Saturday Themeless by Enrique Henestroza Anguiano and Erik Agard
Enrique and Erik presented a real big boy puzzle with occasional obscure-to-me fill and insidious cluing. The northeast corner provided me with too many alternate fills, the worst of which was XOXO replacing TATA. Arrrggghhh. A bad cell cost me a 100% but once I got what the guys were after in a section, everything cascaded to completion. Somewhere, Enrique and Erik have to be snickering about the cluing for BURSAR and PADS.
Across:
1. Activist Lee known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth": OPAL ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
5. Fakémon images, e.g.: FAN ART - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Fakémon are fan-designed fictional creatures based on the Pokémon franchise, ofter created as FAN ART or to be mistaken for real Pokémon. Google at your pleasure.
11. "What's __ deal?": HIS.
14. Pitcher's start: HERE'S AN IDEA - I went to ad pitcher's right away. Uh, some are not so great.
16. [raises index finger]: ONE.
17. Boundary-breaking home concept: OPEN KITCHEN.
18. Pithier version of lorem ipsum text: TBA - 😀 Lorem Epsom is a standard place holder in a graphic design until the text To Be Announced is inserted.
19. __ and gentler: KINDER.
20. Sonic, notably: HEDGE HOG - The Drive-In restaurant possibility kept me guessing.
22. Even a skosh: AT ALL.
23. Canadian conservative: TORY.
24. Repetitive email sign-off: XOXO - As I mentioned, TATA was repetitive but not correct and overstayed its welcome.
25. "__ queen!": YAS - A phrase that might be heard at a 51. Fierce competition: DRAG PAGEANT.
26. Send a return over the net: E-FILE - 😀 Turbo Tax does it for me every year
28. Made less sharp: TUNED 😀
29. Signs of safe traffic flow: STOPS 😀 Our recent blizzard/blackout made every traffic light intersection into four-way STOP SIGNS.
30. Oaxacan sauces that can have more than 30 ingredients: MOLES - We've had this a couple of times recently but it still took me time.
31. Set available at thenounproject.com: ICONS - See for yourself
32. Two score: FORTY - Abe used "four score and seven" (80 +7) so...
33. Rep: AGENT.
34. Mutual aid groups: BLOCS
 |
| Europe 1914 |
35. Gets hot under the collar, say: IRONS 😀
36. Ken's job, in "Barbie": BEACH - Coach and teach were briefly in Ken's CV
37. Fun time: GAS.
40. Dish (out): METE.
41. Remove from a 46-Down: OUST and 46. Headquarters: SEAT. You're fired!
42. Struck down: SMOTE - There's a lot of SMOTING in the Bible.
44. Deep-fried South Asian street food: PANIPURI ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
46. Calm: SOOTHE - Serene, the six-letter adjective was replaced by the six-letter verb
47. "And you __?": ARE.
48. Ugly duckling anthem of 1975: AT SEVENTEEN - I've been around teens my entire adult life and I have never had a song reach out and touch me like this Janis Ian's.
50. Unit of illuminance: LUX.
52. Competition with a Golden Buzzer, to fans: AGT.
53. Supremely miffed: SOREST 😖
54. "i cant w/ u": LMAO - The phrase "I can't with you" is a casual way of expressing exasperation or frustration with someone's behavior or actions suggesting the speaker finds them overwhelming or intolerable. Therefore, its absurdity might drive one to Laugh My Ass off.
Down:
1. "If you say so": OH, OKAY.
2. Seed in some 30-Across: PEPITA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
3. Where to see the stars: ARENAS - In this case, athletic stars
4. 1980s US Open three-peater: LENDL.
5. Word with job or craft: FAIR.
6. Formicarium dweller: ANT.
7. Uhura player: NICHOLS - I knew the character instantly but not her real name
8. Stick: ADHERE.
9. Like some voices and wetlands: REEDY - Abe Lincoln's voice was said to be REEDY and we have all heard the REEDY voice of Barney Fife.
