Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 31, 2020

My time: 4:58, under average but still pretty poor for a Monday at this point.

Theme: CHANGE LANES is meant to give a hint to the way the first word of the three Across answers are pronounced.  So RODE is road, ALY is alley, and WHEY is way (depending on how you talk).  This isn't a great theme; there's no aha moment, and it doesn't much help you solve the puzzle, since you wouldn't know how, say, ALY was spelled even if you knew the sound.

I wanted "something computers cannot write to or erase" to be *PAPER, but it's the much more pedestrian CD-ROM.

My time was hurt by the fact that I impulsively put *PET SITTER in as soon as I read "one tending a house during the owner's absence," even though that definition doesn't point toward that answer.  It's CARETAKER. 

I also didn't know the name of the ancient fortification overlooking the Dead Sea.  The MASADA was built around the first century.  It is the site of a mass suicide of the Jewish defenders when the Romans breached its walls in the year 73.

Apparently UCLA used to put a live bear out on the field during home games?  Those wacky Bruins!  It was just a little Himalayan bear.

Lye's chemical formula NAOH (NaOH) was in the puzzle way, way back in October 2017.

ALY RAISMAN, or at least her first name, appeared in the puzzle a little more recently: July 2018.  I had a hard time spelling out her name anyway.

And the Belgian river the YSER appeared just this August 2, but I still dithered over whether it was *YPER (confusing it with Ypres, the Belgian town).

I guess the lesson here is DUAL: don't be in a rush to enter long answers, and try to remember old material.  Just trying to keep my brain from passing its SELL-BY DATE.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 30, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 16:26, less than two minutes slower than the record!  Wow, go me!  I GOTTA say, that's SORTA good!

Theme: the BUTTERFLY EFFECT, as drawn by the black squares in the center of the puzzle.  This is a branch of CHAOS THEORY, which states that (according to the grid) ONE SMALL THING / CAN MAKE ALL THE / DIFFERENCE / IN THE WORLD.  As one last themed in-joke, the answers TOR (for Toronto, "an AL East team") and ADO are separated by one square, which gets a secret N to make TOR/N/ADO (made by the butterfly's wings) in the online version of the puzzle.

SADE won a Grammy in 2010?  My guess was *CHER.  Sade won for "Soldier of Love." 

The soleus muscle is found in the calf.  Its name is derived from the Latin word "solea," meaning "sandal."

I don't know LEN Dawson, a quarterback who was mostly with the Kansas City Chiefs.  He won a lot of awards!

Never saw the "Pitch Perfect" movies, so I had to guess that the name of the a capella group is the BELLAS.  Presumably they predate the Twilight craze.

For "computer data structure" I put down *TOWER but it's ARRAY.

"They have pointy teeth" is GEARS.  Do they, though?  Pointy?  I wanted to put *BEARS but I knew it couldn't be that simplistic.

For "comic dog that walks on two feet" I immediately put *OTTO but they have ODIE.  While Odie does sometimes walk on two feet, he doesn't normally.  Otto, however, does.  This is shitty cluing.  I demand this egregious error be corrected in future reprints.

"NBA team with black and white uniforms" is NETS, as in the Brooklyn Nets, formerly of New Jersey.

I did not know that the Broadway hit "The MUSIC MAN" premiered in 1957, nor that it starred Robert Preston, but it was easy enough to guess.

"Toy on a grooved track" gave me pause.  I can't say I've heard much about SLOT CAR racing.

The middle black key in a group of three is A FLAT.  I am endeavoring to learn at least the basic rudiments of music notation.  The keys are not the notes.  All black keys are either a sharp or flat, but not all sharps and flats are black keys.  Well, I'm out of my depth.

For "John Wayne, by birth" I wanted to put Marion, his birth name, but it's IOWAN.  He was born in Winterset, Iowa, in 1907.

"Tulsa sch." ORU got me yet again!

Clever clues: "Selling point?" is SHOP.  "Remains here?" is CRYPT.  "Exchanges words, say" is EDITS. 

I'm surprised that I whizzed through this one so fast, but having such long theme entries really helped (even though I misread the second part as can make a l--he — make a lathe, maybe?).  Well, SEE YA and BYE (both "ciao!").

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 29, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 12:42, pretty good for a Saturday. 

There was very little information that was new to me in this one; the difficulty lay in the cleverly vague clues and tricks, which is a perfect, non-frustrating Saturday challenge.

I enjoyed the unusual fill today like HOT MIC, US VS. THEM, SIMP, and "MAHNA MAHNA" (the Italian song made famous by the Muppets), and the hip street lingo OH IT'S ON NOW and SIDE HUSTLE.

I didn't know who Haydée was, never having read The Count of Monte Cristo, but apparently she's the daughter of Ali Pasha, and the title Count's AMIE?  Or, possibly, an unwillingly kept woman, in a gilded cage.  She's all part of his revenge plan.

Did you know CAL State has 23 campuses?  Find out which one is right for you.

Côtes du RHONE is a designated wine appellation, one of the oldest vineyard regions in the world.

In a nice bit of synchronicity, that Mort SAHL quote — "If you were the only person left on the planet, I would have to attack you.  It's my job" — came up a couple of days ago in an archived NYT puzzle I was solving.  That was handy! Woody Allen, John Cleese, and Steve Allen were all inspired by his style.

I had a hard time remembering CINDY Williams, Shirley on "Laverne and Shirley."  She was also in American Graffiti and The Conversation.

"Eastern Central Div. player" is CAV.  Ugh. I can't keep track of all these divisions and leagues.

The Wasatch Mountains, running from Idaho down through UTAH, came up on June 27.

LEM, the Lunar Excursion Module, has come up a few times before. 

In all, a very well constructed Saturday, with no big surprises or difficult spots. 

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 28, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 13:06, a few minutes quicker than average.  I got through a large portion of it in under four minutes, then ground to a stop and it was only slow going from there.

I was AT A LOSS ("stuck") in the northwest corner because "[C'mon, the light turned green!]" is obviously *HONK but no, they went with the far inferior TOOT.

For "dish that might be garnished with nori or negi" I put *SUSHI but it's RAMEN.  Nori is edible seaweed that sushi is wrapped in.  Negi is a type of Japanese green onion and it is in fact a common sushi condiment.  So my answer was better! 

