Splynter & Susan, from 1998
Friday, July 17, 2026
Friday, Jul 17th, 2026 ~ Alex Rossell Hayes & Brian Callahan
BRING 'B' RING
Now that's some "BLING"
We have seen Brian's name on crosswords before, but I do believe this is the first for Alex Rossell Hayes, so congrats on your debut~! I loved this puzzle - solid fill, brilliant cluing, it made me smile, and not only is it clever, but in alphabetical order, too - paired A, E, I, O, & U five-letter words 'broken up" to provide some humorous results. Friday level difficulty, but I was on the constructors' wavelength and breezed through, despite the chunky triple-7-letter plus corners. An over-sized 15x16 grid, two handfuls of names, no circles, and an even spread of 3-, 4-, 5-, 6- AND 7-letter words. The themers, no reveal;
18. Vague advice for space travelers worried about black holes?: "AVOID A VOID."
The Endurance approaching Gargantua, from Interstellar
26. Air travel that's the fifth-best option?: "PLAN E" PLANE
The captain has turned off the seatbelt warning . . .
36. "My job is ranking people on a scale of 'miffed' to 'downright furious'"?: "I RATE 'IRATE'."
😑😕😖😠😡
"The in-flight meal was unacceptable~! 😡"
51. Juliet's response when her love asks what city is as eternal as their bond?: "ROME, O ROMEO." - "Wherefore art thou~? Not in Rome, and frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"
60. Helpful draw when trying to play a Q word in Scrabble?: UTILE "U" TILE
Richard III - more Shakespeare humor
But Wait, There's More~? . . . 🤪
ACROSS:
1. Agreeing (with): SIDING - not the vinyl cladding on my house
7. Unleash (on): SIC - I had SET to start
10. Chemically quiet: INERT - like the rightmost column in last week's periodic chart
15. Rocker Dee: SNIDER - Name #1, but I knew him because his band, Twisted Sister, were from my home area of Long Island
16. "Industry" network: HBO - had the "H", WAGed the rest
17. Levi's Stadium player: NINER - What if they actually played IN Levi's~?
501-fly football
20. Prickly plants: CACTI
21. Green prefix: ECO
22. Folk icon Joan: BAEZ - name #2, but fairly well-known
23. Washed-out: PALLID
24. Espresso froth: CREMA - we had this $6999 coffee-making machine in the office at my last drafting job - it grinds beans & boils water . . . I can do that and save seven thousand dollars 😁
Miele CVA7845 sold here if you must have one
28. Element of many English breakfast blends: ASSAM TEA - enough perps to WAG the rest
30. Sci-fi beings: ETs - AND - 60D. Sci-fi craft: UFO - clecho(ish) #1
31. Vehicle with sliding doors: VAN - I have a 20yr old Dodge Grand Caravan, and lately, there's been a rattle driving me nuts; turned out to be the plastic handle of the sliding door; the spring that holds it in place has gotten "tired", so the lever jiggles as I drive . . .
