google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, May 6th 2015 Michael Dewey

Advertisements

May 6, 2015

Wednesday, May 6th 2015 Michael Dewey

Theme: All About Eve-n The word EVEN is wrapped around each theme entry.

20A . Toy with a heating element : EASY BAKE OVEN. Wow, this old classic has gone all hi-tech and politically correct. It didn't look like this when I bought one for my daughter back in the 90's - it was pink in those days and it definitely didn't have a boy on the box. 



35A. Fairy tale villain : EVIL QUEEN. The antagonist in Snow White and other tales, and definitely a 22-Down in this incarnation:


45A. 1961 Rick Nelson hit : EVERLOVIN' I wasn't familiar with this song, and I can't say I'm surprised. It wasn't exactly a smash hit - it made the Billboard Top 20 in the US but only at #16.

55A. Neither ahead nor behind ... and what 20-, 35- and 45-Across are literally doing : BREAKING EVEN. A good thing after a weekend in Vegas, less so if we're announcing the company's annual results.

Morning! Thanks to Michael for this one; the theme entries split "EVEN" on a 1-3, 2-2 and 3-1 letter-count basis and a 3-2-1 word countdown, so a pleasing progression by the numbers; and a pangram to boot so plenty to like for a midweek offering.

I was having a little trouble with the west, so the theme reveal definitely gave me a leg-up there. When I thought a pangram was emerging that gave me another helping hand towards the end. Good stuff.

 Let's see what else catches the eye (Lana Parrilla as the Evil Queen obviously does!)

Across:

1. Common lunch hr. end : ONE PM

6. Lowers, as lights : DIMS

10. Drift gently : WAFT

14. Half an Evergreen State city : WALLA. Walla Walla, Washington. In the news as recently as Monday for making Global Yodel's list of the 15 most underrated cities in the US.

15. Fancy entrance : ARCH

16. Clickable image : ICON. Part of the WIMP quartet of user interface concepts introduced by Apple, "borrowed" from Xerox PARC research lab. Windows, Icons, Mice, Pointers

17. Bit of dental work : INLAY

18. Indian noble : RAJA

19. On deck : NEXT. No problem for C.C. I'm sure. Next batter up in the on deck circle at the ballpark.

23. Like "las" in Sp. : FEM. I had to look closely to see whether that was an L or an I, then some head-scratching before "Aha! Feminine".

24. Out of the reach of : BEYOND

27. Country where Quechua is an official language : PERU

30. Erstwhile TV ministry : PTL. No clue, needed the crosses. I didn't live in the US when this show was on the air, and to be honest I wouldn't have watched it anyway.

33. White Label Scotch maker : DEWARS. "Nailed it" says Tinbeni.

38. Camera setting : F/STOP. Controls the size of the aperture on a manual camera. Apparently the "F" stands for "focal ratio".

39. Carol contraction : 'TIS the season to be jolly, falalala ...

40. "Not my decision" : UP TO YOU

42. Hoppy brew, briefly : IPA. Cheers! Not much in the way of Food! for me today, so a liquid diet instead.

43. Satellite-launching rocket stage : AGENA. Developed by Lockheed and named for the alternate name of the star Beta Centauri because this upper stage would "ignite in the sky".

47. Nightly news fodder, with "the" : LATEST

49. "__ only a game" : IT'S. Not to the fans it's not. My English Premier League team Chelsea clinched the championship on Sunday so big smiles from me! Here's my Facebook profile picture today:


50. Marshy areas : FENS

51. Public figure? : NOTARY

53. Bungler : OAF

61. Clown of renown : BOZO. I had COCO first; that caused a little slowdown in the southwest.

64. Met or Nat : NL-ER. Another gimme for C.C! The New York Mets and the Washington Nationals in Major League Baseball's National League. For some reason I thought the Mets were in the AL, so I was left wondering how "TREADY" at 48D was a word.