"Gaelic name for Scotland"is ALBA, which confused me because Albion is England.

Actually, the whole north edge gave me trouble.  For "go for the bronze?" I saw the pun and immediately wrote *TAN but they wanted SUN.

"Camera film speed inits." is ISO, which stands for International Organization for Standardization (in the original French, I'm assuming).  It's a camera setting that will brighten or darken a photo.

The ELANTRA, like the Sonata, is made by Hyundai. 

Apparently Marcel Marceau is famous for his character BIP the Clown.  BIP was a symbol of hope for the Jewish Marceau; modelled after his movie hero, Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp, Bip was the classic underdog dressed in a striped shirt, white sailor pants and a battered top hat with a single red flower sprouting from the lid.

The clue that had solvers all over the world sprinting for their dictionaries?  "Oscine : songbird :: psittacine : " PARROT.  I had *RAPTOR at first.

Clever clues: "Get on board?" is SURF.  "Professional pitcher" is SALES REP.

Well, this was a tricky Friday all around.  Definitely not one of my BESTS, but at least I learned something!  For now.  After three or four more reappearances in future puzzles, some of these may sink in.  Memory like a sieve, THAT'S ME!

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 27, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 14:09, not that great but still faster than average.

Theme: CHATTERBOX, meaning that in three phrases, letters spelling out a word for "talk" are crammed, rebus-style, into one box.  The impressive crossword-building feat here is that in the Across clues, all three "talk" synonyms are spread across two words: TALKIN[G AB]OUT, WHADDA[YA K]NOW, and NIN[JA W]ARRIOR.  On the Down crossings, they're parts of words, unrelated to any "talk" meaning: KA[YAK], [JAW]A, and BU[GAB]OO.

I had an especially hard time with this Thursday puzzle because (1) I found the clues to be vague; (2) there was a vast amount I didn't know; (3) it has weird entries like WHADDA[YA K]NOW and CACHINNATE (which is a word I do know but never expected to find it in a Thursday puzzle); and (4) even though I solved CHATTERBOX pretty quickly, I didn't start looking for rebus answers until some wasted time had passed, because I had wrongly "solved" the clue "discussing" as *TALKING OUT and thought the answers just had some form of "talk" in them.  Ugh.

I have never heard of Halima Aden, but it was fairly easy to guess that in 2019 she was the first Sports Illustrated model to wear a HIJAB.  She was also the first woman to wear a hijab in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant.

Likewise, I don't know the song "Hail to the Hills of Westwood" but it seemed fairly clear that this was the school song of UCLA.

"Dubuque residents" is IOWANS.  Now I know!

I've read Treasure Island but it still took me a long time to remember what the Admiral Benbow was in the book; it was the INN that Jim Hawkins' family runs peacefully until one day Billy Bones walks in...

I have heard of s SEABEE, but the clue "term for a naval builder that looks like an aquatic insect" just wasn't doing it for me.  I kept wondering what naval builder looks like an aquatic insect, but I see now that it means the term looks like it could be an aquatic insect.  I think that's confusing wording.

PEPSI has been in the puzzle before with the ad campaign, "Say PEPSI, please!" but this time it's the old-timey "Twice as much for a nickel!"  Pepsi-Cola hits the spot / Twelve full ounces, that's a lot / Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you / Nickel, nickel, nickel, nickel / Trickle, trickle, trickle, trickle.  I think Bob Dylan wrote that.

I have not heard of the cohort born in the early 2010s as "Generation ALPHA."

Galileo was born in PISA, Italy, in 1564.  Since he's famous for the falling objects experiment off the leaning tower, I really should have figured this out a lot sooner. 

ATHENS, OHIO is indeed a US named for a European capital.  Too bad I've never heard of ATHENS, OHIO.  It's the county seat of Athens County and the home to Ohio University!  That's swell.

Never heard of ARI Melber, NBC and MSNBC news show anchor.

I didn't know there was such a thing as a "Simple" IRA.  This is a matching-funds retirement plan offered by an employer with fewer than 100 employees.

Also never heard of Fritz Land collaborator THEA von Harbou.  A little more than just a collaborator, she was his wife from 1922-1933 ansd wrote the story and screenplay for Metropolis.

"Stat for a starter" is ERA, as seen September 3, 2018.  In baseball, a starter is a starting pitcher.

Clever clue: "Entry-level workers?" is DOORMEN (again, the NYT puzzle reveals the bias it has toward Eastern urban clues).  For "nest egg source" I put *IRA but, surprise, it's literal: HEN.  "Not at all fancy" is tricky — it doesn't mean a antonym for ornate, it means an antonym for like.  It's HATE.  "Fold opposite" is I'M IN.  "Share a side" isn't about co-diners, but about geographic areas or planes; it's ABUT.

This was a really tough Thursday!  But FEAR NOT!  We shall move on to Friday.

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved, August 26, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 6:44, not bad.

Theme: WORK PORTFOLIO, a "collection that demonstrates job skills."  The themed Across answers all have financial terms at the end — gold, stock, option, and bond— and are clued as "investment for [specific job]?" So I'm not quite sure why it's a work portfolio and not, say, an investment portfolio.  Anyway, the clues are puns related to various jobs, such as a restaurateur's MENU OPTION, a butcher's BEEF STOCK, and so on.  Man, that's COMEDY GOLD ("investment for a humorist").  On to the fill!

I'm not sure I would clue ROMP as "blowout."  But "word before curriculum or meltdown" is a smart clue for CORE.

"Big inits. in finance" is AIG, American International Group (oxymoronic name?), a finance and insurance company.

The Tar Heels is the name of the athletics teams of UNC.  Go Heels!  According to state lore, the term tar heel refers to a time when North Carolina produced turpentine for the naval industry. North Carolina was nicknamed the "Tar and Turpentine State" because of this industry.  Workers who distilled turpentine from the sticky sap of trees to produce tar and pitch supposedly often went barefoot (while working with hot tar?) and would collect tar on their heels.  It began as a pejorative, but now is a source of pride.  Like "queer"!

There was A LOT OF old stuff in this puzzle that I didn't quite remember.

"Thirtysomething" actor Ken OLIN appeared way back in November 2018.