Up here in CT, I can now register this as a "classic" - and the insurance drops
32. Waver: TEETER - and Tweeter in the same puzzle~!
33. Group of badgers: CLAN
35. Part of R&R: REST - the other "R" is Relaxation ( I have also seen Recuperation )
39. Catchall gp.: MISCellaneous
42. Bad-mouth: DISS - usually just "dis", as in disrespect, but 'acceptable'
43. "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" singer: MONROE - Marilyn, name #3
47. Sun Devils sch.: ASU - Arizona State Uninversity - learned by doing crosswords
48. Snag: GET - AND - 6D. Snag: GRAB - straight clecho, #2
49. Treble-makers?: TWEETERS - Wow. Old-school speaker reference . . . I almost didn't get it
Not your Twitter tweeter
54. Colorful South Asian dresses: SARIs
55. Running groups?: SLATES - Friday vague; those elected to run an organization; more here
56. Aphrodite's son: EROS - Name(ish)
58. Thai neighbor: LAO - the people, not the land
59. Places for soaks: BATHS - I do love to take a hot bath after I tear myself up at the gym
63. Pair of hearts?: ATRIA - the "other" pair are Ventricles
64. Enthusiast: FAN
65. Tickled: AMUSED - this puzzle tickled my fancy
66. Show emotion: REACT
67. Estadio cheer: OLÉ - Español; Spain & Argentina for the World Cup
My father was a HUGE soccer fan, so I had to root for England,
his ( and mom's ) home country
68. Most easygoing: LAXEST
DOWN:
1. Org. with a "Get Ready for Baby" page: SSA - Great new clue for this tired fill, but it took waaay to long for me to find that page on the Social Security Administration website
2. Multiplication, to division: INVERSE - You'd have to "subtract" a letter to fit 'opposite' . . . 🙄
3. Bishop's domain: DIOCESE - nailed it, spelling and all
4. Hard to translate, in a way: IDIOMATIC - "the whole nine ( letters ) yards"
5. Nancy Drew's boyfriend: NED - name #4, and I thought it was NED, but hesitated
7. Slip-ons lack: SHOELACES - nine-letters #2
8. Third-largest of the Balearic Islands: IBIZA - geo name #5
They're probably excited about the World Cup there, too
9. Fish oil source: COD
10. Like LOL, but not haha: IN CAPS - slighly Twurdish, but Friday clever - LIKE WHEN PEOPLE TEXT IN CAPS TO INDICATE THEY ARE SHOUTY~!!!!
11. Horan of One Direction: NIALL - no clue, filled via perps, name #6
12. Lesotho, for one: ENCLAVE - learning moment for me; the Wiki
13. Organ parts with rods and cones: RETINAS - I knew we needed an EYEpart, tried CORNEAS - Bzzzzt~!
14. Aquaman's staff: TRIDENT - seemed the logical answer for a "sea-based" superhero
Aquaman and his other A I-generated "staff" 🙄
19. __ pen: VAPE - ooof. Friday vague - this thing
23. Honey or sugar: PET NAME - I figured we were looking for something like this
24. Feline: CAT - "Fe" line is sooo last week . . .
25. Pt. of USA: AMERica
27. Far from far: NEAR - har-har
29. Goods people: TRADERS
34. Scope rival: LISTERINE - Solid fill, simple cluing, nine-letters #3
35. Wedding attire, for some: RENTAL TUX - nine-letters #4; I rented my tux for the premiere of "The Golem", the movie I worked on back in 1997-8 - available on YouTube July 20th
37. "Mambo Birdland" Grammy winner Puente: TITO - two weeks in a row; name #7
38. Low digits?: TOES
39. Milky Way kin: MARS BAR
40. Silo: ISOLATE - Phew~! Friday vague - verb def. #2
41. Indonesian island crossed by the equator: SUMATRA - geo name #8
44. Bring up again: RERAISE - e.g. an issue, not the poker version of re-raise
45. Colorful songbirds: ORIOLES - nailed it
46. Sourdough starter?: ESS - Sourdough, meta-clue; my trainer put me on to sourdough bread
48. Charges: GOES AT
50. Product removed by shear force?: WOOL - sheAr, not sheEr
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The "other" sheer force
52. Value system: ETHIC
53. Heavy __: METAL - so, so last week . . .
57. Shut tight: SEAL
61. Thurman of "Gattaca": UMA - crossword staple, name #9
62. Philly summer hrs.: EDT - Philadelphia, PA is currently observing Eastern Daylight Time
Splynter
Grid Flow 59.8 - high
Friday, July 10, 2026
Friday, Jul 10th, 2026 ~ Mike Peluso
HEavy MEtal, the song from Blue Öyster Cult
This is my first puzzle from Mike Peluso - he has been contributing crosswords since before the Corner, I would guess; his last construction for the LA Times was here, in 2023, on a sumdaze Monday. A simple add-in of the symbol for the element Iron, 'Fe', from the Latin "ferrum". The cluing was solid Friday-level, with just a hiccup for me at the crossing of two name-ish answers - that's YOU, square #5~! Standard grid, no circles, less than ten names, no Twurds, and eight "elemental" songs. The themers & reveal, which is what got me through the themers;
16. Slogan on a very thorough pet sitter's business card?: I WALK THE FELINE - The base phrase is from the Johnny Cash song "I Walk the Line" - I walked canine Cooper, but not the "feline" cats . . .
