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By Joe Kidd
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
04/12/19

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

04/12/19

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Friday, April 12, 2019

ACROSS
1 Building unit
5 “Oh yeah?”
11 Pranks, in a way, 
for short
14 Industrial 
portmanteau
15 Movie leads, often
16 Narrow inlet
17 Energetic jug 
band performer?
19 Mtn. stat
20 Lodge
21 With indifference
23 Western 
formation?
26 “See ya later”
28 Some distance 
away
29 Skewered food 
cooked vertically?
31 Caine and 
Connery
32 __ rally
33 What snobs may 
put on
34 “Up to 3,000 
lights” brand
35 Do business with
37 Mississippi source
40 Seminarian’s subj.
41 Like-minded 
group
42 It’s worn with a 
kimono
44 Himalayan priest
46 Doesn’t get fixed?
49 Off-kilter
50 Weymouth of 
Talking Heads
51 Oxidizes
52 Like some 
elections
54 “This is __ 
chance”
55 Cooler cooler
56 Wile E. Coyote 
purchases from 
Acme?
62 Zero, to Man U
63 Online 
investment 
service
64 Loan default risk
65 Remote cells
66 One who’s 
determined to 
lose
67 Server’s edge

DOWN
1 Suggest, as a 
price
2 Org. that voted 
Keith Urban 2018 
Entertainer of the 
Year

3 “Monsters, Inc.” 
raspy-voiced 
undercover 
agent
4 “I” swelling?
5 Word of 
comparison
6 Farm female
7 Jackie O’s 
second
8 Original V8 base
9 Aquanaut’s 
workplace
10 Nobel Institute 
city
11 They sometimes 
help relieve 
congestion
12 Vertical 
Parthenon 
component
13 Mythical man-
goats
18 Yellow pool table 
item
22 Caravan 
stopover
23 Maximally soft, in 
music
24 Fútbol cheers
25 Celebs on 
runways
26 Poi plant
27 Hunk’s pride
30 Build-it-yourself 
buy

34 Massage parlor 
service
36 Sprang
37 Three-time NHL 
All-Star Kovalchuk
38 Talking-__: 
lectures
39 Be up against
41 Disallow
43 “__ a deal!”
44 Thin layer
45 Jodie Foster’s 
birth name
46 Low clouds

47 Musical tone 
quality
48 Natural light show
53 Barely managed, 
with “out”
54 Traditional 
Passover barley 
offering
57 Granola kernel
58 Keats creation
59 Marked, as a 
ballot
60 Prefix with -logue
61 Male issue

After three long years, Hunter 
Hayes is back with the release of his 
new single, “Heartbreak.” Hayes 
released the tune in January as a 
preview of his new album, Closer 
to You, and in February announced 
the tour he’s about to embark on 
later this month.
Since kicking off his music 
career in his late teens, Hayes has 
created a name for himself in the 
country music sphere with over 40 
award nominations and 
wins, including a CMA 
for New Artist of the Year. 
While he realizes most 
listeners adore the teenage 
love songs of his previous 
albums, Hayes is excited 
for fans to hear Closer to 
You, since, unlike any of his 
albums in the past, it comes 
from a more personal, 
sacred space. “I’ve probably 
worked for three or four 
years 
on 
this 
album, 
writing hundreds of songs. 
A lot of stuff was written 
to try to be like what I thought 
(the industry) wanted,” said Hayes 
in a phone interview with The 
Daily. “I scrapped everything at 
the beginning of 2018 and decided 
that I was going to make a record 
for myself. It sounds selfish and it 
sounds stupid, but actually that’s 
kind of the idea. You’re supposed 
to do that. As an artist, you’re 
supposed to start there because you 
know what’s on your heart, what’s 
important to you, what you write 
about, your experiences.”
Although diving into a new 
realm of songwriting was new 
to Hayes, he believes taking this 
album in a new direction has helped 
the process feel more worthwhile 
and fulfilling. “The whole project 
for me is about shedding weight 
and moving on,” Hayes explained, 
“For me, it’s one hundred percent 
the most transparent for sure, and 
it’s the most I’ve ever put of myself 
into music. I needed it. I wrote these 
songs because I needed to write 
these songs, not because I felt like 

