GO TEAM
"Run Away~!" "Take off~!" "Beat It~!"
Crossword constructor Kyle Dolan frequently appears on Saturday; based on my research, this is his first Friday for the LA Times - all he needs now is a Thursday puzzle, and he gets the "EGOT" of grid making - yay~! ( see 36D. ). I have mixed feelings about today's offering; the theme is quite fresh and felt Friday-level, five phrases redefined as 'names' for a "collection" of other similar-use phrases, but was dismayed with a triple Natick in the vicinty of Minnesota ( but not Cedar Rapids ); two names dropping off an answer with a semi-vague clue; can't win 'em all, I guess. Standard grid, no circles, just 11 3LWs, two handfuls of names, two Wines, two Whiskeys. The themers;
17. "Pay attention," "Listen up," and "Eyes on the prize": FOCUS GROUP - "Focus~!" group of phrases
24. "Unbelievable!," "That's crazy!," and "What a coincidence!": WILD BUNCH - "Wild~!" bunch of synonymous words/phrases
38. "Gee whiz!," "Golly!," and "Holy cow!": BOY BAND - "Boy~!" band of words/phrases
49. "Sleep tight," "Sweet dreams," and "Don't let the bedbugs bite": NIGHT CREW - "(g)'night." crew of phrases
61. "Check this out," "I'll demonstrate," and "Eyes on me": WATCH PARTY - "Watch~!" party - the only one that I was not familiar with; the standard definition of "watch party" is 'friends who get together' to view, say, the Super Bowl
Don't "Hit the Road", There's More~!
ACROSS:
1. Have a sudden inspiration?: [ GASP ] - , the "inhale" meaning of inspire, plus sudden = sharply
5. Less cockamamie: SANER - Meh. TAMER, SAFER~? - this is the "structure" of most of the words I have ever missed solving the Wordle - the "_ vowel _ E - R" type, where I simply run out of guesses; there are hundreds of words that fit. If my first five-letter guess doesn't give me anything, I immediately fill in "_ vowel _ E - R" for the maximum # of attempts
10. Hydropower sources: DAMS
14. "__, sing America": Hughes: "I TOO" - "I had" no poetic clue, filled via perps; name #1
15. Scent: AROMA
16. Rapper who plays Fin on "Law & Order: SVU": ICE-T - short for Odafin, name #2
19. Whiskey mixer: SODA - whiskey #1 - could have been CoLa - SODA was a good WAG on my part, as cola was the go-to choice ( usually diet ) for the Happy Hour crew when I worked at the night club/band bar Casanova's in Cincinnati, OH
20. Place for post-debate interviews: SPIN ROOM - makes sense after it filled, via perps, but then I went looking for some info, and realized it could be this kind of "Spin" room
21. Bug experts, for short: IT PROS - Information Technology professionals, e.g., "Geek Squad"
23. Work in a cast: ACT - work in a cast . . .
26. Implore: PLEAD
28. "That a fact?": "IS IT~?"
29. Tampa Bay team, familiarly: BUCS - the Buccaneers of the NFL - or the cost of corn these days . . .
30. Like folk tales: ORAL
33. Settle, as a debt: REPAY
37. Hospital dept.: ICU - Intensive Care Unit
40. Modeled on: À LA
41. Down source: GEESE - Goose "Up" is when they "take off"
43. Art __: DECO - I like Art Deco
44. Former quarterback Aikman: TROY - announcer with Joe Buck on NFL MNF games - name #3
24 seasons together
45. Winery purchase: CASE - Wine clue #1, you lush . . . then again, I bought beer in case quantity, so I will take that back
47. Pettiness: SPITE
54. Dusk, poetically: E'EN
55. Catch: ENMESH
56. Low-cal drink: LITE BEER - I do the Downs first; otherwise, this could have been DIET COLA
60. Singer Lambert: ADAM - filled via perps, don't know this artist - name #4
63. Ceremonial event: RITE
64. Responded to an alarm: AWOKE
66. Lip: SASS - a "lip" synonym on the edge again
67. Detect: SENSE
68. Getaway spots: SPAs
DOWN:
1. Motion pictures?: GIFs - good one; took me a minute, plus the "G" when I sussed "GASP"
A Graphic Interchange Format moving picture of "Run Away~!"