28. Upgrade one's cookie supply?: TRADE WAFERS - Trade Wars - no song for you~! - but think the outer layers of, say, 32A., an Oreo cookie . . .
48. Newest resident of the Land of Enchantment?: SANTA FE BABY - A Christmas Classic, the song "Santa Baby", tho I did not know that the "Land of Enchantment" was New Mexico - I DO know my ex-wife is down there, so it can't be that enchanted . . .
62. Treatment for anemia, or a treatment given to 16-, 28-, and 48-Across?: IRON SUPPLEMENT - the periodic chart square for Iron, "Fe"
Thanks Bill Nye, Science Guy~!
ACROSS:
1. Places to feel kneaded?: SPAs - I could go for a massage . . .
5. Peter or Paul, but not Mary: TSAR - I do the Downs clues first, and this was my last fill; I had _S_R, yet it took a minute - ah, Russian rulers . . . I solved this one before Moe's Wednesday dupe; name(ish)
9. Vocal quality: TONE - plenty in today's write-up
14. Land parcel: ACRE
15. On the road: AWAY
19. "Exodus" Oscar nominee Sal: MINEO - crossword staple, name #1
20. Anger: INCENSE
22. Snap: PHOTO - Friday vague cluing
24. Carson successor: LENO - Johnny & Jay, the Tonight Show, name #2
26. iPhone platform: iOS
27. Checkers side: RED
32. Sweet sandwich: OREO - the cookies part of OREOs can blended into my ice cream - see 3D.
34. Word on a bottle of Château Margaux: CRU - from the Frawnche for "growth"; more here
35. El Prado, por ejemplo: MUSEO - 'for example, museum', Español #1
36. Cause of statistical misrepresentation: BIAS - that's ALOT of clue for a four-letter answer . . .
38. Colon units: DOTS - Oh, that colon [:] . . . never mind . . .
40. Ordered from DoorDash, perhaps: ATE IN
43. Flight status abbr.: ARRivals
44. Part of many a lunch special: SOUP
"NO soup for YOU~!"
52. Mex. neighbor: USA - there's always that half second of hesitation when I think, "I don't know all those countries in Central America~!"
53. Green around the gills: ILL
54. From the top: ANEW
55. Late bloomer: ASTER
57. Toots and the Maytals, for one: SKA BAND - no clue, but I had perps; more here
Funky Kingston - not really my thing, but I can 'dig' it
60. Aptly named hybrids: UGLIs
66. Four-award acronym: EGOT - Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony - somewhere last week I read that Steven Spielberg was a winner - so I wondered what he got his Grammy for; it's a bit of a stretch, but OK . . . the Wiki
Raiders March, Raiders of the Lost Ark
67. Plum kin: SLOE
68. Major disappointment: BLOW
69. Gym reps: SETS - For me, training at the gym is three times a week, two SETS of three exercises, and within those, somewhere between 8-16 "REPetitions"; not quite the same thing, IMHO
70. Actress Daly: TYNE - name #3
71. Bajo opposite: ALTO - 'low & high', Español #2
1. Word with lift or lodge: SKI - ski lift, ski lodge
2. Political research center: PEW - never heard of this; named after the Pew family - the Wiki
3. Dessert option: À LA MODE - look, I made protein ice cream - my trainer got me excited to buy and try the Ninja Ice Creami
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The chocolate chips are an added indulgence 😁
4. Share, in a way: SPLIT - but not a banana split - bananas upset my stomach, and I don't know why . . .
5. "Doctor Who" actress Catherine: TATE - I know nothing about the series; it looks like she guest-starred in just three episodes; that's Friday vague - name #4