10. Sharp flavor: TANG.
11. Sweet, chili-infused condiment: HOT HONEY.
12. What highly motivated people may have zero goals for?: IN-BOXES 😀
13. One making waves: SEA GOD 😀
15. Zoology class figures: SKELETONS - SPECIMENS hung around a long time
21. Does a happy dance: EXULTS - ELATES hung around a long time
23. Bill-collecting label: TIPS 😳 I was really taken aback the first time I had to make a decision on a TIP while the wait person was holding the iPad.
27. Nunito sans, for one: FONT ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - Word on my computer has a ton of FONTS but not his one.
 |
| Not on my computer! |
28. Lyrical story of unrequited love: TORCH SONG - There are so many good ones but nobody does it like Frank.
29. Act opener: SCENE I - Name the musical that had its opening scene on a train. (Answer below*)
30. Class offered by MITx, e.g.: MOOC - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ MITx is MIT online
31. Court call: I GOT NEXT - What you'd say to challenge the winner for a one-on-one game. Name this movie (Answer below **) No more movie quizzes, I promise.
32. Lacking sparkle: FLAT.
33. Under-the-table purchase: AREA RUG 😀
34. Overwhelm: BESIEGE.
35. Animal also known as a rooibok: IMPALA.
36. Brown bread specialist: BURSAR - 😳 Wow, talk about an all-time twisted clue! Bread is of course slang for money and the specialist for collecting money at Brown University is the BURSAR Michael C. White.
37. "We did good!": GO TEAM - Yay us!
38. Angela Bassett's "9-1-1" role: ATHENA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
39. Taken care of: SEEN TO - I have SEEN TO blogging this fun puzzle.
41. Album ender: OUTRO - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ An "outro" (a blend of "out" and "intro") refers to the concluding track of an album, or an instrumental solo played as the song fades out.
43. Rest stop along a highway: MOTEL.
45. Some legal places to make records: PADS - 😀 This is the runner-up to the cluing for BURSAR.
49. Some execs: VPS.
*That is the opening scene from The Music Man. The entire scene
** Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes are going one-on-one in White Men Can't Jump
Notes from C.C.:
Happy 84th Birthday to dear Irish Miss (Agnes), my creative puzzle
collaborator and close friend, who has guided me through so many life
issues. So grateful to have her in my life.
70 comments:
Nope. Couldn’t get any traction with this one, even after I turned on the red letters. A big fat DNF. I’m not happy about that, but I’m happy to be here and see how the rest of you did!
DNF, filling 38, all correctly except alpaca instead of IMPALA, and SKELETiNS (UNTIE!)
Congrats to those who FIRed this one, and my hat's off to those who actually enjoyed it. My favorite was NICHOLS, an other-worldly crush for young Jinx.
Welp, there wasn’t a drop of juice in that withered lemon.
Sorry, but I hated it. Too much obscure stuff like MOOC. The clue for BURSAR tried way too hard to be cute. It just kept piling on crap like Fakemon, Lorem Epsom, PANIPURI, AGT (?) . . . PEPITA, SMOTE . . . and that godawful clue for LMAO. The clues didn’t seem like hints, but more like intentional deceptions - way across the line past the usual misdirections (the clue for BURSAR is a good example). Obviously, this one was not my cup of CHAI.
Well, after a couple walkaways and 3 tries in about an hour, I had about 95% filled, the other 5% would’ve been all WAGs, so I TITT, done in by the likes of MOOC, PANIPURI, BURSAR, and a few others, BEACH is a job?? Anyway, thanks for the challenge Enrique and Erik. Best part of the morning - HG’s enlightenment and the lovely pic of IM☘️, happy b/day to you! 🎉
After wasting almost an hour I gave up and looked at the reveal. Way too many obscure clues. Not a fun puzzle at all.
Not enjoyable at all, alas.
Good morning!
Looked at a handful of clues, and decided this one wasn't for me. Husker's expo confirmed that I'd made the right decision.
Happy birthday, I-M -- and many more.
DNF. I threw in the towel when I couldn't get any traction in the right side of the puzzle. I guess I'm lucky I got half of it done correctly. I thought i had a handle on things when I got torch song, and actually filled in the SE, but hot honey and pani puri were just over the top and there were no perps to help.
Overall a far less than enjoyable puzzle.
