic na... - oh, never mind

51. Part of GPS: GLOBAL - the other two thirds being "Positioning System"

52. Dripping with sarcasm: SNIDE - like calling a person with 'weight issues' "Shamu" - Brendan Fraser starred in the 2022 film "The Whale" - the trailer

53. Ironman Triathlon watchmaker: TIMEX

54. Silly: INANE - too many clues in name / is just inane    meh.

55. Fifth flavor: UMAMI - from crosswords

56. Largest city in Yemen: SANAA - only because I do crosswords; name #291,971, I think

57. "For dang sure!": "BY GUM~!" - I have been reading Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series, and this is a standard phrase from the books

61. Big name in 68-Across: LEVI - namenamename

62. With 14-Across, collapse: KEEL - and - 14A. See 62-Down: OVER - I'm about to KEEL OVER from the number of names in this grid

63. Curly coif: AFRO

65. Ambulance letters: EMS

Splynter