Independence AVE. showed up in its entirety in the January 12, 2018 grid.  Apparently there's also a Constitution Ave.  Oh, get over yourself, DC.  Stinking morass of corruption and all that.

Quaker abolitionist and feminist Lucretia MOTT was featured on March 7, 2018.

"We Do Our Part" was noted as the slogan for the NRA (National Recovery Administration, not the evil one) way back in 2017.

Clever clue: "50 or more letters?" is AARP.

I enjoyed the puns in this puzzle but the theme as a whole didn't grab me.  I also didn't think the fill was terrific, although there are a couple of good ones in there, like WEAK TEA and IT'S ALIVE.  A decent puzzle, but nothing exceptionally surprising or interesting.

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 25, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 6:48, not great.  I got held up in the northwest corned after putting *REEL IN for "lure deceptively" rather than ROPE IN.  And there was an unusual amount of unfamiliar material in the puzzle for a Tuesday.

Theme: Shakespeare quotes clued as if they were about a cookout.  So "LEND ME YOUR EARS" has an absurdly long clue about Marc Anthony asking for the corn he forgot, "AY, THERE'S THE RUB" is about seeing spice mix, and — in somewhat bad taste — "THE POUND OF FLESH" is about a 16-ounce sirloin that Shylock brought to the cookout.

Ugh.  But at least knowing that the themed answers were untouched Shakespeare quotes helped with the solving.

Did you know ACURA is the maker of the first mass-produced car with an aluminum body?  It was the NSX.

"Unexciting Yahtzee roll" is PAIR.  If all five dice match it's called a Yahtzee.  I don't play a lot of what used to be known as "the yacht game."

I've never heard the term quarterback SNEAK.  That's a play in which the quarterback takes the snap from center and immediately ducks forward behind the middle of the offensive line with the intent of gaining a small amount of yardage. 

I know the DINAR as the currency of Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries, but I forgot that it's also Serbia's currency, though it has come up before.

"Capri has a blue one" didn't mean anything to me.  Apparently Capri is famous for its Blue GROTTO.  Sunlight passing through an underwater cavity and shining through the seawater creates a blue reflection that illuminates the cavern.

For "department store eponym" I put *K-TEL, that series of records sold over the phone.  I don't know why, just tired and dumb.  It's KOHL.

I don't even know American geography.  I certainly can't be expected to know that LEEDS is north of Sheffield.  Isn't there some better, more interesting clue this city could have?

Clever clues: "William who took a bow" (TELL) is so-dumb-it's-clever, and "Las Vegas player" is a great clue for RAIDER.

Well, it was slow going today, but at least I didn't go slower than average.  WHEW.  And now, parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 24, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 4:17.

Theme: expressions with EX- as prefix, but clued as if two words, with the EX representing a "former lover" (which turn of phrase I find unappealing).  For example, "stress between you and your former lover" is EX TENSION.  "Former lovers' stances in photos?" is EX POSES.  And the joke at the end is "current lover who seems suspiciously preoccupied," an EX PENDING.

Author Leon URIS has come up before, for his novel Mila 18.  This time it's another novel with a number at the end of the title, QB VII.  The four-part novel highlights the events leading to a libel trial in the United Kingdom, loosely based on Uris' own court case for defamation that arose from his best-selling novel Exodus. 

ANTONIO is the villain of Shakespeare's "The Tempest."  He's Prospero's brother, who betrayed him to get his dukedom.  He also urges Sebastian to kill his own brother, King Alonso.

I don't like the clue "write with a chisel on stone" for ETCH.  To chisel and to etch are different things.

"Undercoat of an oil painting" is GESSO, seen a few times in the past.  "Oh, no, not" AGAIN!

NERO was clued as "emperor just before the Year of the Four Emperors" back in 2018.

A nice palate cleanser of a Monday puzzle.  It has a smart theme that, once you see the pattern, helps you solve it.  And I didn't ERR too much in its completion.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 23, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 23:32, about five minutes faster than average.

Theme: "Musical interlude," by Barbara Lin.  Seven common phrases have a musical note placed inside, changing the meaning, and clued with the changed meaning.  So for example, Amazing grace is the source for AMAZING DOG RACE, after do is inserted.  It's then clued as "Iditarod, for one?"  The note re is placed in foster parent to get FORESTER PARENT, "one driving kids around in a Suburu?"

There's an addition musical pun in "letting out all the stops to drown out the other instruments" — think the stops on an organ.  And you get ORGAN DOMINATION.  I think the funniest one is PARASOL MILITARY, but it's a little odd that they went with the three-letter spelling.  For consistency's sake they should have gone with so.

And so on.  Now, the rest of the fill.

I've never heard of the Beatles song "Yes It Is," and I'm an old fogey who listens to classic rock!  The B-side to the 1965 hit "Ticket to Ride," it was only ever included on compilations.

A basketball player, in old slang, is CAGER?  I could see that being a baseball player because of a batting cage, I guess?  But apparently basketball used to be played in cages. Cages were installed around basketball courts to protect the fans from the players and vice-versa from the brawls that would break out in the scrimmage to get the ball after it went out of bounds.

I couldn't get New York's iconic SEAGRAM Building.  It doesn't look that visually interesting to me.  It was designed in 1958 by by German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.  It has 1,500 tons of bronze.

I haven't heard of Canadian poet ANNE Carson, but it looks like she's a pretty big deal in poetry circles.

Another woman of letters I don't know, MAEVE Binchy, is an Irish writer of popular novels, usually about small town Irish life.

"Excel function that uses a calendar" stumped me.  It's EDATE.   I'm not an Excel wizard.

A TOE hook is a move in rock climbing in which, well, the climber puts pressure on the toe to push upwards.  Now I'm not a rock climber, but.. It seems like that doesn't really need a specific name?  It seems like it's just how you climb?  But there's a lot of chatter on the Climbing Internet about how to use it, so never mind my opinion.

I was unsurprised to find that the rapper behind "One Mic" is NAS, as he is the single most common rapper in the Times puzzle.

The character Aunt ELLER from "Oklahoma!" is a visitor from the past.

Clever clues: "Show stoppers?" is REMOTES.  "Bronze that's not winning any awards?" is FAKE TAN. I liked COASTER being the answer for "bar freebie," especially since *BEER NUT would fit.