First a birthday greeting to our Irish Miss ☘️🎁🎂
Based on their photos Enrique Henestroza Anguiano and Erik Agard should split the difference when it comes to hair! c’mon Erik be generous! 🤭🤭
I didn’t put much effort into this one. First run through looked like a desert with crickets in the background. Second verse almost same as the first
But enjoyed some of the reveal: I learned about fakémon as FAN ART, HOT HONEY (alternative to “Bae”?),
But c’mon fellas… “MITx”/MOOC?, I GOT NEXT?? “Brown bread” OUTRO, “I can’t w/ u” , etc etc 😳
“Nunito Sans” isn’t he a Bolivian soccer player 😀
GWB, what happened to our “KINDER and gentler”nation?
Are MOLES spies in an Oxacan sauce factory?
In 7th (or 8th?) grade we had to memorize … the best part:
Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then, Bowed with her fourscore years and ten; Bravest of all in Frederick town, She took up the flag the men hauled down. “Shoot if you must this old gray head but spare your country’s flag, she said”
“Formicarium” … formica (for-MEE-cah) is Latin and Italian for 🐜 and 1950’s kitchen table tops 😀
To any or all who completed this one. Send in your application to MENSA INTERNATIONAL or the “Psychics are Us” organization.
🤓
It seems to me that a crossword constructor should always have in mind the best interests of the solvers. They want to enjoy the solving process. The goal of the constructor should not to be a show-off or to be cutesy.
These suggestions should apply to all crosswords, whether they are a Monday puzzle or a Saturday. The fact that crosswords are increasingly challenging as the week progresses, is a totally different issue. I am as likely to praise a Saturday puzzle (as I have the last several Saturdays) as a Monday.
Today's puzzle in my judgment is not likely to please many solvers. The constructors appeared more interested in showing off, than pleasing solvers with clever word play and creative misdirections befitting a Saturday puzzle.
And the constructors were allowed to basically run amok with all their oddities and obscurities, seemingly unchecked or braked by much editing.
Thanks, Gary, for doing yeoman duty in your informative recap. I enjoyed your mini-quiz on the two movies.
And Happy Birthday to Irish Miss!
Ya gotta be kiddin' me. Ridiculous excuse for a puzzle. No "aha!" moments, only a whole bunch of "WTF?"
And a happy birthday to Irish Miss! -also, my daughter is 46 today.
Well, I’m glad to see I’m not alone in this misery solve. I’ll admit there were á few cute and clever clues but not enough to rescue this CW. I got tired of trying to solve the impossible. I believe á splver would need to be á mind reader to finish this puzzle successfully.
Thank you HG for revealing all to us.
Happy birthday to Irish Miss ☘️🎉🎂🎊
Pads was clever but bursar was not - just ridiculously obscure. To besiege is not to overwhelm IMHO.
Oops, that should be solver.
Sorry IM. I didn’t notice it was your birthday. Happy Birthday to you!
Aove says it all. These guys should find something else to do.
Puzzling thoughts:
Thumper (and I) just stopped by to offer two thoughts:
1) HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ms. Agnes!! May you look forward to a goodly sized pour of Dewars (on the rocks) today, whilst I toast you with my first dram of Ardbeg, neat - thanks for all the help you've been with MY puzzles
2) Gary, I tip my cap to you for being as objective as possible with today's puzzle recap
Life's too short to waste on garbage such as this exercise in vanity. First time in my life I had to TITT on a puzzle of any kind, and I should have known better to even start after seeing the constructors' byline.
I made a pass through the across clues and half of the down clues before shutting it down. Total elapsed time was five minutes.
The obscurity factor was off the charts, and I could practically smell the smugness through my screen.
I didn't enjoy this at all. Awful
Awful puzzle. First time in 50 years of doing crosswords that I threw in the towel after a few entries. Constructing absurdly impossible puzzles like this does nobody any good.
Well said and spot on. The fact that Erik Agard has admitted to being a narcissist (in an interview here, years ago) speaks volumes about his construction philosophy.
I hate to quit so usually keep plodding along until something dawns on me and breaks a log jam. No such luck today, just a lot of blanks staring back at me from the SE corner. I'm glad I finally TITT because after looking at the answers, there was no way I would've finished. Did anyone?