65. Jazz singer O'Day : ANITA. Thank you, crosses.

66. Crumbled ice cream topping : OREO

67. 2013-'14 Magic Johnson Award winner Nowitzki : DIRK. Dallas Mavericks All-NBA power forward.

68. Eastern faith : ISLAM

69. Sticky goo : GUNK. Had "G", wanted "GLOP", saw sense.

70. Urges : YENS

71. Writer Zora __ Hurston : NEALE. Thank you, crosses.

Down:

1. Baby's boo-boo : OWIE

2. Family nickname : NANA

3. Plumbing joints : ELLS. I'm assuming ells are short for elbows, but I can't find anything to back that up.

4. Lighthearted : PLAYFUL

5. "I'll think it over" : MAYBE

6. Nyctophobe's fear : DARK. From the Greek nyktos, "of the night".

7. "Dies __": hymn : IRAE

8. Low-paying position, in slang : MCJOB.

9. Cut off : SHAVED

10. Gathers choice parts from : WINNOWS. Nice word.

11. Celebrated pilot : ACE

12. Cunning critter : FOX

13. Demolition aid : TNT. Boom!


21. Stimulate : AMP UP

22. Good-looker : EYEFUL

25. Hardy's "The Return of the __" : NATIVE

26. Pop over : DROP IN

27. "She loves me not" piece : PETAL

28. Greg of "B.J. and the Bear" : EVIGAN. All crosses, again. I'm relieved I knew AGENA otherwise the "G" would have been a big empty square when everything else was finished.

29. Take on successfully, as a challenge : RISE TO

31. Béret bearer : TÊTE. The grave accent on the first 'e' and the national stereotype is your hint that we're looking for a French word here.

32. Pope after John X : LEO VI

34. Bridge measures : SPANS

36. Deep-space energy source : QUASAR

37. Duma vote : NYET. Fourth language of the day. English, Spanish, French, now Russian.

41. Director Welles : ORSON

44. Tablet relative : NETBOOK. Lower-cost, simplified laptops running a browser such as Chrome.

46. Side with the ball : OFFENSE. Interesting. True for American Football, less so in other sports such as soccer where the offense and defense are on the field at the same time.

48. Hot, for now : TRENDY

52. New England collegian : YALIE

54. Born-__ : AGAIN. No doubt fans of the PTL Show at 30A

56. "Show Boat" composer : KERN

57. Really gets to : IRKS

58. TV handyman Bob : VILA. More crosses. Not a good "name" day for me today.

59. List-shortening abbr. : ET AL. Et alia in full. I like how list-shorteners seem to be abbreviated - also "et cetera".

60. Reputation : NAME

61. Marshy area : BOG. Second marsh of the day.

62. Tulsa sch. named for an evangelist : O.R.U. Oral Roberts. Born-again, PTL and this one make a evangelical trifecta.
.
63. "__ in the Art of Writing": Ray Bradbury collection : ZEN. When I corrected my "COCO" clown at 61A I tried BOBO instead. Then I saw I was left with "Ben in the Art of Writing" and asked myself "Who the heck is Ben?" The penny finally dropped.

That's it from me. Here's the grid:


Steve

54 comments:

OwenKL said...

Foiled by a natick, EVI|G|AN + A|G|ENA. No idea on the actor, and the spacecraft didn't jump out as being satellite specific. Otherwise a nice easy run!

I've used a NETBOOK for years, but wish I'd just gone with a normal laptop. The screen isn't as tall, so sometimes the bottoms of pages are inaccessible; and the keyboard lacks [home] or [end] keys, and doubles up others.

To earn his allowance, a young lad named Steven
Had to do chores that varied each season.
Worst was the summer
When blades he must number
By twos, 'cause Pa ordered the grass be mown EVEN!

thehondohurricane said...


hello,

Really hectic day ahead of us so this will be short. Got it done. North was easy, central and south had me going for a time. It all came down to a wag for the crossing G forAGENA & EVIGAN.