And thus, another Sunday puzzle ENDS.  I quite enjoyed this theme!  My criterion for a really good theme is that it provides a challenge, and may even confuse the solver, but once it clicks, it helps with the solution.  All of that applies here — once I discovered the theme, writing the musical notes in the circled squares helped with the solving.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 22, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 10:55, pretty darn good for a Saturday.

Okay, let's get down to business. 

For "Gifford's talk show successor" I put *KOTB, mixing up my lines of TV talk show successions.  She's the co-host of the "Today" show.  "Gifford" is Kathy Lee Gifford, of "Regis and Kathy Lee," which later became "Live with Regis and Kelly," meaning Kelly RIPA.  As of this writing, the show is known as "Live with Kelly and Ryan," meaning Ryan Seacrest.  RIP Regis.

For "some pricey cars" I put *GTOS.  I don't know if they're particularly pricey.  Then I tried *XKES, which at least turned out to be the right make.  But it's just the model, JAGS.

ERIK has appeared a lot in the puzzle, but never have I seen it clued as "leading role in Phantom of the Opera."  ERIK, real name unknown, is the hideously deformed ex-assassin who works on the Paris Opéra and secretly builds hidden passageways for himself, and then kidnaps Christine's lover and makes her listen to his tragic compositions for piano.

So, I never read or saw "Phantom of the Opera."  But I have heard of HENRI Bergson, Stiller and MEARA, Giuseppe GARIBALDI, and Dorian Gray's OPIUM DEN.  So I lucked out on a lot of clues that others might have drawn a blank on. 

Just so I don't get too puffed up, I'd like to state for the record that I had *ONION MACK (possibly some type of rain gear?) for "British flier" for a good long time, and wondered vaguely what was wrong with it.

"Relative of a tie in music" is gibberish to me, and the answer, SLUR, did not help at all.  I know nothing about reading music, notation, or music theory.   It turns out that in music notation, a tie is drawn as an arc-shaped line connecting two identical notes.  The pair of tied notes acts as one note with their rhythmic values added together.  A SLUR is like a tie, but applies to two or more different notes and means the two different notes should be played legato (smoothly).

"Beer with a triangular logo" turns out to be BASS ALE.  I have never drunk beer.  This site says it's just "okay."

For "do some fast data processing?" (CRAM) I put in *SKIM, which combined with the aforementioned *KOTB kept the northwest corner in a state of confusion for a good while.

"Waves of New Agers?" kept me befuddled for a while also.  I'm still not sure how AURAS are waves.

Never heard of GRETA Gerwig, director of Little Women and writer of Lady Bird, a fantastic film.

Clever clue: "Pole position?" is AXIS, as in the axis of the earth at the poles. 

That's it!  So I did rather well today.  IN YOUR FACE!  Sorry, that was SASSIER than usual.

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 21, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 14:24, two minutes faster than average, which isn't good.  There was a good amount that was new to me; plus the vagueness of the clues (such as "beat" for PULSATE) slowed me down, as did things only half-remembered, such as SEARS Tower and author Caleb CARR.

Theme: SAINT / BASIL'S CATHEDRAL, located in RED SQUARE, with the shape of the famed ONION DOME built right into the grid.

"Danced to un bandoneón" is TANGOED; the clue references a type of concertina or accordion from Spain.  It is an essential instrument in most tango ensembles from the traditional orquesta típica.

"State that borders Bhutan" is ASSAM, the Indian state whose capital is Dispur.  The state has come up a lot in puzzles, but this is the first time I've seen it clued as part of the Bhutan border.

"The Point, in brief" mystified the hell out of me.  It was only after staring at the completed answer for a few minutes that it clicked.  It means a slangy way to refer to West Point, the USMA.  Remember how it was implemented by Thos. Jefferson?

John CABOT is the "notable voyager of 1497."  His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century. 

I wanted to put couplet for "sonnet's conclusion" and only refrained because it doesn't fit.  It's SESTET, the word for the last six lines of an Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet.  The Italian sonnet has the rhyme scheme ABBA ABBA for the octave, and sestet in CD CD CD or CDE CDE. 

The Sawtooth National Forest is in IDA.  I'm sure it's lovely! 

"ELENA of Avalor" is an animated Disney TV show in which a teenaged magical princess learns how to rule her kingdom.  I knew I should have subscribed to Disney+!

Desynchronosis made me think of someone who went to the wrong time period, like Bill and Ted, but it's the much more mundane condition of being JET-LAGGED.

And now we come to the composer section of the lesson. "Semper Fidelis" is the 1888 march written by John Phillip SOUSA in response to a request from United States President Chester Arthur for a new piece to be associated with the United States President.

And "Gnossiennes" are a series of piano works composed in the 1890s by Erik SATIE, crossword mainstay, he of the "Gymnopédies."

Clever clues: "Split personalities?" is EXES.  "Showing sings of tear?' is SAD.  "Island locale" is KITCHEN.  "Imported European wheels" is EDAM.

Whew!  This one took me to the MAT and beat me like a DEAD HORSE.

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 20, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My TIME: 9:46, pretty good.

Theme: A Wrinkle in TIME, the book, making it so the letters T-I-M-E (not ever spelling that word alone) are written with a "wrinkle" — up, across, and down again, as shown in yellow.  So, er, um, what I meant was shows up like WHATEANT WAS, with the IM resting above the TE.  It made for some tricky solving, despite the fact I found a majority of the clues quite easy.

Mens REA, Latin for "guilty mind," is a legal term indicating the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime, as opposed to the action or conduct of the accused.  That's the LAW for you!  Broken but never fixed.

Continuing with Latin 101,  LOC. cit., short for loco citato (meaning "in the place cited") is a footnote or endnote term used to repeat the title and page number for a given work (and author). Loc. cit. is used in place of ibid. when the reference is not only to the work immediately preceding, but also refers to the same page. It is also opposed to op. cit., using the same page rather than a different one.

The Oldsmobile Alero comes up a lot, but I think this is the first time I've seen the CIERA.

I didn't know the ring-shaped cutters attached to drills, which I have used before, are called HOLE SAWS.

I guess I forgot about MORT/IM/ER MOUSE, who is Mickey's rival for Minnie's heart.   With his porkpie hat and overbite, why he would catch Minnie's eye is anybody's guess.  He made his official debut in the 1936 short, aptly titled "Mickey's Rival."

