Today's
Los Angeles Times crossword by C.C. Burnikel is titled "Action Figures" and features eight familiar terms adapted to apply to famous people:
Sally having fun? PLAYINGFIELD
Nathan at quarterback? PASSINGLANE
Doris during a workout? TRAININGDAY
Comical Samantha busy stitching? QUILTINGBEE
Director Oliver working on pizza dough? ROLLINGSTONE
Nicolas taking a swing? BATTINGCAGE
Singer Al making a strike? BOWLINGGREEN
Lucille on a trampoline? BOUNCINGBALL
Brand names used to be taboo in crosswords but are becoming increasingly common. Today's puzzle includes OREO ("Sister brand of Nilla"), OLAY ("Maker of Regenerist products"), IMAC ("Computer with a Magic Keyboard") and SERTAS ("Perfect Sleepers, e.g."), and ATE was clued with "Had Subway fare."
"Many a pizza slice" is OCTANT. I was unfamiliar with this word. It dates from the late 17th century and comes from the Latin
octo, which means "eight." Merriam-Webster defines octant as "an arc of a circle equal to one eighth of its circumference, or the area enclosed by such an arc with two radii of the circle." Now I won't be baffled if I ever see pizza advertised at a particular price per octant,
Timothy Polin's
New York Times crossword today
also includes names of action figures -- more specifically, Western actors. Even
more specifically, Western actors and their horses. The puzzle is titled "Saddle Up!" and the actors' names are directly above the names of their horses: ZORRO is on TORNADO, CISCOKID is on DIABLO, TONTO is on SCOUT, LONERANGER is on SILVER, ROYROGERS is on TRIGGER, and DALEEVANS is on BUTTERMILK.
My favorite Western actor was Gene Autry, whose horse was named Champion. During Autry's lengthy movie/tv career, three different "Champions" appeared in his films:
http://www.geneautry.com/geneautry/champion/The Reel Rundown site has photos of several Western stars and their horses:
https://reelrundown.com/celebrities/Horses-of-Famous-Western-Film-Stars-and-their-SidekicksThat's all for today. I'm going to go take a west. Er, I mean
rest.