By the time this PM rolls around, I'll need a DEWARS.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Mostly smooth puzzle, but I had a feeling that the AGENA/EVIGAN crossing might cause problems for some. I barely remembered AGENA and was able to successfully guess at that crossing G, but I wasn't very confident.

KERN/DIRK was another potential trouble spot, but once again I was able to dredge up KERN from somewhere and guess at DIRK.

Interesting seeing ANITA, VILA and NEALE all crammed together in that tiny SE corner like that, along with NAME. Sounds like a party!

Bill V. said...

My last solve was FEM & AMPUP. Otherwise perps took care of unknowns. Fun puzzle and theme was unknown until puzzle was complete.

HowardW said...

Nice pangram with Q and Vs in the theme entries. Liked the progression of the break in EVEN. Just right for a Wednesday.

"Side with the ball"=OFFENSE. True for many games, but not all. In baseball, it's the defense which handles the ball.

I wonder if today's constructor is a principal at Dewey Cheatham & Howe.

Rainman said...

Walla Walla, the town so nice, they named it twice!

WES about the EVIGAN/AGENA natick. The top went quickly, and there for a while, looked like I only have a few downs to fill in. Took too long for me to change MACBOOK (wrong) to NETBOOK, of which I'm unfamiliar. The rest went reasonably well, with a reasonably few guesses spread around. Quite an enjoyable effort, thanks, Michael Dewey. Thanks, Steve, excellent work.

Lemonade714 said...

This really was a proper name intensive puzzle perhaps driven by the need to fill a panorama. I guess Mr. Dewey and I pay attention to the same things because I had no unknowns except forgetting AGENA.

Lemonade714 said...

Steve I was surprised the outlandish TAMMY FAYE and the Praise The Lord Tv ministry did not make it across the pond. They were quite the entertainers

Lemonade714 said...

Panorama sounds like a good name for a pangram puzzle, autocorrect thinks so anyway.

Big Easy said...

Today is ORSON Welles 100th birthday. I only know because I flew through this puzzle and decided to work the easy Newsday puzzle printed next to it ( which I usually skip) and theirs was all about his movies.

But back to EVEN. I filled it easily, but as usual didn't notice the theme. I'm sure that I've heard the song, but EVER LOVIN was all perps. Not the same for NEALE and EVIGAN. All new to me. PTL- only know it due to TAMMY FAYE'S ridiculous makeup that was in the news.

Anybody still have a QUASAR television?

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning Steve and friends. EVEN STEVEN! This was an easy puzzle for my Wednesday. Although there were several unknowns for me, they were all filled in by the perps.

My favorite clue was Public Figure = NOTARY. In Louisiana, an attorney can be a Notary for life.

QOD: The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization. ~ Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 ~ Sept. 23, 1939)

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I went old school and turned my tablet into a NOTEPAD, but it didn't last. Nice SO to Irish Miss with DEWARS.

I noticed the religious sub-theme, and thought it was appropriate to have PTL directly above EVIL QUEEN.

This is what I thought of when WINNOWS showed up.

Jerome said...

ICON- Tammy Faye's autobiography

We may never again see EVIGAN. That's A GIVEN.

EYEFUL Tower... It's outta sight!

LEO VI, what do you think of Oyl?
I LOVE OLIVE.

Would you mind rating Ms. Derek and Mr. Bryant?
OK... BO TEN, KOBE...NOT!
Got that from my NETBOOK.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Thanks, Michael. I have another crazy day today so I wasn't sure if I would get to the puzzle. Felt like a Monday to me. I guess most everything was somewhere in my high mem. I remembered EVIGAN, but couldn't say who he is or what he looks like. Weird, eh?

Now to tick off the items on my To Do list. Hondo's right: A DEWARS might be nice at the end of this day. Thanks, Steve. Have a good day, all.

Tinbeni said...

Steve: Nice write-up & links.
DEWAR'S is a CSO to our Irish Miss!
White Label Scotch is her favorite brand. Though I like it too!!!