I'm aware of the show "The L-WORD," but didn't know there was a sequel series called "Generation Q." 

I didn't know Peter LORRE, one of my favorites, was in the 1954 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  He played the Conseil.

The Romanian currency LEU has appeared a few times before. 

QB protectors the O-LINE came up on January 25, 2018. 

Kitchen brand OXO has appeared often enough that I think I know it now.

Clever clue: "Request that's risky if you're over 18?"  Not beer me.  HIT ME, like in blackjack.

And that puts the ICINGS ("finishing touches") on this blog post!  On to Friday.

Wednesday's New York Times crossword solved: August 19, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 9:34, twenty seconds faster than average.

Theme: several linking four-word phrases going around the perimeter of the puzzle clockwise, starting in the northwest corner.  LIFE / BOAT, BOAT / SHOW, SHOW / DOWN, DOWN / PLAY, PLAY / DEAD, DEAD / HEAD, HEAD / HOME, and so on, until we get to TIME / LIFE.

Oh, and CYCLE is in the middle, connected to LIFE.

This is the first time I have ever seen the same word twice in the same puzzle, let alone sharing a letter.  It seems like it would have been so much neater to have the final two-word phrase end with the first LIFE.  Maybe with love life or something.

Anyhoo.

I don't think I've heard of Sun Valley, a ski and golf resort in IDAHO. 

We're all familiar with Mt. ETNA, but can we say that we knew it destroyed the town of Nicolosi in 1669?  Probably not, unless we're professors of Italian history.

Claire FOY played Queen Elizabeth in seasons 1 and 2 of "The Crown," after which Olivia Colman took over.

The sneaker brand FILA ("Puma competitor") has been in the puzzle before.

Clever clues: "It's a stretch" for EON.  "Centipede producer" for ATARI.  "Sound from a pen" is OINK (pretty simple, but I just kept thinking about writing pens.  So they go scrrtch?)

There was very little new to me in this puzzle, but maybe it took me too long to catch on to the linking phrases theme.  I kept wondering why they were listed backwards, before the penny dropped and I realized they went clockwise.  Well, that's LIFE.  And LIFE.

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 18, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 4:37, close to my record!

Theme: AMENDMENT XIX, which involved WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE, ratified exactly 100 years ago today.  Related theme answers are: CONSTITUTION, which the Amendment changed; ALICE PAUL; and TENNESSEE, the 36th and final state to ratify the 19th.

ALICE PAUL is new to me; the daughter of Quakers, she initiated and campaigned for women's voting rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, and the Civil Rights Act.

"Piece for Leontyne Price" is ARIA; I had never heard of the singer.  A soprano, she was the first African American to become a leading performer at the Metropolitan Opera.

I've said it before; to be a real crossword master, you have to know the world capitals!  I don't.  Pristina is the capital of KOSOVO.  The area what is now Pristina has been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years, but the first historical record mentioning Pristina by its name dates back to 1342.

I read the book, years ago, but forgot that the heroine of The Good Earth is O-LAN.

Clever clue: "A choir might sing in it" is UNISON.

And that's about it for things I wondered about.  I love that this theme got to run on this day, and I love that there were five themed answers.  Very well done!  And now, I shall RETIRE.

Monday's New York Times crosssord puzzle solved: August 17, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 3:50.

Theme: BEACHFRONT, as in the front of the themed Across clues are related to the beach.  WAVES HELLO, SURF THE NET, SHELLS OUT CASH, and PALMS CARDS.  I can hear the steel drums now!

At first, having only solved the first and third Across themed clues, I thought there might be a shell hidden in each clue (WAVES HELLO).  But then I figured it wouldn't be very clever to hide a word by writing it out by itself, as in the third answer.

Look, it's our old friend, director AVA DuVernay!

Jacob's first wife LEAH was in the puzzle just over a month ago.

Was this an easy and fun puzzle?  OUI OUI, Monsieur!  Fun theme, nothing challenging.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 16, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 14:47, beating the old Sunday record by two minutes exactly!  Woot!

Theme: "Alternative Cinema," by Francis Heaney.  Movie titles are replaced with other movie titles that might describe the clued movie.  So, DOCTOR STRANGE for "Frankenstein," THE AFRICAN QUEEN for "Cleopatra" (that's a good one), AMERICAN BEAUTY for "The Name of the Rose," and so on.  The funniest one is BYE BYE / BIRDIE for "To Kill a Mockingbird."

I didn't know St. PAUL's Chapel of the Trinity Church Wall Street, "the Little Chapel that Stood," has been open since 1766.

SOO has come up often in the puzzle, but usually as the locks of the same name on the Great Lakes.  This time it's Phillipa SOO, who played Eliza in the original cast of "Hamilton."  And not much else yet.

Hello Kitty is owned by the Japanese company SANRIO.  It was founded in 1960.

Nabisco's first cracker was the UNEEDA Biscuit, discontinued in 2009 or so.  Uneeda biscuits were an attempt to make a cracker that was flakier and lighter than any of their competitors’ versions. Their selling point was that they were sold in air-tight sanitary packages, unlike other crackers that were packed in barrels.

Apparently Terry Bradshaw was a STEELER for his entire career. That's nice.  As quarterback, he led the Pittsburgh Steelers to eight AFC Central championships, and an unprecedented four Super Bowl titles in a six-year period from 1974 to 1979.

Never heard of Charles Grandison FINNEY, "Father of Modern Revivalism."  He was a key leader of the evangelical revival movement in America. In the 1800s he conducted revival meetings across many north-eastern states and won many converts.  His revival meetings created anxiety in a penitent's mind that one could only save his or her soul by submission to the will of God, as illustrated by Finney's quotations from the Bible. 

Also never heard of Hideki MATUSI, left-fielder and hitter for the Yankees.

VARESE is a city northwest of Milan.  It is home to a sacred mountain with a chapel on it.

Nail polish remover OPI has come up before. 

Clever clues: "Stone to cast?" is SHARON.  "Lengths for rulers" is REIGNS.