6. Think tank members, often: SCHOLARS - SCIENTISTS didn't fit
7. Modern art?: ARE - Shakespeare; "Where for art thou~?" - 21st century; "Where're you at~?"
8. Purify: REFINE
9. Softest mineral on the Mohs scale: TALC - This puzzle gets 4-1/2 of 5 ⭐ on the "other" Moe's Scale
10. Tot's scrape: OWIE
11. Childcare providers: NANNIES - There will be NO owies on this nanny's watch~!
12. Unsightly sight: EYESORE - Sightly sight - eye SURE~!
Spectacular view - and the city is pretty as well . . . 🙄
18. Sufficient, once: ENOW - ye olde sfelling of ENOUGH
21. Name on some Canadian pumps: ESSO - far right crossword-friendly letters, name(ish)
22. For: PRO
23. Pronoun option: HER - as last week, so again; YOU, OUR, SHE, HIS or HIM~?
25. College domain: EDU. - internet add-on for education
29. Sony record label: RCA - Eartha Kitt, "Santa Baby" was an RCA artist, and so are these girls
The Pointer Sisters, Neutron Dance - seems appropriate for an atomic theme . . .
30. Invoice no.: AMT - I charged $700 to build these custom maple pantry doors to fit an opening the previous contractor framed at 42"- 😖- too small for sliding doors, too big for bi-folds . . . and I always forget to take "before" pictures, and in this instance, would have been worth a laugh
Had to reconfigure the wood floor, too, as the other contractor's
wider opening left two wall-sized "gaps" in the T&G strips . . .🙄
31. Kerfuffle: FUSS
33. Passing thoughts?: OBITuary - Friday clever cluing
37. Food Network host Garten: INA - INA or UTA~? I always get "her" wrong; name #5
38. Tap: DRAW UPON - Spigot and Faucet were all wet in this instance
39. Bard's sphere: ORB
40. Used car caveat: "AS IS"
41. Hollywood innovation of the 1920s: TALKIES - Ah. Right.
42. Swell: ENLARGE - nailed it
43. Actor Vigoda: ABE - name #6
45. Generate more revenue than: OUTSELL
46. Tap: USE - Tap: Spinal . . . the "other" umlaut band name . . .
These guys still go to Eleven . . . Rock N Roll Creation
47. Target score at Augusta: PAR - Augusta being the PGA Tour's premier event in Georgia
49. Some coolers: FANS - I'm the "other" fan of PGA Augusta 2026 winner Rory McIlroy
50. Pledge rival: ENDUST - Pledge being the go-to cleaner for Consuela from Family Guy
No, no use Endust . . .
51. Second-oldest Ivy: YALE - There are only eight, and the list has only one four-letter entry . . . alright, maybe it could be PENN 😑
56. "The Lion King" lion: SIMBA - name #7, but I knew this one
58. Rolls-Royce trunk: BOOT - Brit-speak
59. Hill dwellers: ANTS - or POL(iticians)S~? I picked the correct one this time
61. Joy: GLEE
63. Practice, as a trade: PLY
64. "__ on my watch!": "NOT . . ."
65. Cube root of eight: TWO - ∛8 = 2; geez, now we gotta do math on Fridays~?
Splynter
Grid Flow 19.6, low again
Friday, July 3, 2026
Friday, Jul 3rd, 2026 ~ Jay Silverman
D'Art BOARD
Girls Eye~!
I had a run of Jay Silveman puzzles on Wednesdays back in '24-'25, and his last LA Times post was in March of this year. Today we have four 'pun-ishing' clues that "repronounce" an English word as a its foreign counterpart, with some humorous results - if that's your thing. I liked the theme, just got stuck trying to find the one wrong square when I did not get my "ta-DA~!", and it was a name crossing one of those foreign words, compounded by a low Grid Flow. Standard grid, a mere eight 3LWs, twice as many four- as five-letter words, no circles, two handfuls of names, three "others", and nary a Twurd to be found~! The themers;
17. Comfort that can only come from French bread?: PAIN RELIEF - It was the last themer that sent the V-8 can flying, and thus today I learned that the Frawnche word for "bread" is "pain" - pronounced all in the nose, sorta "puuhh(n)"
26. Creating perfect sunbathing conditions on an Italian beach?: SOLE PURPOSE - I was stumped at this themer, and the low grid flow meant only one crossing for help; don't know why I struggled to think of the Italian word for "sun", = "sole", with a 'flair' on the e, "sol-uh"
43. Positive review in a German newspaper?: GUT REACTION - pronounced "goot", this one made sense on my second pass . . .