Only needed ESP to get EVIGAN and NEALE. Otherwise an appropriate Wednesday Level puzzle.

My "other" fave today, of course, was IPA a SO to the many Craft Beers I enjoy.

Cheers!

kazie said...

Natick at EVIGAN/AGENA, which left me the blank Steve avoided there. I also never grocked ZEN and finished with BOBO/GUCK.

Otherwise the rest seemed easy for Wednesdays lately. Pleasant run today.

HeartRx said...

WEES about the G spot.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Michael Dewey, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.

Puzzle went fairly easily. Theme evolved. No problem.

Liked NOTARY, even though it took me a while to get because I had MACBOOK for a while. I am a NOTARY, but seldom use it any more. I used it on my last job with a charity, which was four years ago.

NETBOOK finally appeared. Tried MACBOOK first.

DEWARS was easy. Even though I do not drink it. I am strictly a beer guy, so IPA was also easy.

OREO for crumbled ice cream topping reminded me of my Dairy Queen Blizzard I had the other day. You can get OREO in one of those. I got Snickers in mine. Love them!

Liked WINNOWS. Good use of the word.

I am off. I have two meetings today. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Theme reveal helped with fill in the West; particularly EVIL QUEEN. That confirmed QUASAR, and RISE TO. Only white-out was at 43a - had Atlas before AGENA.
Other unknowns such as ANITA and LEO VI came easily from the perps.
Liked the NOTARY clue.
Thanks Michael for a good hump-day offering.

CrossEyedDave said...

Wees about the G spot, also I wasn't happy with "Yalie" & looked up Kern/Dirk to be sure...

So, when did you first have these paranoid thoughts...

The Evil Queen might still be around if she thought it through...

Yeah, that Ever Lovin wasn't so hot...

He broke even...

Lucina said...

Hello, friends!

Luckily this was a breeze since I don't have much time today. Thank you, Michael Dewey for a quick romp today.

Zora NEALE Thurston is becoming popular in the trivia circuit. She was on Jeopardy a few days ago and I actually have her book, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Very difficult reading because it's in heavy dialect.

Thanks, Steve, for an always enjoyable Blog.

Have a happy day, everyone! I'll read you later.

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed working this puzzle....even if I did miss two.

Unknown said...

Good one!
A true Limerick!

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Marti 8:31 LOL!

Everything was straightforward except that G. Liked the smooth 3-2-1 letter arrangement in the theme.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

A very nice Wednesday offering, enhanced by my Scotch of choice, Dewar's. I missed the requisite _ _ _, though, but I'm sure Tin didn't!

Cute theme but needed the reveal. Had no trouble with Evigan, although I wouldn't know him if I fell over him; I just know of the name.

Thanks, Michael and Steve for a pleasant mid-week treat.

Have a great day. (Blue Iris, it was nice to hear from you yesterday.)

Lemonade714 said...

marti you naughty, funny girl- G-spot indeed!

I read Zora Neale Hurston because my sons read her books while in high school. The seemed insightful, depressing and well written

Misty said...

This was a Wednesday toughie for me, but at least I got the theme and the reveal without any problem. Not drinking much these days(except for my Bogle Merlot with the news and "Jeopardy") didn't help with this puzzle. Never heard of IPA--what is it?

Have a great day, everybody!

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Having a Q always makes me look for a Z for a pangram
-There must have been a sale on obscure proper nouns!
-My “lunch hour” at school has never been longer than 27 minutes
-I had a dental issue with a sensitive tooth Monday night. Joann said to use her Listerine under her sink. Her liquid hand soap is the same color and so… YUK!!!
-Hondo will know this rookie of the year was ON DECK when Bobby Thompson hit his famous home run.
-You set your F-STOP wide open for hours to get these star tracings in the night sky.
-Bonus: What star in the picture above never moves?
-The AGENA Target vehicle was launched to practice docking in space with manned Gemini capsules
-Well-intentioned “DROP INS” at the hospital can be a trial
-Shakespeare’s famous take on your NAME/reputation
-Leavin’ it UP TO YOU (2:06)
-In a great song, who “broke even somewhere in the darkness”

Astronomy Fan said...