This puzzle really wasn't hard for me.  I was definitely surprised at how basic and straightforward so many of the clues were, just simple definitions.  "____ Hari" for MATA, "something trademarked" for LOGO, and so on.  While I did my first go-throughs, I kept assuming that at least a few of my placeholder "first idea" answers would turn out to be tricks or wrong, but none of them was.  This stuff just happened to be in my wheelhouse today!

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 15, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 16:53, quicker than average but not great.  I liked the long fill and some more modern answers like AD-CLICK RATE and OPEN A NEW TAB.

For the vague clue "no _____" I tentatively tried *WAY, then thought it might be *BIG, until it finally revealed itself to be MSG.  I really am not a fan of these vague blank clues.

I solved almost all of this puzzle in about eleven minutes, and then spent five on the northwest corner.  I've never heard of the RITA Award, given by the Romance Writers of America to the most outstanding romance novel.  It's stylized in all capitals, but it's not an anagram; it is named for the RWA's first president, Rita Clay Estrada.  

The clue crossing RITA, "about 5% of the world's population," also stumped me.  A little mental math revealed that this was about 350 million so I was trying to fit Americans in that somehow; it's ARABS.

And then "finer cut, usually" — that is so devious.  For all know it's a crossword puzzle mainstay but I don't think I've seen it before.  Very sly wordplay here: it's SIDE A.  I had to get that letter by letter.

"Anxious" for ITCHY didn't help a lot, either, as *ANTSY fits well in there and is a much fairer synonym.

Still in the northwest corner, I had *INSISTS for BEHESTS at "commands." 

Finally out of the northwest corner, "one of the film-directing Wachowskis."  I had no idea that they were transgender!  None.  I sure am out of the loop.  Apparently, Larry Wachowski is now LANA, and her sister (formerly Andy) is Lilly!

For "not just rank" I had *ROTTED (it's ROTTEN), meaning for its cross "scrim material" I had *LINED, which kind of sort of made sense because scrim is used in lining?  But it's LINEN which makes a lot more sense.

I kind of remember GLO Worms, the 1980s toy, I suppose, though I'm in the wrong age bracket (didn't have kids, wasn't a kid). 

I guessed very quickly that it's HERB ALPERT who is the "only musician to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 as both a vocalist and an instrumentalist."  It turns out the details are the last sentence in his wiki page intro paragraph: Alpert is the only musician to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both a vocalist ("This Guy's in Love with You," 1968) and an instrumentalist ("Rise," 1979).  I never heard of either of those!

NCR came up in 2018 as a manufacturer of ATMs (and I complained about it back then).  Today it's clued as "big manufacturer of bar code scanners."  Ugh.

NAT Sherman cigars came up on November 11, 2018.

Clever clues: "One taking a bow" is ARCHER.  "Smallest possible band" is DUO (I don't know why I was only thinking of wedding bands and radio bands — sometimes I try to hard to get the oblique meaning). "An order might be one" is SECRET SOCIETY.  "This might be cast in a police drama"?  Of course, a WIDE NET.  "It appears in stacks" is SOOT.  "Something the force is responsible for?" was a real stumper (northwest corner, of course); it's SALES.

Whoo!  What a challenge.  Lots of head-scratching and aha moments.  That Joe DiPietro is a SLY crossword creator!  What a LARK!

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 14, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 14:08, just a little faster than average. 

I probably heard Salt-n-Pepa hit "SHOOP," back in the mists of time, and it wasn't too hard to guess that word that comes before "ba-doop."  It's got a nice beat, and you can dance to it.

"Other _____" is a truly lame clue for THAN.

I like the placement of EYE OPENER over DON'T STARE.

We all know Franz KAFKA, but we may not be familiar with his 1922 work "A Hunger Artist," a short story about a man who was presented in a cage and underwent a public display of fasting for the enjoyment of spectators.  Truly, Kafka was a tortured soul.

Did you know the MIATA made its debut in the Chicago Auto Show of 1989?  Now that you know that, you are fulfilled.

Emilia is the ATTENDANT of Desdemona in "Othello."  She's unhappily married to Iago and steals Desdemona's handkerchief, leading to the latter's death.  You just couldn't get good help those days.

RITA Dove is an acclaimed poet who was named Poet Laureate in 1993.

I didn't know that the sister of Jawaharlal NEHRU, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, was the first female president of the UN General Assembly, but it was easy to guess from her name.  She was also India's ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1949, the United States and Mexico from 1949 to 1951, Ireland from 1955 to 1961, and Spain from 1958 to 1961.

I don't mind "caught" for SAW, exactly, but there's a little something missing.  In the expression "caught out of the corner of my eye" and "caught a glimpse," the implication is a quick look, not just any look.

For "it takes years and years to complete" (LIFE'S WORK) I originally put a hesitant *LIGHT-WEEK.  I just think that's a moment worth commemorating.

The ASHANTI (also spelled Asante) Empire ruled for almost three centuries in what is now Ghana.  It was composed of the Akan people; the name derives from Twi words meaning "because of war."  It recalls the Asante's origin as a kingdom created to fight the Denkyira kingdom.

The mushroom ENOKI has come up a great deal, and I still can't spell it.

Erik SATIE has appeared before, also for his "Gymnopédies."  These piano compositions have been used in pop music here and there, most notably as arranged by Dick Halligan for the group Blood, Sweat & Tears under the title "Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie" on the group's eponymous album, released in 1968.

The 2006 hit song "So Sick" is by NE-YO.  I didn't recall either one, although he has come up a couple times before.

Clever clues: "hit after hit for a rock band?" is DRUM BEAT.  "Words with friends on one's phone, say" is GROUP CHAT.  'Toast" is a clever hint for GONER.

This was a SERTA hard puzzle for me.  But Fridays are supposed to be tough.  I liked the long answers and there were a few mini-surprises, like PREGGO and LAWYER UP.  I enjoyed it!

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 13, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 8:20, half the average Thursday time!

Theme: the motto of the THREE MUSKETEERS, which of course is "one for all, and all for one."  This means that in the four Across answers with circled letters, the letter group all is transposed with one.  This results in Sly Stone becoming SLY STONEALL, and phone call being PHALL CONE.  Zany fun!

I didn't know that the ASTER is known for attracting butterflies.