58. Home for the king of Spain?: REAL ESTATE - and again with a differing pronunciation, "ree-ahl", which means royal, as opposed to "not fake" - learned from Spanish football / soccer teams
If you're American when entering a bathroom, and American when exiting, what are you inside~?
European . . .
Mais Aspettare Es Gibt Más~!
ACROSS:
1. Path behind a mower: SWATH - There's a guy who lives near me on rte 32 who takes the most meticulous care of his grass . . . and last weekend, I saw this thing cruising his lawn
It's this $5349 mower AND snowblower 😮
6. Cheese in a Greek omelet: FETA - semi-Easter egg of old language, new crossword
10. Whack with snowballs, say: PELT
14. Goosebump-causing: EERIE
15. Person with a fan club: IDOL - person with a fan club; Billy Idol
Yeah, I've used this image before . . .
16. Cooking spread: OLEO - learned by doing crosswords
19. Gradually introduce to solid foods: WEAN
20. Isfahan's country: IRAN - geo name #1
21. Claims that won't pass fact checks: LIES
22. Posh and __: nickname of a British celebrity couple: BECKS - name (ish) - the duo of 'Posh Spice' Victoria and David Beckham, he of European football ( soccer ) fame . . .
Married 27 years tomorrow~!
23. Mesopotamian empire that included parts of 20-Across: ASSYRIA - geo name #2, but the circumreferential clue made it easier this time
25. Likely to be mouthy: PERT - I'll wash that mouth out with Pert shampoo . . .
Plus~!
31. Software demos: BETAS
35. Capital of British Columbia: VICTORIA - geo name #3, and the #1 "other" Victoria . . . 🙄
36. Employs: USES
37. Spot: SPECK - Spot was sooo last week . . .
39. Staple that's often helpful in a pinch?: SALT
40. Chased: RAN AFTER - I had WAS AFTER to start
42. Bench press muscles: DELToidS - AND - 38D. Bench press muscle: PECtoral - this one-arm out, one-arm curl & press is brutal - as you can tell from my grimace . . .
46. Clairvoyant: SEER
47. Lost one's cool: SNAPPED
52. Word with act or action: CLASS - class act, class action
54. Political alliance: BLOC
56. Conditional programming word: ELSE
57. "Only Murders in the Building" home: HULU - Ah. Where it's to be streamed
60. Salchow kin: AXEL - Friday cluing for this crossword Olympics staple
There, that oughta clear things up . . .
61. Zealous: AVID
62. Asked too many questions, say: PRIED
63. Unwelcome visitor: PEST - there has been a preponderance of big black ants cruising my home this spring, even with a dozen traps in the usual corners . . .
Look closer . . .
64. Funeral rite pile: PYRE
65. Senators' staffers: AIDES - the #2 "other" Senators . . . 🙄 - see below
DOWN:
1. Instagram filter shade: SEPIA - good WAG to start my Downs
2. Models: WEARS - I went with the noun, tried TYPES
3. Met highlights: ARIAS - "Met" = Metropolitan Opera
4. Lacking resonance: TINNY
5. Gender-specific pronoun: HER - HIS, OUR, SHE, YOU, take your pick
6. Relating to offspring: FILIAL - how kids behave in respect to parents
7. Actress Falco: EDIE - name #4, crossword staple
8. Wiggled body parts: TOES - I can actually spread my toes like a hand - I'll refrain from posting an image
9. ET from Melmac: ALF - from the 80's TV sitcom
10. Confidence-enabling stance: POWER POSE - Had me thinking "Captain Morgan"
11. __ college: ELECTORAL - nailed it
12. Security breach: LEAK - Dah~! I tried HACK, 50% correct
13. Jillions: TONS - oh no~! is it a Twurd~? ALOT, ATON~?
18. 2025 Pixar title character: ELIO - name #5 that caused me grief on my last themer fill
22. Muppet who lives in the basement of 123 Sesame Street: BERT - name #6; I tried ELMO
24. Blog feed letters: RSS - Really Simple Syndication - yes, really; more here
25. Senators target: PUCK - Got me. Dammit. I was thinking baseball - but they're the Nationals these days - this is the Ottawa NHL team, and I am ashamed I missed it on the first pass . . . 😒😞