Brown bread specialist was so many layers deep (although too cute by half) it reminded me of a poster of lasagna (also layers deep!) in a history classroom. The teacher didn't have a picture of President Garfield, so used lasagna, the favorite food of a cartoon cat that shares the same name as the president! The kids didn't get it either.
Well, mostly Thumper. But I have to post because today is Irish Miss's birthday!
Cake option two
Cake option 3
Anywho, in an effort to say something positive, or even helpful, (hard to do while biting one's tongue.) I have to ask, how is anyone supposed to figure out (especially an old musician like me) that the clue, make less sharp has anything to do with tuning, if it does not also say "make less sharp or flat." Better yet, how do train our minds to think of the infinite possibilities of obscure clues when there are infinite obscure perps? I cannot get any enjoyment out of being permanently puzzled...
Wait, I know,
I did learn something out of all this obscurity!
A new way to respond:
54. "i cant w/ u": LMAO - The phrase "I can't with you" is a casual way of expressing exasperation or frustration with someone's behavior or actions suggesting the speaker finds them overwhelming or intolerable. Therefore, its absurdity might drive one to Laugh My Ass off.
Thank you,
As far as this puzzle is concerned,
"I can't w / u."
Lmao!
Gary, you made it comprehensible.
Good Morning:
Thank you for all of the Birthday wishes, they are much appreciated.
I’m in total agreement with everything that has already been said about today’s puzzle. Keep in mind, though, that the editorial staff has the final say. Enough said.
Thanks, HG, for not only being objective, as Moe said, but for being admirably restrained in your review. Thanks, also to CC, for the birthday acknowledgement and her gracious, heartfelt words. 😘
Have a great day.
Tough but interesting Saturday puzzle, many thanks, Enrique and Erik. And your commentary is always helpful--thanks for that too, Gary.
OH, OKAY! Tough puzzle but still FAIR. Hard to resist an OPEN KITCHEN, so we at least got a little bit of food here and there, starting with that PEPITA in those Oaxacan sauces. You can pretty much imagine I'll never have a chance to try those, but I bet they have a lot of TANG. I'd also like to try some PANIPURI, though I have no idea what that is either. But if it would SOOTHE me, that would be great.
Have a delightful weekend, everybody.
Forgot to wish you a happy birthday, Irish Miss. Have a wonderful time and a lovely day.
Thank you, Dave. I’ll take all 3 options because they’re all adorable! You are the King of Cakes!
Agree, consider the editor. Curious what, if any of the clues were altered.
"I can't with you" sounds a lot like "I do, but not with you" which I've been told a time or twelve.
Me, too. Thumper, for sure. Way over my head, with no incentive to try. Very few gimmes. I did realize that besiege and overwhelm can be synonyms.
The only bright spot today is Irish Miss' birthday. I hope you have a wonderful day. I enjoy your wit and wisdom.
Thanks for saving me the trouble of posting the same thing. Let me add YAS Queen. I call GREEN PAINT! Nice attempt to rationalize LMAO, but it falls FLAT.
Agree about BESIEGE. And the plural TIPS doesn't work.
I hung in there for about 90 minutes and ultimately FIR, thanks in part to three answers DW came up with: PANIPURI, MOOC, and ATHENA.
Before I get to a cavalcade of complaints, I’ll discuss my toe-holds, many of which were WAGs: Sonic the HEDGEHOG, YAS Queen, E-FILE, MOLES, two score/FORTY, GAS, SMOTE, LENDL, ADHERE, the obscure FONT, IMPALA, BESIEGE, REEDY (my voice is rather reedy), and AT SEVENTEEN, which I thought was earlier than 1975, probably because Janis Ian’s “Society’s Child” came out when she and I were teenagers.
Why I didn’t toss in the towel? I was kind of close to success and kept pressing until DW returned from her weekly walk with the girls. I didn’t see how Ken’s job could be BEACH. The BURSAR entry didn’t parse for me. I had the PAGEANT without the DRAG until the bitter end. SOREST sounds “miffed,” but not supremely, even given the superlative construction. And OUTRO took forever to enter my brain.
