Saturday, October 25, 2025, David Karp

   Themeless Saturday by David Karp 

Earlier this year David told us he was a relatively new constructor from Victoria, B.C.,  Canada who took up puzzle construction during the pandemic. David's "day job" is as a policy advisor for the provincial government. As you can see by the color-coded grid, David has a lot of  unique fill in this puzzle.

Here's what David had to say about GEN ALPHA (my last fill) when I wrote to him about it wondering why the classification starts at 2010.

 - Hi Gary, 

I was just reading up on Gen Alpha again. It sounds like 2000-2010 is generally considered Gen Z and 2025 onward is apparently considered "Gen Beta" by people who apparently decide such matters. Go figure. 

Best, 

David

Across

1. 2-Down, for one: BALM and 2. Soothing gel: ALOE.

5. Name on Iran's flag: ALLAH - The phrase "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) is written in white, Kufic script 11 times along the top and bottom edges of the white stripe, for a total of 22 repetitions.

10. "Excuse you!": AHEM.

14. Pelvic bones: ILIA.

15. "Nightcrawling" novelist Mottley: LEILA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

16. Umami-rich paste: MISO.

17. Design trend that showcases literary treasures: BOOKSHELF WEALTH.

20. One of the Six Nations: SENECA.

21. Buzzy instruments: KAZOOS.

22. Cookbook writer Rombauer: IRMA.

24. Vibing with: INTO.

25. Gold-backed cryptocurrencies, e.g.: STABLE COINS - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Here ya go

28. "There is no there there" coiner: GERTRUDE STEIN - Today I learned that Gertrude's comment was meant to indicate her painful nostalgia that her hometown of Oakland, CA was  mostly all gone not that the city was meaningless. The meaningless use is more common today.

30. "Aladdin" actor Massoud: MENA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

31. To love, in Italian: AMARE - Let's all conjugate together

32. Birkenstock option: CLOG.

34. Studio sign: ON AIR.

36. Texting tech: SMS - This texting method is used by our entire family to share news and make plans. Unlike phone calls, it allows for some rumination before commitments are made. 

37. Central focus: THEME.

38. Festive vegan drink: OAT NOG.

40. "They are ready to see you now": GO ON IN.

41. Guardians, on scoreboards: CLE - For some they will always be the Cleveland Indians

42. Spice cultivated from Crocus sativus: SAFFRON - SAFFRON is a spice derived from th dried stigmas of the Crocus satis flower. It is the most expensive spice in the world due to the labor-intensive process of harvesting the tiny stigmas by hand, with approximately 150 flowers needed for just one gram of the dried spice. You're welcome.

46. Demo stuff: TNT - Demolition not demonstration

47. Rivals, slangily: OPPS.

49. Nasty fall: SLEET - In March a horrible SLEET and wind storm weighed down wires here in Nebraska. It broke over power poles and we were without power for three days.

50. Thermometer type: ORAL - Don't ask an angry pharmacist how to use a rectal thermometer!

51. Question while filling out a form: WHAT'S TODAY'S DATE.

54. Figure on Arizona license plates: SAGUARO - I wonder how HUSKER GARY would look

55. Enthusiastic assent: DO I EVER.

56. One who picks up speed?: SENSOR - I used this SENSOR in my physics lab to determine speed.

57. Puzzled (out): SUSSED.

Down:

1. Lobster catchers: BIBS 😀

3. Animal on Sri Lanka's flag: LION.

4. Money order?: MAKE IT RAIN.

5. Islamic palace in Spain: ALHAMBRA.

6. Spike in direction: LEE - 20 lashes with a wet noodle for this former volleyball coach for not seeing Spike as a name and not as a verb

7. Smaller than sm.: LIL.

8. Melmac native: ALF.

9. Curved facial feature: HAWK NOSE.

10. Component in many a smart home: AMAZON ECHO - Alexa does your bidding via the Amazon ECHO Dot

11. Only U.S. city with a zoo in a rainforest: HILO.

12. Spanish "this": ESTO.

13. Mineralogist with a scale: MOHS - Talc is at 1 on the MOHS scale and diamonds are at 10

18. "Ice Age" squirrel: SCRAT - In any language

19. "Weird Al" parody that begins, "How come you're always such a fussy young man?": EAT IT 😀 With apologies to Michael Jackson. 