27. Navratilova rival: EVERT - Tennis greats, but SELES was the wrong decade and name, #7
28. Camera shot: PIC
29. Sandy sediment: SILT
30. Noshes: EATS
31. Nondescript town: BURG
32. Biblical twin: ESAU - the birthright brother
33. Events in retail parking lots: TENT SALES - huh - a unique crossword fill . . .
34. Thus: AS A RESULT - three-word fill for a Friday four-letter clue
37. Elite athlete: STAR
41. Extra charges: FEES
42. Cold case sample: DNA
44. Tristan's beloved: ISOLDE - crossword couple, name #8
45. Fairy tale start: ONCE - upon a time . . .
48. __ dish: PETRI
49. Flannel pattern: PLAID
50. Name in the makeup aisle: ESTÉE - Lauder, name #9
51. Monopoly stack: DEEDS - not MONEY
52. Bloke: CHAP - I tried GENT, 100% wrong
53. Quite posh: LUXE - the #3 "other" Posh
54. Quail group: BEVY - Right. That's the word I could not recall
55. Bear necessity?: LAIR - a 'barely' bearable punny clue . . .
58. Ice Spice genre: RAP - three-letter music genre~? Ektorp EMO or RAP
59. Ballston __, New York: SPA - geo name #10, but I had help - I lived in upstate NY for years, in Colonie, which is outside of Albany, not far from this place - and where Rusty Brain hails from
Click to see larger
Splynter
Grid Flow a LOW 16.1
Friday, June 26, 2026
Friday, Jun 26th, 2026 ~ Jeremy Venook
DISSED
Image
This is Jeremy's second LA Times puzzle; RB had the first one a year ago. Today we have the addition of "DIS" to phrases that I found to be not as common as I would have liked, and therefore left me feeling a little DISsatisfied with the results. YMMV. Ektorp returns with two examples, a standard grid, a third the # of 3LWs to four-letter words, a handful of names, and no circles. The three themers and the reveal;
20. Hours at an art gallery?: DISPLAYING TIME - The base phrase refers to the equal distribution of on-field activity for all team members of a little league, etc. - and here's the Dissed version . . .
Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory"
25. Factory that produces bad vibes?: DISCONTENT MILL - The base phrase is more broadly recognized as "Content Farm" - with more here from Wiki; the Dissed version . . .
Santa's Elves Unite~! Local N.P. 33
44. Admit to wearing a dental prosthetic?: DISCLOSE THE GAP - The "gap" being a wide variety of things, but mostly bringing technology and eductaion to those without - and the Dissed version . . .
He was my first thought - here's a list of other 'gap-toothed' people
51. Process of detachment, or an apt title for this puzzle: DISASSOCIATION - what's the difference between ignorance and apathy~? I don't know, and I don't care . . .
But . . .
Wait , , ,
There's . . .
More~!
ACROSS:
1. Carrefour's country: HAITI - Jeremy likes Haiti - it appeared in his first LA Times puzzle, too - geo name #1
6. Cuticle oil spot: NAIL - this made no sense until I looked up cuticle oil - it's lotion for the unguis
10. Trellis part: SLAT - I had to rebuild one in April
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14. "Snowy" bird rarely found in snowy places: EGRET - five-letter snowy bird~? - Ektorp
15. Hindu mentor: GURU
16. Pixar film set partially in the afterlife: COCO - half-filled via perps
17. Inner self, to Jung: ANIMA - Mentioned frequently in Jordan Peterson's Psychology of the Bible series
18. Soup noodle: UDON - crossword staple
19. Bicycle attachment: HORN - training wheels didn't fit
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I like this attachment - the wire basket, that is 🙄
23. Munich article: EINE - Deutsch - we saw this last Saturday
24. Memoji platform: IOS - I am PC ( Android ) - so I didn't get this one
32. Irrefutable point: FACT
33. Fad: RAGE - memoji~? obvi it's totes all the rage
34. Trout's team, on scoreboards: LAA - I had _ AA from perps, and not being into baseball . . .
35. Concise concession: "I LOST."
37. Part of some uniforms: HAT
38. Judicial pauses: STAYS - I guess . . .
40. Mum's mum: NAN
41. Word in a Samin Nosrat cookbook title: ACID - HEAT, and two others I couldn't recall
43. Burden: ONUS
49. Broadcast: AIR
50. Ivy in New Haven: YALE - collegial reference
58. Slam dance: MOSH - now this one I knew, but I do not participate - seems a bit silly to me; guess I'm old now
59. Viola clef: ALTO - filled via perps
60. Getty Images download: PHOTO - Getty being one of the image sites that sometimes "license" a photo, and therefore, ones I avoid at all costs when writing the blog . . .