I didn’t know OPAL Lee or Fakemon/FAN ART; I found the TBA clue obtuse, even though I’ve seen Lorem Ipsum text as a placeholder many times; the “golden buzzer” meant nothing to me, and I don’t watch AGT; HOT HONEY AND SEA GOD were unknowns; the INBOXES clue didn’t make sense to me; and both OH, OKAY and GO TEAM were, like most CW paraphrases, impossible to discern as clued. Which brings us to the clue for LMAO, which I think sums up what was wrong with this entire puzzle. Too much crap, FIR or not. I wasn’t laughing at all.
I suspect Erik is so highly esteemed that Patti just says “ole” to anything he does.
Happy birthday, Agnes!
Ditto to this. The Saturday puzzles should be challenging fun, not obscure misdirection. Horrible!
I'll echo Misty - tough but interesting puzzle which I was expecting with Erik as a co-constructor especially on a Saturday
I couldn't remember whether UHURA was the Star Trek character's first or last name so started with Nichelle that didn't fit and shifted to NICHOLS - her last name - as Splynter would say- it was 70% right
The SANS tipped me off that Nunito Sans was going to be a FONT
"AT SEVENTEEN" came out when I was in high school- it expressed all the insecure places of that time of life. So often played on repeat, at down moments while writing bad poetry - which beats the suicide and OD attempts of later generations. My adult self wants to tell the younger self -"hang in there, it gets better in college" where it's okay to be smart around guys
Thanks for playing it HG and for the interesting blog
Happy birthday Agnes- hope spring has gotten there to stay!
DNF. That being stated, Alex Trebek should have hit Agard in the face with that pie when Eric was on Jeopardy. That's my feeling about this puzzle. With clues referring to Juneteenth, Asian Street food, chili infused condiment, ugly duckling movie, "I cant w/o u" and the like, it was impossible to even get a foothold. Aa chick flick reverencing Barbie immediately removes 50% of the solvers.
Ugly duckling anthem? Yeah O knew that , said nobody. But I actually guessed XOXO, FONT, IMPALA, MOLES, and NICHOLS after a few perps were in place. I've never heard of MOOC or PANIPURI and hope they never show up again.
I've only known TORCH SONGS as sour grapes, when a woman has been dumped. From the few songs I've ever heard by Taylor Swift, she could be classified as a semi-torch singer.
But I'm going to a PAUL SIMON concert tonight and I'm sure he'll sing 50 WAYS TO LOSE YOUR LOVER.
OPEN KITCHEN- the more elaborate the kitchen, the less cooking to mess it up.
BURSAR might have been gettable if it had been clued Brown's instead of Brown, since the first letter in all clues are capitalized.
In the "Barbie" movie there are multiple Kens and Barbies for the different dolls that came out over the years - the leads were Margot Robbie as Stereotypical Barbie since she was the original and Ryan Gosling was BEACH Ken. (The original BEACH Barbie was Malibu Barbie)
Some of the other Kens were Tourist Ken, Basketball Ken, Artist Ken and some of the other Barbies were President Barbie, Journalist Barbie, Doctor Barbie depending on how they were outfitted and accessorized.
I haven’t posted in a long time, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to wish Irish Miss a beautiful birthday! You are my North Star on this blog, and I appreciate your wisdom, grace, and humor. I’ll raise a glass of Jameson’s to you today!
Regarding the puzzle - THUMPER!
I agree with most of the comments. Preposterous puzzle. I think we have an editor who is far too willing to let things go. Since almost no one solved it, it should tell someone something. There are quite good bunch of solvers among this group and NO ONE was happy. A real stinker. Happy b-day to Irish mist
Wendybird, thank you for those very kind words. Please join us more often.
Thank you, Moe. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
I gave up. Way beyond my solving skills. Many entries completely unknown to me. TITT.
And I'm TehachapiKen aka TKen.
All my scenes didn't make the cut.
Rayo - I could do a whole story with 11A clue, 13D clue, 40A, 34A. More than 23A clue are 53A clue and saying 37D.
Saturdays can sometimes be above my paygrade, but today I agree with WEES. I TITT. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.
Thanks HG for explaining the many obscurities.
Happy 84th Birthday Irish Miss.