The athletic teams of Whittier College are called the POETS.  That's fun!  The Religious Society of Friends established the town of Whittier in 1887 and the Whittier Academy the same year.   Both the town and the College were named in honor of John Greenleaf Whittier, prominent Quaker, poet, and leader in the abolitionist movement.  I'm thinking an even cooler name would be the Whittier Greenleaves.

For "dental crown alternative" I put *INLAY but it's ONLAY.  What's the difference?  Glad we asked.  It turns out that an inlay fills in cavities and hollows in a tooth in the areas between the cusps. An onlay will not just fill in cavities in those spaces, but they can work for a larger area, including the cusps.  They work similarly to crowns, but they do not cover the entire surface of the tooth.

RON Cephas Jones is an actor who was in "Luke Cage."

I know almost all the world flags, but Anguilla is a territory and not a country, so I didn't know its flag has three DOLPHINs on it.

Dodger pitcher Hideo NOMO came up on September 27, 2017.  Today he is clued as someone "who threw no-hitters in both the American and National Leagues."  I don't really know what those are, so it doesn't help me much.

The constellation ARA appeared on September 17, 2017 as "altar constellation" because the ancient Greeks identified it as an altar.  Today it's "constellation beneath the tail of Scorpius."

Photographer NAN Goldin was showcased in January 2018.

I loved today's theme!  A very enjoyable and original challenge.  I got through it with relative ESE.

Wednesday's New York Times crosssword puzzle solved: August 12, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 7:11, pretty good!

Theme: the OHIO PLAYERS, the band, inspiring Across answers based on various sports teams from Ohio: the Cincinnati Bengals (NFL), the Cleveland Browns (NFL), the Cincinnati Reds (MLB), and the Cleveland Indians (MLB).

Speaking of sports, ELGIN Baylor is a basketball player who was with the Lakers back when they were the Minneapolis Lakers, which makes sense.

"The Thunderbirds are in it, for short" is USAF.  The Thunderbirds is the nickname of the US Air Force Demonstration Squadron, like the Navy's Blue Angels.

For "actress Sedgwick" I put *EDIE of the Warhol era, but actually it's KYRA, Edie's cousin.  She's married to Kevin Bacon.

"Picnic" and "Bus Stop" playwright William INGE has show up before.

There was very little troubling me on today's puzzle.  I felt like all the clues were pretty easy, sometimes even over-explained (like the "dad joke" NACHO cheese).  Everything rather straightforward.  So now I'm going to STEEL myself for tomorrow's undoubted vagueness.

Tuesday's New York Times crossword solved: August 11, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 4:37, just 22 seconds shy of the record!  Maybe if I hadn't put *SIDES instead of EDGES for "things spheres lack."

Theme: E-I-E-I-O.  Four Across answers have those vowels, and only those vowels, in order.

I didn't think that "Vietnamese noodle salads" would be VERMICELLI BOWLS, but while the name is the same, these noodles are made of rice.

I'm not Hip to the Musics of Today, so I didn't know EVE was the rapper behind "Let Me Blow Ya Mind."  It features Gwen Stefani!

ROLLO (Hrólfr in his native Norse) was the Viking who first ruled over Normandy.  His successor was the much cooler-named William Longsword.

I'm not very good with geography, so I can't picture YEMEN as the "heel" of the Arabian Peninsula.  And the UAE is the toe!

Dutch master Frans HALS is best known for his picture of a jester with a lute, variously known as Jester with a Lute and The Lute Player.

I was under the impression that the long glasses of beer that I've seen at a local pub were just a modern gimmick, but apparently "yard of ALE" dates back to the 17th century.

AS TO this puzzle, it was no SLOG.  Gotta go!

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 10, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 3:39, just nine seconds slower than my record!

Theme: At first, I totally missed that there was one.  I didn't even notice the capper answer, KEYS.  The highlighted Across answers are things that, in a different definition than their current clues, have KEYS.

I've never heard the term FLORIDA ROOM ("bright, sunny area of a house").  A retro, but useful, idea.

Also, I couldn't have come up with ATLAS ROCKET.  It's come up before as an ICBM but here clued as "launch vehicle for many NASA missions."

CCNY is, of course, the celebrated classic rock quartet of harmony vocals best known for hits such as "Ohio."  Whoops, that's something else.  This is the City College of New York, within the City University of New York (CUNY).

That's it!  This was a quick one!  RAH RAH!

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 9, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 19:28, not too shabby for a Sunday!

Theme: SHIPSHAPE, as shown when you connect the "dots" represented by circled squares.

I didn't like the clue "S as in soup?" for NOODLE.  Also, "silverback gorilla, e.g." is not ALPHA.  There are many gorillas that aren't alpha.  This is a bad clue.  It's like saying "person, e.g." for sports star.  Conversely, "sea route, e.g." is a weirdly specific clue for PATH.

There are a couple of clunky old-fashioned answers that struck me as a bit much: AROAR ("loud, as the surf") and SMIT ("struck, old style"), for example.  On the other hand there was some fun stuff like TIME SINK, NO GO AREA, and SECURITY LINE.

Did you know N*SYNC had two members who were former Mickey Mouse Club stars?  They were JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake.

Pope Benedict IV ruled until 903, and was replaced by LEO V, who ruled about a year.  He was pope during the period known as the Saeculum obscurum, when popes wielded little temporal authority. So you can be forgiven for not having heard of him.

I didn't know that RITA Moreno (who played Anita in West Side Story) has won the full EGOT.

That classical education I got is totally worthless because not only do I have no skills, I long forgot (if indeed I ever knew) that AENEAS was the son of Aphrodite. 

The puzzle loves to showcase obscure men of letters who write for erudite magazines.  ADAM Serwer is a staff writer at "The Atlantic."

ST. PIERRE is one of the three main French-owned islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. It contains the town of Saint-Pierre, which lies on the island's east coast and is the main population centre of the island group. It is part of an overseas collectivity of France, and is located near the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Apparently RYE is a coastal city in New York.

ISSA RAE has been featured in the puzzle in the past, but today she's clued as "Awkward Black Girl" creator and star.  It seems to be a webseries?

College exam org. ETS has come up before.  OMRI, father of the wicked king Ahab in the Bible, came up in 2017.

Clever clue: "Event that's a bit off?' is SALE.

Well, that's enough trying to ANALYSE everything I got wrong.  Nice puzzle, fun theme, but with some rough cluing.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 8, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 10:25, less than half the Saturday average!  That's more like it!

