By Michael Schlossberg
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
12/11/19

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

12/11/19

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2019

ACROSS
1 Super silly
6 Gum balls, e.g.
10 Surgery memento
14 “Once more!”
15 MLB family name
16 Voice mail signal
17 Result of 
overexposure in 
the field?
19 “Yeah, that’ll 
never happen”
20 Actress Mendes
21 Brewpub orders
22 Fencing blades
23 Blitz by a 
linebacker
26 Ill-fated Ford
28 Result of 
carelessness in a 
locker room?
33 Hot rod
36 Cellist with 
multiple 
Grammys
37 Sales pro
38 Picks from a 
lineup
40 Champagne label 
word
41 Sighing 
contentedly
45 Salve
49 Result of 
excessive 
practice in 
calligraphy class?
51 Cloud, as of 
gnats
52 Title Mozart valet 
who married 
Susanna
56 “__ Health”: Quiet 
Riot album
58 Hops hot spot
61 Laundry hamper
62 Greek Cupid
63 Occupational 
concerns such 
as 17-, 28- and 
49-Across
66 Balmy
67 Free speech org.
68 Sampler wisdom
69 Eyelid irritation
70 “That’s enough”
71 Dancer cohort

DOWN
1 Thin cookie
2 Tequila plant
3 Spot for a 
Mercedes
4 Second-oldest 
Kardashian sister

5 Formula __ auto 
racing
6 Winged stinger
7 Ski resort near 
Snowbird
8 Complete 
one exercise 
segment
9 Space heater?
10 Utterly shock
11 Grow slack, as a 
poorly tied knot
12 Novelist Tyler
13 Classic autos
18 “Correctomundo!”
22 Standard Oil 
brand
24 Former 
U.N. leader 
Hammarskjöld
25 NFL periods 
forced by ties
27 Susan of “L.A. 
Law”
29 Hawaiian garland
30 Triage MD
31 Portent
32 Diplomat’s need
33 “Do I need to __ 
you a map?”
34 Fanny
35 Difficult H.S. 
class covering 
U.S. or world 
events

39 Round Table 
title
42 “I’m the culprit”
43 “Cryptonomicon” 
novelist 
Stephenson
44 Dog’s “I’m 
warning you!”
46 ’90s trade pact
47 “Yuck, tell 
someone else!”
48 Fuel efficiency 
stat
50 Kiss

53 The “A” in James 
A. Garfield
54 Narrow hilltop
55 Initial stage
56 Kitty cries
57 Middle proof word
59 Fit
60 Avoid like the 
plague
63 Uppercut target
64 Efron of 
“Baywatch” 
(2017)
65 Hubbub

The day after Thanksgiving, my family puts “Elf” on our 
television on repeat for the entire rest of the weekend. We 
own it on DVD and our Apple TV, too, just in case. If I had 
to, I could recite the entire thing to you from start to finish. 
I don’t even think it’s funny anymore, it’s just a tradition. 
Miraculously, after watching “Elf” for 48 hours straight, my 
excitement toward winter break kicks right into gear.
My usual grey sweatshirt and sweatpants turn into 
festive red dresses. My usual hatred for making eye contact 
on Blue Buses turns into easy small talk and new friends. My 
actual friends usually line the halls of the Walgreen Drama 
Center with complaints of how dry the weather is, but in 
December they also cheerfully hum Christmas tunes while 
still complaining. 
The holidays are a time for happiness and cheer, and every 
single movie pertaining to the season tells me so. Even the 
trashiest Hallmark movie helps guide us in the direction of 
general merriment. Last Wednesday, I was dead tired from 
six hours of tech rehearsal and a full day of classes. I saw 
that the movie “Love Actually” was on television, and I sat 
wide awake, entranced for a full two and a half hours. 
Even my vernacular is affected by these movies. When 