61. Otherwise: ELSE
62. Standard choice: GO-TO
63. Took effect: SET IN
64. Shredded side: SLAW - I'm a fries / onion rings kind of guy
65. School founded in 1440: ETON - four letter old school~? = Ektorp
66. Clear one's name, perhaps?: ERASE
DOWN:
1. Eye site: HEAD - Once again, had most of my Downs wrong; starting with filling in FACE
2. Hindu god of fire: AGNI - more here
3. Eye piece: IRIS - Dah~! Not LENS
4. Storms: TEMPESTS - $2 word; I love this album cover image
Nanci Griffith - storms
5. Bold alternative: ITALIC - Ah. Referring to fonts / type
6. "The Sympathizer" Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh: NGUYEN - Friday name, #2, filled via perps
7. German auto: AUDI - Yay~! I got a Down answer right~!
8. Nutrient in beans and rice: IRON - Ah. My mind had "protein" polarity
9. Putting one foot forward, in a way: LUNGING - some of the most difficult exercises working with my gym trainer involve lunges and squats - my knees are aging faster than the rest of me . . .
10. Doctrinal rupture: SCHISM - I read this as "doctoral", and went with HERNIA . . .😜 It's also one of my favorite "Tool" songs;
Tool, from Lateralus, "Schism"
11. Arachne's device: LOOM - I knew we got "arachnid" from this myth, but WEB didn't fit
12. Land division: ACRE
13. Boatload: TON - thank you for not being the A TON Twurd~!
21. "It's __-brainer!": A NO - aaaaand I spoke too soon . . .
22. "For sure!": "TOTES~!" - 21st century-speak for totally, dude . . .
25. Start of a Tibetan religious title: DALAI - a gimme; "ocean" master / teacher
26. Taskbar lineup: ICONS - I was forced to upgrade to Windows 11 while writing this blog - but so far, I have not had any issues . . . 🤞
27. Swap: TRADE
28. Consume: EAT
29. Glazer of "Broad City": ILANA - the one cel where I didn't bother to do the alphabet run - A~? E~? - in retrospect, I needed to see MILL as the logical end of the themer. Sigh. Her IMDb; Name #3
30. Easy bucket: LAYUP - Wiki says it's one word
31. Miss: LASS
32. Happen across: FIND - Ah, right - I "happened across" an article I saved from a Cincinnati newspaper detailing the movie "The Golem" that I worked on half my life ago . . .
Most likely the best time of my life
36. "The Godfather" actress Shire: TALIA - a, a, name, #4
37. Third-person possessive: HIS - I got locked into OUR
39. As one: TOGETHER - as in the next clue/asnwer
42. Boutonnière partner: CORSAGE - nailed this Frawnche pair - buttonhole and bodice in English
Awww, matching . . .
45. Nut used to make cheese or butter: CASHEW - this and ALMOND fit, but I waited on perps
46. Titan of industry: TYCOON - crossword staple
47. Japanese assent: HAI - the equivalent of "yes"
48. Pass: ELAPSE
51. Barbie or Ken: DOLL - it could have been aaa NAME
52. Rae of "Barbie": ISSA - aaaand a NAME, #5
53. Opening at the post office: SLOT - not an employment opportunity, but this 🠋
55. Wee bit: IOTA - Yay~! not the Twurd ATAD
56. Elevator name: OTIS - aaaaand one more name, #7
57. __ of the above: NONE - which name did I like most in today's puzzle~? . . .
58. Mayo o diciembre: MES - I knew what we were looking for, didn't know the Español for 'month'
Splynter
Grid Flow 32.6
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