MP & the Holy Grail
2. Sitting on: ATOP
3. Nonverbal signal: SOCIAL CUE - I was thinking "HAND SIGN", but "sign/signal" was too close for a crossword clue/answer, and it didn't fit, anyway; not familiar with this phrase
4. Mimics a cat, perhaps: POUNCES - Friday vague
5. Starchy palm product: SAGO - one of the triple Natick that got me - not TARO
6. One-way symbol: ARROW
7. Swedish actress Rapace who plays Lisbeth Salander: NOOMI - I did not know who this was until I went to IMDb - she played Elizabeth Shaw in the 'Alien' franchise movie "Prometheus" - name #5
She did not look like this in that movie . . .
8. Bird in the bush: EMU - "Bush" being the quaint nickname for the hinterlands of Australia
10. Row: DISPUTE - rOW, not rOE
11. Part of a squirrel's diet: ACORN
12. French red wine: MÈDOC - Wine clue #2, more here for the lushes connoisseurs
13. Hoard: STASH - the noun, not the verb - I tried AMASS - another good 'edge' word
18. Sp. miss: SRTA - Español abbr
22. Classic car, informally: T-BIRD
25. Light purple: LILAC - followed by . . .
26. Dark purple: PUCE
Tough to find on one palette - and that's a dark lilac
27. Scooby-__: DOO - name #6
29. Well-known: BIG - one of the bands that frequented Casanova's was "Big In Iowa", a sort of self-deprecating name drawn from a quote here - I was friends with Rick House, one of the guitarists; he, founder Bob Burns, and bassist/WEBN radio host Ken Glidewell have since passed away . . . sheesh
31. Winona of "Stranger Things": RYDER - name #7
32. Actor Vigoda: ABE - name #8
34. Work together: PARTNER UP - a unique fill
35. Skin soother: ALOE - very much NOT a unique fill
36. Happy cry: "YAY~!" - "yay, I finally got my ta-DA~!" when I filled in the correct word at 5A.
38. Heart throbs: BEATS
39. Figs.: NOs - abbr, figures & numbers
42. Plots: SCHEMES - nailed it
The concrete rebar/epoxy connections on the left
46. Both sides of America?: SCHWAS - very clever - the phoneme, /ə/, when saying /ə/-MEH-rik-/ə/; it's the most common sound in the English language - more here
48. Tiny sound: PEEP
49. Gets warmer?: NEARS - think the guessing game, where someone is getting closer or further from some hidden item, and the other person says "colder, cold, warm, warmer, hot, HOT~!"
50. Birthplace of novelist Kiran Desai: INDIA - Sheesh. Friday. Half WAG on my part; name #9
51. Exams for future MBAs: GMATS - not LSATs, not MCATs, this test is for getting into schools for the acquisition of a Master of Business Adminstration degree
52. John with an EGOT: ELTON - I always get fooled by "John" being his last name, #10
53. Threads in tea lights: WICKS - Friday clue, but clever
57. You, once: THEE - Dah~! I tried THOU
58. Peak near Catania: ETNA - yada yada, I threw this volcano name in, and "ding~!"
59. Whiskeys that are typically more dry than bourbons: RYES - Whiskey #2, the basis for the drink called a Manhattan, which reminds me of the only time I ever tasted this liquor. Growing up, we had watered down iced tea; a treat was a can of full-sugar soda; the adults would have a "Manhattan" at holidays; I figured it must be even better than soda, the "nectar of the gods" - until I tasted it - blech~!
62. Speechless feeling: AWE - not knowing "why" the adults really drank Manhattans certainly left me speechless regarding its taste & lack of sweetness
Splynter
Grid Flow 29.2
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