the month of December rolls around, you aren’t “upset,” 
you are “an angry elf.” You aren’t “dumb,” you are a “cotton-
headed ninny muggins.” Anytime a friend leaves class, my 
immediate goodbye phrase is, “Bye Buddy, I hope you find 
your dad,” in full Mr. Narwhal voice, regardless of their 
gender. I know these are all “Elf” references, but Will 
Ferrell is just such a genius when it comes to comedy. At 
the very least, I crack myself up when choosing to use these 
phrases instead of the usual trendy Gen-Z phrase of the day. 
Holiday movies sit with us so profoundly because they are 
possibly the only parts of our formative years that do not 
betray us later in life. I know that the new Netflix Christmas 
movie is probably awful, but I still press play while I do 
my laundry because I know exactly how it will make me 
feel: warm and fuzzy. I don’t know what kind of hypnotic 
magic they put in those plot lines, but holiday movies are 
addicting. The purity of the message in each movie allows 
us not only to have faith in our community, but also greater 
faith in humanity as a whole. 
In the end, all we need during those last couple weeks 
of December is a little bit of a break and a charming story 
of the loved ones we share it with. As Buddy the Elf would 
say, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud 
for all to hear.” Regardless of what you’re celebrating this 
winter break, I hope you spend time to sing and rejoice in 
the people you love. 

The movies we wait all year to watch

COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK

NATALIE KASTNER
Daily Arts Writer

It was a huge year in gaming. From the revival of classic 
franchises, to the success of numerous indie darlings, as the year 
comes to a close it’s time to reflect on our best experiences. Here 
is The Daily’s pick for the best video games of 2019. 
“Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice”
Controversial? Yes. A new beginning? Yes. Mentally strenuous 
and engaging? Yes. A game for everyone? No. “Sekiro: Shadows 
Die Twice” is a masterpiece of gaming because it does not 
compromise. After concluding their critically acclaimed series 
“Dark Souls,” developers FromSoftware had a vision and stuck 
to it. That vision is “Sekiro”: the 15th century Japanese themed, 
stealth, action adventure that had gamers either glued to their 
screens or screaming at it. “Sekiro” is hard, very, very hard. But 
it’s exactly this struggle which allows the player to appreciate 
the craft and sophistication that went into this game. “Sekiro” 
does not accommodate for its audience, the audience must 
accommodate to it. To endure it is to admire it. “Sekiro: Shadows 
Die Twice” is committed to an artistic message. It is that 
commitment that makes it the best game of 2019. 
“The Outer Worlds”
“The Outer Worlds” is proof that video games have transitioned 
into the age of intertextuality. The relationship between “The 
Outer Worlds” and video classics is one of homage and reverence. 

It’s fitting that this game was released in 2019 because veteran 
gamers will find that “The Outer Worlds” is a nostalgia trip 
through some of the best games of the decade. Developed by some 
of the best brains behind the Fallout series, “The Outer Worlds” 
plays very similarly but also borrows creative mechanics from 
other successful games. Blasting your way through an art deco 
inspired galaxy controlled by corporate oligarchy is well … a blast. 
Despite its many allusions to classic video games and sci-fi, “The 
Outer Worlds” manages to tell a story with political relevance 
while still keeping things light hearted. “The Outer Worlds” puts 
video games into the context of cultural history and reminds old 
time gamers how far the medium has come. 
“Mordhau” 
“Mordhau” is a competitive first-person medieval warfare 
game with a skill ceiling so high, I could get a Masters degree in 
it. This indie darling not only managed to capture the attention 
of the steam community, but also all my free time. The thrill 
of charging into battle along 60 plus players, shields ready and 
swords primed is a thrill second to none. The best part of this game 
is its complex and difficult but rewarding combat. “Mordhau” is 
a game of infinite approaches. By utilizing slashes, lunges, faints 
and blocks, combat turns into a dance. You’ll probably get sliced 
to bits in your first couple hours, but stick around for a while and 
you’ll be a master knight wielding excalibur as your sword. 
“Mortal Kombat 11”
For a franchise that revels in gore and spectacle, who thought 
that slowing things down would make for a better game? This is 