I had to, and that’s a big switch. For 
several years I wrote a lot of stuff I 
thought I was supposed to, and had 
to, and now this record is just all full 
of stuff that I just wrote because I 
needed to write it, I need to sing it.”
Hayes gave fans a taste of his new 
style with his newly released single 
“Heartbreak,” which is one of the 
standout songs to be featured on his 
new album. “(‘Heartbreak’) started 
as a journal entry on a trip that I 
took by myself,” he recalled, “(I 
realized) this album doesn’t really 
have a love song, but (I wanted) for 
there to be one because I feel like 

(it was important) to write to my 
future better half and just saying, 
‘I’m going through a lot to get to you, 
but I know that it’ll be worth it.’”
With 
nearly 
three 
million 
streams on Spotify, it’s safe to say 
“Heartbreak” has already been 
well-received by fans. “I love the 
optimism of it, I love the mystery 
of it,” Hayes said. “I think it’s 
something I’ve wanted to write for 
a long time and just never really 
was in the headspace to do it. It’s 
just different in the fact that I didn’t 
really feel I had to ask for permission 
to write (‘Heartbreak’) or anything 
else on this album. I think this is 
completely unfiltered.”
Although 
“Heartbreak” 
has 
already given us a glimpse into 
what the new album will sound like, 
Hayes said he will be playing his 
unreleased songs on the tour so fans 
can hear his new music for the first 
time at the shows. For the musician, 
releasing his music live is just an 
introduction for the music that’s 
coming. “We’ve been on the road 

this entire time, we’ve been doing 
shows, but we haven’t been able to 
stop and build a proper experience. 
And now we get to do that,” Hayes 
explained. “This is all of my inner 
child happiness (about) things 
happening at once. Just getting to 
build the show, start from scratch, 
convey a message. I’ve been waiting 
to do this for so long. We’ve played 
shows, but we haven’t been on the 
road like this in a while, and this 
is where my heart’s probably the 
happiest.”
During the planning stages 
of the tour, Hayes drew a lot 
of his inspiration from 
other artists and how 
they’ve approached their 
performances. 
“I 
love 
studying anything that I 
like. I love to figure out why 
I like it, what I like about it, 
what makes it so, and how it 
was made. I love knowing 
the behind the scenes stuff 
about records and stuff. 
I just love watching live 
concerts and really trying to 
understand it and trying to 
get behind the curtain and 
figure out how it works and 
how those things happen,” he said.
But 
his 
biggest 
source 
of 
insight are his own emotions and 
experiences. “I think the time away 
really made me hone in on what I 
love, what I love to feel and what I 
want everybody to feel when they 
leave the show,” Hayes described. 
“I think this will be the first show 
where we get to know each other 
and break down more walls than 
we have before. I’m really excited 
about it.”
Hayes will be performing at the 
Royal Oak Music Theatre on April 
27th. After years of preparing this 
album and refining his sound as an 
artist, Hayes is excited to get back 
on the road and share what he’s 
been working on. “A lot of time has 
elapsed now (and that) allows me to 
kind of hit the reset button, which 
is a scary thing to do but also an 
awesome thing to get to do. I think 
the thing that’s giving the fire to 
this tour is that it’s a restart. Not a 
relaunch necessarily, but it’s a brand 
new day in a lot of ways.”

