Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Round and Round” – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ answer, 10/11/22

Hello lovelies! This week’s Jonesin’…or ought to I say, JOOnesin’, includes including OO to a few phrases.

• 20a. [Air conditioning that doesn’t move?] STATIC COOLING. Original phrase is STATIC CLING.
• 36a. [New York baseball player publicly displays affection?] YANKEE CANOODLES (YANKEE CANDLES)
• 48a. [Ruling family full of cows?] MOOING DYNASTY (MING DYNASTY)

Other issues:

• 1a. [New England soccer squad, for short?] REVS. New England’s MLS crew is, fittingly, the Revolution.
• 24a. [Abbreviation for the president] CINC, quick for Commander in Chief.
• 40a. [They’re specialized for Big Macs] BUN. Does this seek advice from the additional center bun in a Big Mac, or are the highest and backside Big Mac buns in any other case completely different than, say, a Quarter Pounder bun?
• 12d. [Japanese synthesizer brand since the 1960s] KORG. The firm was based as Keio Gijutsu Kenkyujo Ltd., then Keio Electronic Laboratories. They marketed their first digital organ underneath the initials of the founders’ names, Kato and Osanai, plus the RG of “organ.”

Until subsequent week!

Sam Koperwas and Jeff Chen’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “You’re Breaking Up”—Jim P’s overview

Theme entries are acquainted two-word phrases or compound phrases whose first phrases are tough synonyms of “split,” i.e. to interrupt into two items. The revealer is FRONT SPLITS (53a, [Gymnastics or yoga maneuvers, and a hint to the starts of 18-, 24-, 35- and 48-Across]).

Wall St Journal crossword answer · “You’re Breaking Up” · Sam Koperwas & Jeff Chen · Tue., 10.11.22

• 18a. [Remarkable or hilarious] RIPSNORTING. I attempted RIP-ROARING first, which match simply as properly.
• 24a. [Chuck Yeager, for one] CRACK PILOT. Not certain I’ve ever heard this phrase and it Googles poorly. I’ve heard of a “crack shot,” however not one among these (see picture under).
• 35a. [It’s difficult to dine with one of these] CHOPSTICK. “One” being the key phrase.
• 48a. [Pulp producer] HACK WRITER.

I had a heck of a time discerning this theme as a result of an early model of the puzzle was lacking all of the Down clues after 11d. That meant as I used to be starting my resolve, I’d often run throughout a Down clue that was merely a hyphen, which in fact appears to be like prefer it is perhaps thematic. Once I spotted there have been too many of those clean clues, I found out that the clue gremlin struck once more. This occurs often on the WSJ the place the file by some means will get truncated although it stays readable.

Anyway, the puzzle bought mounted comparatively rapidly, so for those who solved it any time after that, you had a reasonably regular resolve.

As far as synonym themes go, this one’s fairly typical. The entries are on the enjoyable facet, although as I mentioned, CRACK PILOT doesn’t appear so in-the-language, at the least to me.

Nothing longer than a 7 within the fill, however there are some good ones: CAPTCHA, SKI MASK, LIP SYNC, EGO TRIP, PATELLA, “I REPEAT…,” and NPR TOTE. I’ve by no means seen ALIBIED or “alibi” used as a verb, in order that felt odd.

Clues of notice:

• 22a. [Not safe]. OUT. Think baseball for this one.
• 58a. [Zodiac Feline]. LEO. The .puz model has a capital F although the .pdf model doesn’t.
• 3d. [Bank job attire]. SKI MASK. Nice clue.

Solid synonym theme and grid. 3.5 stars.

Ailee Yoshida’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword answer, 10 11 22, no. 1011

Great theme! It’s delicate and I didn’t perceive what was happening until I made sense of the theme revealer: 62a. [Kara Zor-El’s identity in DC Comics … or a punny hint to the answers to the starred clues], SUPERGIRL. Each of the themers combines a synonym for tremendous with a woman’s identify. And the constructor is a highschool pupil making her debut … so she’s at present’s cruciverbal SUPERGIRL. The themers are:

• 17a. [*Sincere intentions], GOOD FAITH.
• 25a. [*One who’s “Hoppin’ and a-boppin’ and a-singin’ his song,” in a 1958 hit], ROBIN.
• 38a. [*With 39-Across, flower named for its distinctive shape], STAR / LILY.
• 51a. [*Considerable amount of money, in an idiom], PRETTY PENNY.

Fave fill: GAP KIDS, SPAMBOT, NOODLES.

Mystery merchandise: 9d. [Kind of fitness test for K-12 students], PACER. Never heard of of this. To the Google! Good gravy, it’s an acronym. Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run. Pretty certain this didn’t exist after I was in class.

Modern slang that I’ve seen earlier than however am too outdated to legitimately use: 58a. [Chucked forcefully, in modern lingo], YEETED. As in “I want to yeet every authoritarian leader into the sun.”

Four stars from me.