exactly what “Mortal Kombat 11” does. By taking everything down 
a pace, “Mortal Kombat 11” delivers the best fighting experience 
I’ve had in years. So long are the days of button mashing and 
cheap wins. I now feel like I can have a fair fight with my friends. 
Add back the signature gore and bloody finisher moves and what 
you get is a game that provides desensitizing masochistic fun for 
everyone in the family. I’ve lost count of how many arguments 
I’ve settled over “Mortal Kombat” this year. 
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” 
I never thought I’d see the day, much less be the one to report 
it, but “Call of Duty” has made a comeback. For about a decade, 
“Call of Duty” was a washed up celebrity, showing up every year, 
managing to turn a couple heads, but at the end of the day, still 
irrelevant. After making cookie cutter game after cookie cutter 
game, people were tired and any fan who wasn’t a prepubescent 
boy would agree that “Call of Duty” had seen better days. Taking 
a much needed break and not even including a single player 
campaign in the last installment, Activision has returned with 
a game that is so rich in visual detail it scares me. “Modern 
Warfare” looks and sounds like real life. Stalking through a 
terrorist hideout with night vision goggles and silenced weapons 
might sound like standard video game affair. Yet its creaking 
of the floorboards, the quiet ding of bullet casings falling to 
the ground, the shortening of breath as your character is about 
to open a door. These tiny details accentuate every experience 
making “Modern Warfare” the most realistic game I’ve played 
in 2019.

In our humble opinion, the best video games of 2019

VIDEO GAMES NOTEBOOK

ELI LUSTIG
Daily Arts Writer

Comedian Matt Berry’s (“What We Do in the Shadows”) 
“Toast of London” has been running on Channel 4 for more 
than five years now, only recently traveling over the Atlantic 
airwaves and underwater cables to Netflix and IFC in the U.S. 
As with many examples of British comedy, it may take a bit 
of warming up to it to really enjoy, but once you embrace its 
nonsense, it’s one of the funniest shows out there
“Toast of London” revolves around the life of its protagonist 
Steven Toast (Berry), a hopelessly lost and eccentric stage 
actor whose life mostly consists of bumbling around and 
confronting a bizarre set of characters, from a rival actor 

known as Ray (“Bloody”), Purchase (Harry Peacock, “The 
Kennedys”) and his landlord Ed-Howzard Black (Robert 
Bathurst, “Downton Abbey”).
Berry and Arthur Matthews, the writers of the show, have 
a glittering resume of TV comedy. Berry has taken part in 
classics such as “The IT Crowd” and “The Might Boosh,” and 
Matthews co-created one of the finest TV comedies of all 
time, the timeless “Father Ted.” They take many of the same 
elements of the aforementioned shows, but tone down some of 

the innocent silliness in favor of an unhinged vulgarity.
The show is loosely serialized, but most episodes deal 
with largely independent arcs. The premiere finds Toast 
in a conversation with his inept agent Jane Plough (Sarah-
Doon Makichan, “Good Omens”) about finding new roles 
and expanding his horizons. This conversation takes place 

after the rousing failure of his current play, whose title is 
supposedly so obscene that every time it is mentioned by a 
character, all we hear is, well, 
a host of other sounds. Berry’s 
delivery suggests he is always 
on stage, eschewing any form 
of dynamic range other than a 
powerful, straight-from-the-
diaphragm voice. 
In 
addition, 
he 
has 
a 
distinctly individual accent. 
While 
slightly 
unnerving 
at first, it makes a bit more 
sense if you view the series 
as a set of live theater bits. 
The voice as well as the litany 
of 
facial 
expressions 
that 
Berry produces fit the self-
aggrandizing 
character 
of 
Toast perfectly.
The premiere also gives 
a taste of the absurdity that 
defines the show, involving 

episodes such as Toast interviewing a producer in jail for 
Holocaust denial. “Toast of London” is unapologetically crass 
and stupid equally as often as it is unbelievably clever. It’s a 
credit to the writers that that line is towed almost perfectly 
in each episode.
Viewers of “Toast of London” will feel utter confusion 
upon their first watch, but the show is intriguing enough that 
it warrants a rewatch. After a rewatch, it will be extremely 
difficult not to fall for its charm.

‘Toast of London’ is bizzare, surreal and a total trip

TV REVIEW

SAYAN GHOSH
Daily Arts Writer

Toast of London

Netflix

Series 1

Episodes 1-3

After a rewatch, it will be 
extremely difficult not to fall 
for its charm

NETFLIX / YOUTUBE

“Toast of London” is as 
unapologetically crass and stupid as 
often as it is unbelievably clever

The holidays are a time for 
happiness and cheer, and every 
single movie pertaining to the 
season tells me so

Holiday movies sit with us so 
profoundly because they are 
possibly the only parts of our 
formative years that do not betray 
us later in life

6A — Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