No theme on Saturdays, but I was misled for a while by the middle Across UFO REPORTS, followed by "joint that sells joints."  I knew it was a dispensary, but I put *CBD DISPENSARY and then *THC DISPENSARY, because I got it in my head that there was some three-initial theme going on.  But it's the more plebian and prosaic POT DISPENSARY.

Apparently TAMPA is the seat of Hillsborough County.  Okay then.  The population of the county is 1.23 million, which means this county alone is more populated than the lowest seven or eight states.

The poorly-spelled MEGYN Price is a TV actress about whom I know nothing.

I was surprised to learn that a HALO is a feature in many depictions of Buddha, but there you are.  Often in statuary it's represented by a flat ring around his head. Anyway, I thought HALOs were western ideas.

I had no idea that TNT was originally used as a yellow dye!  Today I found out!  Predictably, it was the Germans who figured out how to make it an efficient explosive.

"Common recyclable" is EMPTY?  I said ugh when I filled that in.  It just doesn't parse right.

"Super Six, of old autodom" stumped me.  I originally thought it might be like a "big six" group of auto makers,  I guessed at *EDSEL but it's ESSEX. It turns out the Super Six Coach was a model of car made by the Hudson auto group.  The coach was later reused by the ESSEX auto company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hudson.  ESSEX also had a model called the Hupmobile.

Never heard of ANN Petry, "first female Africa-American writer with a million-selling novel."  She wrote The Street in 1946.  She was active in the mid-twentieth century.

I feel like there is a disproportionately large number of handbag questions in the NYT puzzle.  I have never heard of FENDI and I don't intend to learn any more about it.

Also never heard of shampoo brand T-GEL.  Made by Neutrogena, it's a dandruff shampoo.

Yet again my limited knowledge of Greek myths, on which I claim to be such an expert, lets me down. I know of STYX the river, and the titan/goddess STYX, but I could not have told you that she was the daughter of the titans Oceanus and Tethys (siblings, natch).

"Let know, with off" is TIPPED, but I for some reason was stuck on the sense of "mad and let someone know about it," like told off, and couldn't make anything fit.  Likewise, for its cross "entered angrily, say" I wanted to out *STORMED IN but it's STOMPED IN.

EVIE Sands, a singer, was featured on this blog way back in January 2018.

Clever clues: "Ring highlights?" is GEMSTONES.  "Place to go that requires cash at the door?" is a wonderful descriptor of a PAY TOILET.

Well GEE, this was a successful puzzle!  I was stumped, went down wrong ends, saw the light, and finally emerged victorious.  I liked all the clues except that one about recyclables.

Friday's New York Times crossword solved: August 7, 2020

My time: 19:05, three minutes slower than average.  I really DOGGED IT ("underperformed, colloquially"), today.  Just awful clues, awful answers, and awful solving by me.  A perfect storm of not doing well and not enjoying it.  THAT'S A SHAME.  I couldn't SKATE BY on this one!  ...And so forth.

"Place to get a variety of views" is OP-ED PAGE.  I put *OPEN PAGE, because I don't know what I'm doing anymore and I clearly have no business trying to get quick times on crossword puzzles.

Deep in the recesses of my mind came ZAGNUT, a candy bar with a crunchy peanut butter center surrounded by toasted coconut flakes, made since 1930.

The clue "sent" was very tough for ON CLOUD NINE.  It's "sent" like in the Sam Cooke song.  Similarly, "hard to let go of, in a way" is extremely tricky for TENURED.  No fouls here; they're just tough.

Mary Barra is the CEO of GM.  Now that you know that, you're set.

"Murmur" is a poor clue for COO.  "Creatures whose males barely eat or drink during incubation" is a poor clue for EMU; I mean, who is that ringing a bell for?

ELEA (today known as Velia) has come up a few times before, but as the home of Zeno.  Today they sprung it as "birthplace of Parmenides."

Speaking of the ancient world, the first-century Roman poet Martial is known for his EPIGRAMS. It's full of cutting barbs toward his friends and associates.  For example, he notes that his friend Cotta only socializes in the bath, and snidely, sadly adds that he isn't invited because Cotta must not want to see him naked.  Riveting stuff.

"Broadway hit, informally" is... BOFF?  Do people say that?  They say boffo, as an adjective.  But yes, definition 2.3 of BOFF: something that is conspicuously successful, a hit.

Recently I learned or was reminded that the OPAL is mined predominantly in Australia.  Thus I sbould have guessed quicker that "the Olympic Australis" is the world's largest discovered" OPAL.  It's in Coober Pedy!

The clue "and so..." leads itself inexorably to *THUS but it's THEN.  Joke's on you!  My mistake meant that at its crossing I put the tenuously-related *FUNDS for "stokes, say" instead of TENDS.  It also made me miss ZEN for "totally relaxed," since I was looking for three-letter word ending in S.

"High-risk bond rating" is CCC, which is the rating for junk bonds.  This isn't my field and I was lost here in the southeast corner.

Don't know anything about baseball, never heard of the Freeway Series; apparently it's an intercity match between the two LA teams, Dodgers and ANGELS.

I had to go letter by letter to get North African spice HARISSA.

"Game played on dirt court" is BOCCI, a little-used variant of bocce.  This clue should at least have noted the variant spelling.  Bad clue!

I have seen the movie ZELIG and I even knew that it was a mockumentary, but to distract us with the first name clue is devious.  Who knows his name is Leonard??

For "____ bag (fashion accessory)" I put *TOTE, of course.  It's HOBO.  What in the seven hells is a HOBO bag?

"Sporting, with in" is CLAD.  The entire time I thought of sporting as "fair."  It means "wearing."  Jeez Louise.  

And "dermatological concern" had me putting *ACNE, *RASH, and *WART until CYST finally revealed itself.

White wine aperitif KIR has appeared before.

Clever clues: I must reluctantly doff my cap to "drink that's hard on the stomach?" as BODY SHOT.  "Some bridges connect them" is TEETH.  "Choice" is very tricky for PLUM — not the verb meaning to opt, but an adjective, as in a choice job. 

Today's performance combined with yesterday's purblind refusal to see the theme makes me wonder if I shouldn't give up.  Ugh.