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
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Splynter
Grid Flow a LOW 16.1