How come you're always such a fussy young man?
Don't want no Captain Crunch, don't want no Raisin Bran
Well, don't you know that other kids are starving in Japan?
So, eat it, just eat it

23. Homecoming week crowd: ALUMS.

24. Decoration specialists: ICERS.

25. Teen who helps with the bills: SENATE PAGE - Oh, legislative bills.

Senator George Pepper playing
ball with some Senate PAGES

26. Common cheese in kaasstengels: EDAM - I filled in only one letter to SUSS out our frequent cheese visitor. 

27. Bring-your-own-headphones dance party: SILENT RAVE.

28. People born yesterday: GEN ALPHAS - New to me. It applies to people who were born in the 21st century from 2015 - 2024.  See David's note in the intro. 

29. Given a nod: NOMINATED.

30. Udder delights for a toddler?: MOO COWS.

33. Less rough: GENTLER.

35. Children's author Asquith: ROS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

37. Long or short amount: TON.

39. Pub prefix: GASTRO - What is it?

40. "Heard": GOT YOU - "I heard you the fourth time!" 😠

43. Completely wow: FLOOR and 48. Completely wow: STUN.

44. Govt. agent: FED.

45. Anticipates: READS.

50. Dedicated works: ODES.

52. Nordic carrier: SAS.

53. Member of the fam: SIS.

Friday, October 24, 2025 - Katherine Baicker and Laura Dershewitz

 Theme: Where's _aldo?

Puzzling thoughts:

Well, this one didn't cause the Chairman to do shots at a bar, but it did take a while to figure out where (and why) the dubyas went.  When you examine the grid, you see that two of them exited as a homophone (WRAP and WHOLE) and the other two exited to fulfill the play-on-words, (WHIP and WHEELS) as these two use the "W" sound

The "reveal" can be parsed two different ways but I think the constructors were referring to this one: 

60-across. Accept victory, however dubious, and a hint to 17-, 24-, 37-, and 52-Across: TAKE THE W IN.  Taking the W in (or from) the highlighted letters (see grid below) support the odd clues. However, if you add a W to the highlighted letters (see grid below) the four entries take on a much different meaning - and are actually the names of a brand of salad dressing (Miracle Whip), a type of packaging material (Shrink Wrap), the start of a refrain from a kid's song (Wheels on the Bus), and a very expensive grocery store (Whole Foods)

It is a clever concept and puzzle, but the reveal seems a bit of a stretch.  I almost feel as if I wanted a fifth entry with both a whacky clue and answer that followed the vanishing double-u

Oh well.  Maybe next time!  Here are the four entries:

17-across. Replacement joint that's even better than new?: MIRACLE HIP.

24-across. Linguistic battle between psychologists?: SHRINK RAP.

37-across. Jerks riding public transit?: HEELS ON THE BUS.

52-across. Donuts, bagels, et al.?: HOLE FOODS.

So, Moe, if you were adding a fifth entry to this puzzle, what might it have been?

"What Hawaiian greeters do with a lei to an unruly visitor?": RING HIS NECK

For the record, I thought all of the entry clues were hilarious 

Here is the grid:

Across:
1. Many Chi-town homes: APTS.  There are some crossword puzzle editors who insist the word in 1-across be a complete word, not an abbreviation - this puzzle has nearly a dozen abbr's, if you are also counting contractions

5. Sore with: MAD AT.  Having an abbreviated first word in the puzzle??? 😂😉

10. Sleep under the stars: CAMP.  "What groupies do" was too long to fit into this space (re-read the clue!)

14. Grab and go?: LOOT.  Clever clue

15. 14th century Russian ruler: IVAN I. Aka, Ivan Moneybags

16. Not even close: AFAR.  "Cold" could fit, yes?

[theme entry]

19. __ Reader: UTNE.  "Read all about it!"

20. Common lease period for 1-Across: ONE YEAR.  Two-year also fits (without the hyphen, of course)

21. Support column: PILE.  This is what my co-pilot says:

23. Journalist Lesley: STAHL.  She, along with Walter Cronkite, provided the news in a very unbiased manner for CBS - I hear that they (CBS) are trying to revert back to that position with their newly appointed news editor in chief

[theme entry]

29. Location of une bouche: TETE.  Tête

30. Actor Bridges: BEAU.  

31. Safe havens: ASYLA.

32. Color TV pioneer: RCA.  Three-letter and an abbreviation

34. Informed Delivery org.: USPS.  United States Postal Service

36. Ref. that added "horror show" in 2024: OED.  Oxford English Dictionary

[theme entry]

41. Novelty lips stuff: WAX.  These? 42. "__ it obvious?": ISN'T.

43. Clinch: ICE.  Friday worthy clue

44. Marshmallow spread: FLUFF.

46. Bluish green: TEAL. <== this was as close as I could come

48. Howard, for one: Abbr.: HBCU.  Historically Black College or University

[theme entry]

54. "Oppenheimer" director: NOLAN.  Looks a bit like Alec Baldwin here

55. Word with stress, or a common source of stress: TEST.

56. One who might take a stand: WITNESS.  Can I get a Witness?  (2:15 through 2:35, but listen to it all)

58. Like some contracts: ORAL.  Unlike some toothbrushes that are ORAL B

[reveals the theme]

63. "La Brea" actress Skye: IONE.  