Hayes on his comeback

MUSIC INTERVIEW

KAITLYN FOX
For the Daily

When I’m searching for 
effortless entertainment, I 
often turn to my hometown’s 
Facebook 
group. 
I 
can’t 
help 
but 
feel 
like 
I’m 
scrolling through satire, an 
Onion-esque 
portrayal 
of 
affluent white people with 
nothing better to do than 
complain about potholes and 
playgrounds. Often, I wish 
that I could insert 
myself 
into 
their 
lives, to see where 
these woes originate, 
and why these people 
are 
so 
petty 
and 
angry 
and 
annoyed 
with 
the 
world. 
Julie 
Langsdorf’s 
debut novel, “White 
Elephant,” gives you 
the opportunity to do 
just that.
Willard 
Park 
is 
your 
typical 
upper-
middle class suburb. 
It 
has 
tree-lined 
streets, 
Halloween 
parades, 
a 
quaint local café that all 
the neighbors flock to and a 
culture of forced politeness 
used to conceal rage and 
envy. The titular “White 
Elephant” is a gaudy mansion 
built by newcomer Nick Cox, 
a real estate developer who 
has big dreams for the town 
and, thus, some big enemies.
Langsdorf 
perfectly 
captures 
the 
contrived 
nature 
of 
a 
“neighborly” 
suburb, weaving in and out 
through 
her 
characters’ 
own 
thoughts 
and, 
more 
importantly, 
how 
others 
think of them. There is a whiff 
of dramatic irony involved, 
as readers gradually figure 
out the book’s conflicts and 

controversies — the affairs, 
the fires and the mutilated 
trees — way before the people 
they’re reading about.
The most satisfying tactic 
that 
Langsdorf 
exercises 
throughout the book is the 
constant switching between 
the thoughts and troubles of 
both the tweens and adults 
of the book. Spoiler alert: 
They’re 
pretty 
much 
the 
same. Does that boy like me? 
Do I like him? Should I like 
him? Why doesn’t anybody 

like 
me? 
Why 
doesn’t 
anybody 
understand 
me? 
What seems like a peak into 
a 12-year-old’s diary is really 
an examination about how 
those feelings never really go 
away, and how in adult life 
they may lead to much more 
dire consequences.
Given the title, I was led 
to believe that this ominous 
“White Elephant” would be 
a more central character in 
the novel, and it certainly 
was in the end. Yet as I 
discovered 
early 
in 
the 
novel, the “elephant in the 
room” not a physical one, 
but rather the secrets that 
these residents are keeping 
from one another. That does 
not mean that this is a gossip 
novel, 
though. 
Langsdorf 

crafts a novel that’s part-
mystery, part-comedy and 
part-drama, all wrapped up 
in beautiful mix of humor 
and tension.
That’s not to say this 
book 
works 
on 
universal 
experiences, 
though. 
Langsdorf’s book is most 
accessible 
to 
the 
exact 
people 
she 
is 
writing 
about: 
Sexually-repressed 
suburbia-dwellers 
with 
the time and money to care 
about 
trees 
and 
hosting 
guests. 
Langsdorf’s 
characters don’t have 
too many problems — 
an overbearing mother 
here, a bratty daughter 
there — but the way 
they deal with these 
first-world issues is 
too chaotic to pass up.
The 
trials 
and 
tumults of suburbia 
is 
never 
the 
most 
interesting 
topic 
to 
examine; growing up in 
suburban New Jersey, 
this is something I 
fully understand. Yet the 
suburbs are an incredible 
anthropological study, one 
that musicians, filmmakers 
and 
novelists 
alike 
have 
recognized 
and 
taken 
advantage of. Everything has 
an aside: Financial stability 
(but too much money makes 
you an outcast), mothers and 
fathers who are still together 
(but 
their 
lackluster 
sex 
drive is driving them apart), 
the ultimate neighborhood 
experience (but that comes 
with 
pettiness 
and 
town 
halls). It is pathetic, it is 
discouraging, it is absolutely 
delicious. 
Through 
Langsdorf’s words, one can’t 
help but willfully crawl back 
into the deranged suburb 
that they came from.