Husker, the star that never moves is the one in the center of the circle. :)

coneyro said...

A Good Hump Day to all.

WEES about EVIGAN/AGENA.

Theme no problem. Perps to the rescue for any unknowns. All in all, a fast solve.

Rick Nelson...Loved his family's tv show. He always sang a song at the end. Unfortunately, he died too young, under tragic circumstances. Plane crash, if I'm not mistaken.

It's really amuses me when these so-called "born again" preachers are caught sinning. Maybe they should believe in reincarnation. Then they'll have another chance when they are BORN AGAIN.

Well...Time to go.

Chairman Moe said...

Very clever, Jerome! Like your anagrams ...

Anonymous said...

I remember Greg, he was cute. He still is acting and was on a CSI this year.

http://www.evigan.com/picsotm/fullsize/bj-bear-great-shot.jpg

Simon said...

Speaking of Scotch, did anyone catch 60 minutes this past Sunday? They had a segment about the crossword staple, Scottish isle of Islay and its whisky making history. It was a unfinished story by Bob Simon who passed before completion. Steve Kroft helped to finish production and it will definitely appeal to several bloggers.

Link to CBS video (13:24) but worth every minute.


Now, who wants to go to that festival they mentioned?!

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts"

WMS and EES regarding EVIGAN/AGENA - this was my NATICK and most of the mid to bottom left side has multiple ink blots. Jerome, any clever anagrams from the 28d/43a answers??!

Don't know what you guys at the Corner call it, but I'm not a big fan of the 21d/40a use of UP in a cross - ironically, the word "UP" is actually "down" on one clue and "across" on the other

Hand up for ATLAS before AGENA; nice SO to Irish Miss re DEWARS

When shopping on the Net, he had a look
At the LATEST listings for a NETBOOK.
Liked both Mac and Windows;
So from each he WINNOWS
The best ICONS; he's a true cyber crook!

Commonwealth Ministries said...

I almost fell out of my chair when I realized the irony of Lemonade linking a story about someone being convicted of diverting other people's funds to support their own lifestyle! You can't make this stuff up.

Bird's of a feather...

Bill G. said...

Gary, that would be Polaris. In a decent telescope, it's a double star with a faint companion. Nothing special. However, there are two other beautiful double stars with close and bright companion stars with different colors. You don't think much about stars having different colors but when they show up close together in the field of a good-quality telescope, the subtle color differences make a beautiful contrast.

Simon, yes, I caught the 60 Minutes story you mentioned. Really enjoyable.

Jerome said...

Moe- It's A GIVEN, and AA NEG- Common blood type of an alcoholic.

Misty- IPA stands for India Pale Ale. They were first brewed by the Brits in the early 18th century. They were popular in India among English soldiers and members of the East India Trading Company. They were branded "pale" because of the lower than normal content of hops and alcohol. Today's IPA's are usually much stronger.
Some of the best IPA's are Sierra Nevada, Anchor, Lagunitas, and Pliny the Elder. In fact, Pliny is all but impossible to find. They do a limited release once a year and it sells out in one day.

JD said...

an joy able Wed, except for the EVIL evigan/agena. Didn't know that meaning of yens either... or Anita and Neale. Always new things to learn, so thanks Mr. Dewey and Steve.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Pretty good puzzle, Michael. Really good expo, Steve.

I got stumped by the EVIGAN/AGENA cross and had to do a red-letter run for the "G" on Wed. Aagh! But I was further stumped for a while with NOTARY (I was one during my accounting years) crossed by TRENDY. Missed reading the clue for DIRK which I would have known. I did know KERN.

Theme? It had a theme? Learned that from Steve.

Keeps raining off and on here. I watch the TV radar broadcasts to see if it is raining on my arid wheat fields. I hope so and that it isn't too late to fill the kernals. I'd like some July income.