64. Dark doings: EVILS.

65. Tech company that owns the Chinese microblogging app Weibo: SINA.  Are there any Weibo followers here?  Not I

66. Fantasy franchise letters: LOTR.  Lord Of The Rings

67. Answer: REPLY.

68. Firebird roof option: T-TOP.

Down:
1. Nearly: ALMOST.  Here is a trailer to a movie with the word "Almost" in it

2. Ballet class: POINTE.

  

I hope Splynter doesn't sue me for showing some "leg" 😀

3. Attempted to rip open: TORE AT.  When I looked at crosswordtracker.com to see the frequency of the use of this phrase, the last 5 venues to accept it were LA Times Crossword - must be a favorite expression for Patti

4. "Don't leave!": STAY HERE.  From what I am told, the length of a Minnesota "goodbye" is measured in hours (or even days), not minutes ... 

5. Actress Kunis: MILA.  Her IMDB page

6. Unwilling (to): AVERSE. Moe-ku:

        You think the Chairman

        Dislikes other's poetry?

        I am not AVERSE 

7. Mark longer than a dit: DAH.  As in Morse Code characters ... the "dit" represents the dot, and the dah represents the dash

8. Padm 's beloved: ANI.  First off, the clue refers to a character in Star Wars - Padmé Amidala.  Don't follow Star Wars?  You're SOL, because you're likely then to not know that she was married to Anakin Skywalker (Ani is his nickname) and is the mother of both Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia

9. Hedren of "The Birds": TIPPI.  Quite the cast of actors

10. Doesn't let anything fall through the cracks?: CAULKS.  Hah Hah.  Moe-ku:

        "Home Alone" actor's

        Nickname inspires plumbers:

        Macaulay CAULKS-in

        

11. "Please, go first": AFTER YOU.  Just being polite

12. Guy: MAN. 

13. Start to check?: PRE-. If pre means before (as in pre-check), and post means after (as in post-script), what would it mean if both of these were used together? Why, it would be pre-post-erous 

18. Goofy frame: CEL.

22. "Be right there!": IN A SEC.

25. Plagued: HAUNTED.  Halloween is coming soon

26. Sign of aging: RUST.  As in rust bucket 

27. Drafts that are lighter than stouts: ALES.

28. Sketchy area?: PAD.

30. Striped __: BASS.  In the Cheasapeake Bay, these swimmers are known as Rockfish

33. Precipitous drops: CLIFFS.  Moe-ku:

        Book report grade took

        Precipitous drop. Teacher

        Found I used CLIFFS Notes

35. Alpine skier Mahre who won 27 World Cup races: PHIL.

37. Virtuous circle: HALO.

38. Thrilled: EXULTANT.

I suppose I can accept "thrilled" as a synonym (adj.)

39. Glom __: ONTO.  Seems to be a British phrase

40. "I can handle the truth!": BE HONEST.  

41. Skip the daily commute, for short: WFH.  [sigh] It seems that there is a text shortcut for everything these days ... Work From Home

45. Tentative inquiry: FEELER.  Moe-ku:

        Crustaceans would make 

        Great detectives. They're equipped

        With many FEELERs

47. Too: AS WELL.

49. Choked: BLEW IT.  Back when Europe actually lost the Ryder Cup (on American soil) this was known as one of the all-time choke jobs ... Langer would go on to become the most winning golfer on the Senior/Champions PGA Tour, and still regularly shoots a score lower than his age (68) for 18 holes.  The Chairman regularly shoots 68 or lower when golfing, but then has to play the remaining 5 or 6 holes

50. Sin City attraction: CASINO.  Sin City = Lost Wages, NV

51. Open up: UNSNAP.  I wonder how many takes that scene took?? 😀

53. Marine scamp: OTTER.

54. Some degree: NTH.  BFA fits, yes?

57. Teeny: ITSY. 

 

58. Frying need: OIL.  Make mine extra virgin olive

59. Kanga's kid: ROO.  Milne character

61. St. crosser: AVE.  BLVD was too wide to fit

62. Currency of Laos: KIP.  Do you remember how I felt about the clue/answer for 1-across?  No different for 62-down.  All perps

See you next month