‘White Elephant’ exposes 
realities of suburban life

BOOK REVIEW

SAMANTHA DELLA FERA
Senior Arts Editor

White Elephant

Julie Langsdorf

Ecco

Mar. 26, 2019

In modern times, it’s easy 
to get so caught up in the 
superficiality of your social 
media feed and miss the 
intricacies of other people’s 
lifestyles. That’s where “Wife 
Swap” comes in. One 
spin-off (“Celebrity 
Wife 
Swap”) 
and 
a 
couple 
of 
cancellations 
later, 
“Wife Swap” finally 
makes its return to 
network television — 
this time boasting a 
more progressive air. 
Despite 
variances 
to 
the 
classic 
formula of swapping 
only 
heterosexual 
couples, 
the 
foundation 
of 
the 
show 
remains 
the 
same: Two different 
families 
swap 
a 
parent for two weeks 
and see how their 
parenting 
styles 
hold 
up 
in 
other 
households.
The pilot episode 
features 
a 
swap 
between 
a 
stay-
at-home 
mom, 
Virginia, 
and 
a 
stay-at-home 
dad, 
Bo. In classic “Wife Swap” 
fashion, the two families are 
complete opposites. Virginia 
is portrayed as a helicopter 
mom who homeschools her 
repressed kids and (for some 
reason) 
takes 
care 
of 
10 
puppies, while Bo is the fun-
loving dad who lets his kids 
roam free and eat processed 
junk food all day. Although 
they were both stay-at-home 
parents, Bo was definitely 
more entertaining to watch, 
as he was teaching the kids 
to have fun while Virginia 
just took away the kids’ video 
games and cringed when they 

ate chicken nuggets.
At the end of each episode, 
the 
parents 
reunite 
and 
deliberate on what each family 
needs to change in their 
household. This segment is an 
awkward attempt to extract 
the last strains of drama 
the episode can offer whilst 
finding a “middle ground” 

between the two families. 
Throughout 
the 
entire 
episode, 
Virginia 
nagged 
about how Bo’s family needed 
to change their dietary habits, 
but she suddenly reveals in 
this conference portion that 
she is such an aggressive 
health advocate because she 
needed to give up a kidney 
for her child. This confession 
comes way out of left field and 
should have been revealed 
much earlier in the episode, 
particularly 
when 
Virginia 
and Bo’s wife Christie were 
bickering about how they felt 
“mommy-shamed.”
For the pilot episode of a 
rebooted show, the storyline 

could have used a more drastic 
change to prove why this 
version of “Wife Swap” should 
stay on the air. At the episode’s 
conclusion, 
audiences 
were 
given a trailer of the season 
to come. And with previews 
that include a vlogger family, 
a same-sex family, a sexist 
husband and many more of the 
show’s 
trademark 
cartoonish 
caricatures, 
one 
cannot 
help 
but 
wonder 
why 
they 
decided 
to 
commence 
the 
reboot 
with 
an 
episode as bland 
as the one that 
aired. 
There 
weren’t many “oh 
snap” 
moments, 
which is a crucial 
component 
every 
good 
reality 
TV 
show 
needs 
to 
capture 
its 
audience. If you’ve 
ever 
watched 
“The Bachelor” or 
any 
installment 
of 
the 
“Real 
Housewives,” you 
know the moments 
I’m 
referring 
to, 
and this episode 
is like “PBS NewsHour” in 
comparison.
As of right now, parents who 
are actively raising younger 
children are the only audience 
that the show targets, but 
if they expand to different 
kinds of families and raise the 
drama, they might be able to 
reach a level right below “Real 
Housewives” reality TV. It’s a 
good source of entertainment 
when there’s nothing else to 
watch, but the distinction 
between reality TV and an 
issue of “Parents” magazine 
is something they’ll need to 
work hard on earning as soon 
as possible if they don’t want 
another cancellation.

Timid ‘Wife Swap’ return

TV REVIEW

SOPHIA YOON
Daily Arts Writer

Wife Swap

Pilot

Paramount Network

Thursdays @ 9 p.m.

Hunter Hayes

April 27 @ 6 p.m.

Royal Oak Music Theatre

GA starting at $41

6 — Friday, April 12, 2019
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