Jayce said...

That "G" crossing EVIGAN and AGENA was the very last cell I filled, and it was a complete guess. Pretty close to a Natick for me, and maybe is a Natick in Rex Parker's eyes. Good puzzle, though. I liked the theme. When I got the first two theme answers I thought the theme had something to do with the sound "oven" and rhymes of it.
Never heard of PTL.
Best wishes to you all.

Anonymous said...

Ce n est pas un accent grave, c'est un accent circonflexe sur le e de tête!

Tinbeni said...

Simon
Been there! Done THAT!
Spent a week in Scotland in 2005 and made a two-day side-trip to Islay ... it was as good as my "Round" at St. Andrew's.

Jerome
I'm not AA-POS ... lol

Avg Joe said...

Pretty much what's been said for me. Quite a few easy entries, like Easy Bake Oven, but some challenges as well. Luckily Agena sounded familiar enough that I wagged the G.

PK, I keep the NOAA radar site as a favorite, and find it useful when TV isn't always available. Here's the Wichita area If you want to move around, go the regional maps below and you can then click on the region you want to zoom in on.

Spitzboov said...

Bill G and Gary - Re: Polaris. Its declination is about 89º 19.6' N. ; not 90º N exactly so there would be a minuscule movement in a sufficiently detailed photo. The rotation has to be accounted for in celestial navigation; otherwise an LOP error of up to 80 nautical miles could result.

aka thelma said...

Just in case anyone is interested... only because I have seen so many comment on the auto correct.... and I am surprised I have not read where anyone has posted how to get rid of it... and if they have... forgive me for repeating... I complained about it so much my son turned it off for me... :) only after he figured out how to do it... :)

On a imac...
Click on system preferences
then Keyboard and click on Text
Uncheck the box at the top right... I don't remember just what the label is :)
good luck....

Enjoyed the puzzle and always enjoy your right up Steve.. thanx to all...

Hope you all have a great day..

thelma :)

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

A fun Wed puzzle but I was BOGged down in the center-west and. I don't know French, but recalled there are 2Ts and 2Es in their head. Soooo, etTE. Then I had pUlSAR at 36d. That gave me EVIL pUtEN.* Wha?, I thought there was no politics here...

Eventually worked it out, but w/ pUlSAR, I put ArENA @43a. Oh yeah! - The HOU Rockets are in the second-stage of the play-offs in their ArENA tonight! :-)

The R in Marti's G-spot stayed (er, that sounds wrong) so DNF. Thanks anyway Mr. Dewey and thank you Steve for the fun writeup.

Fav. c/a for NOTARY though IPA is close second when the hops WAFT UP your nose.

Jerome - you know your beer. Saint Arnold's Elissa IPA is pretty good too.

I was in Scotland for a week last year. We worked OT so we could take Friday and do the whisky (pronounced whhhhisky :-) ) tour. By accident, one of the admins reset our configs Wed night - no scotch for us ('septin' of course at dinner).

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Oh, HG - The Gambler?

aka thelma said...

Slow night.... that helps less people to catch my error... that should be write... not right.... :) sorry...

thelma :)

Anonymous T said...

aka thelma - I guess it was UP TO YOU to point it out :-)

Time to go DARK. Cheers, -T

Bill G. said...

aka Thelma, you write so well that anybody who frequents this den would know it was just a typo. My writing, on the other hand...

OwenKL said...

akaT, I thought I understood what you meant when you wrote:

Uncheck the box at the top right... I don't remember just what the label is :)

But if that was supposed to be "top write..." I'm lost again.

aka thelma said...

Right hand corner.... enjoyed Steve's "write" up.... remind me to forget about posting....

Have a great day....

thelma

Anonymous said...

FOUL!!! Americas past time (hopefully still) baseball, the defense has the ball.

Anonymous said...

How was the dentist visit?
Oh just had an inlay.
Oh sounds good.

WTF WEAK!!!