Thanks to Enrique, Erik and Patti - for giving me “learning opportunities” - many.
I too loved flying for bursar and pads.
Thanks to HG for the explanations/ descriptions/examples.
Happy Birthday, Irish Miss. I can lift a glass also - love an excuse to sip with the Irish.
Happy weekend to All
Many of us will not count a FIR if we consult any source outside our own heads, even if that source is our best beloved. I'm not sure there was a single FIR by those standards today. That is not a triumph for the constructors!
Happy birthday, Irish Miss! You are loved and revered in the Corner.
Congrats to HG for figuring out BURSAR!
"Hey, Siri, give me some cues that only .000001% of the world's crossword solvers would know!"
Yes! The Good Lord forbid that anyone actually SOLVE or, gasp, ENJOY this ugly, perverse, misbegotten hot mess!
It's a FIR if there is no help at all.
No Google
No dictionary
No reference book
A WAG at the cross of two unknowns is okay. I'll leave it and then come to the corner and see if I did it correctly. A 1/26th chance
CE, please wish your daughter a Happy Birthday from me. 🎂
Two score and five years of inking in the weekend LAT puzzles—the first forty of them happily. And a long-time (quiet) follower of CC’s blog. I suspect there are many like me. My first and last comment here includes this appeal to the new LAT chief executive:
Please consider applying your new editorial standards to the LAT crossword. Thank you.
To all of you bloggers:
WEES (except sweet Misty, who is just too nice)
Agree. Horrendously difficult! Being new to this blog...figured out TITT is "threw in the towel," but what is "FIR." The Google AI was no help! Thanks in advance. I know I'll feel stupid when I find out the answer.
Anon@5:14. FIR is Finished I Right. FIW is Finished It Wrong. FIRw/H is Finished It Right With Help (everyone has their own standards for that last one)
Oof! After 50 min. I had the top left diagonal filled with a scattering of words on the other side. I did like "Under the table purchase" and I did get PADS but wanted "tablet". Thanks Enrique and Eric.
Happy birthday, IM! I look forward to your posts every day.
Thanks to H-Gary! Wow, you are the GOAT!
Irish Miss, Wishing you a delightfully Happy Birthday. Like sumdaze, I always follow and enjoy your commentaries.
If you were a Downtown Abbey fan, here is a song for which I wrote the music and lyrics, and played piano on. On YouTube- "William and Daisy's Love Song". Click on "show more" to see the lyrics.
Hola! Happy birthday to Irish Miss! I hope it has been celebratory and fun for you! I don't have much to say about the puzzle except to echo what most of you have said. I got about 80% then nada. It was disappointing.
I hope you all are in good shape.
It took me a while Namoi! Bread is usually money, I thought of Brown University and I know bursars manage money so after some time, I put it all together. That seems a little too convoluted for me. You?
The LaTimes CW editors are like our current congress- not doing their job!
Worthless puzzle
After doing LA Times CW's for decades, I now glance at the Saturday cw and go nope.
Many of us have a life with more important things to do than play games with very poor editing.
In this contentious era, yet we have UNANIMOUS DISDAIN for this day's dumpling. "Meh" is a mere bagatelle, a hint, of the Corner's Curse.
In this contentious era, yet we have UNANIMOUS DECISION on the worth of today's bagatelle. 'To meh, or not to meh, 'tis forced upon us
by necessity.'
Welp…it finally happened: I totally bombed on this puzzle.
After my first pass, I had a grand total of four — count ‘em, four — fills. Wasay beyond ridiculous clueing, as everyone above me here seems to agree. This was like driving on ice with bald tires — I got absolutely Ø traction, and finally tossed it in the trash. Not one bit of fun, and, even after looking at Gary’s valiant reveal, just a huge pile of “huh??”s and “WtF?!?”s. Total constructors’ ego-trip; where the heck was Patty, out to lunch? Sheesh…
Looking forward to a decent bit of entertainment tomorrow on the Sunday puzzle 😎
====> Darren / L.A.
Sorry, Ms. Varol: “Patti”
(🤬ing auto-corrupt…)
Overheard in the climbing gym:
“ If it’s too hard for you, maybe you should try something easier.”
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