Saturday, November 7, 2026, Adrian Johnson

Themeless Saturday by Adrian Johnson

A funny thing happened on my way to a very quick solve. I sped through the SW, SE and NW but the fill in the NE mocked me. As you can see in the colored grid, there were some real obstacles there. Even a NASA guy like me struggled with SPACE WASTE (not space junk) and I flat did not know SHOJIS, ARBORIO,  AGRABAH or suss out the sense of the word WEEPING. I'll struggle to get through the day, live with a couple of bad cells and try to stay out of the left over Halloween candy.

 

Across:

1. Tails the fox's creator: SEGA - Apparently our frequent crossword visitor, SEGA's Sonic The Hedgehog, has a friend.

5. Remains among the stars?: SPACE WASTE - OBVI the picture below is an exaggeration but there's a lot of junk up there. The first object in space was Sputnik in 1957 and it fell back to Earth after 3 months and burned up in the atmosphere. 

15. Snake's target: CLOG.

16. Factor in some accidents: HUMAN ERROR.

17. One consulting a manual, perhaps: USER - After this HUMAN makes an ERROR, he then seeks out the manual which, fortunately, is almost always online.

18. Event with pros and cons: OPEN DEBATE.

19. Cactus League city: MESA - We paid $65 per seat to watch the Cubs play the Royals during spring training in MESA, AZ.

20. Puts together: JUXTAPOSES - One of my favorite words.

21. "Duh": OBVI - There seems to be poetic license to take any word and chop off a part and use it as slang these days. Totes adorbs! 🤨

23. Title for Mo Farah: SIR.

 

24. Impulse-ive path?: SYNAPSE 😀

27. "How cool!": OH NICE.

30. What hikers wear: PATHS 😀 Some of those PATHS that HIKERS wear can be very precarious!

31. Aspirational hashtag: LIFE GOALS.

34. Letter between pi and sigma: RHO - In Greek, Gary becomes Γκάρι

35. Berry quantities: PINTS.

36. Softball stat: RBI.

37. Formal address: YOUR GRACE.

40. Affix: TIE ON - "Affix a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree"

42. Chocolaty cereal brand: OREO O'S.

43. Leila Fadel's venue: NPR NEWS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

45. Brand on a racetrack: STP - Too slick for a sumo wrestler in this 1960's commercial 

46. Austrian gent: HERR.

47. "Brake! Brake! Brake!": STOP THE CAR.

53. Not close enough: AFAR.

56. Name for five kings of Hawaii: KAMEHAMEHA.

57. Beyoncé voice role: NALA.

58. Structures at some winter carnivals: ICE CASTLES - Wisconsin's Magical ICE CASTLES

59. __ bag: GIFT - A welcome alternative for those of us who are very bad at gift wrapping.

60. "I'm in no mood": DON'T TEST ME.

61. Ballpark figs.: ERAS - Not EST'S today

Down:

1. Dirty film?: SCUM.

2. Term in conditional programming: ELSE.

3. Plays around?: GOES ON TOUR😀 After 60 years, Mike Love is the only original Beach Boy that still GOES ON TOUR (pink hat below) 

4. Fictional city that's a magic carpet ride away from the Cave of Wonders: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AGRABAH.

5. Sliding screens: SHOJIS - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ $800 at Home Depot

6. __ platter: PUPU - It was my first thought and it turned out to be right

7. Centurion co.: AMEX.

8. Tilt: CANT - Lean and Bias didn't work.

9. Dating connections in some publications?: EN DASHES - My full time teaching gigs ran from 1968 - 2015.

10. Overcome with joy, perhaps: WEEPING - My first sense of overcome with joy was BEAMING 

11. Rice named for a Piedmont municipality: ARBORIO - Grown in the Piedmont area in the far NW section of Italy.

12. Titles for mujeres casadas: Abbr.: SRAS - Married women in Español 

13. __ bag: TOTE.

14. Part of a basic Spanish conjugation: ERES.

22. Seconds, for short: VPS - Vice Presidents can be the second person in charge. I went through many thoughts about what "seconds" meant in the clue

24. Moving with ease: SPRY.

25. "Huzzah!": YAHOO.

26. Big name in sports statistics: ELIAS - The ELIAS Sports Bureau is famous for hyper-specific sports nuggets for the media such as 

There have been more than 4 million innings pitched in Major League history and Fernando Tatis is the only player to hit two Grand Slam home runs in the same inning.

27. Habitually: OFTEN.

28. Event intended to address trade deficits?: CAREER FAIR 😀 When you are looking for a new trade.

29. Pipe shape: ELBOW.

32. "Feel Good __": 2005 hit for Gorillaz: INC. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

33. Trespasses: SINS.

35. Initial stage of mitosis: PROPHASE.

38. Abide by: RESPECT.

39. "Capisce?": GOT THAT - "ARBORIO is Italian rice. Capisce?"

40. Uno e due: TRE.

41. Close enough: IN RANGE  - The arrival of the B29 Super Fortress ] put the home islands of Japan IN RANGE for bombing 

  

44. Express: PHRASE - PHRASING can make all the difference  

47. Shipping platform: SKID.

48. Qdoba snack: TACO.

49. Serious sign: OMEN.

50. Defib experts: EMTS - Many buildings now have defibrillator units in the hallways to use until EMT's get there.

51. Briton forebear: CELT.

52. "I'm still here": AHEM.

54. The "A" of NATO: ALFA - The NATO alphabet where I would be Golf Alfa Romeo Yankee.

55. "Phooey!": RATS.

Friday, Nov 6th, 2026 ~ Yijing Chen

GO BIG. . .

Grand Opening~!!

Apple is planning a new building in downtown LA - 

it's called the iSore 🙄

Yijing Chen - is back again; her last LA Times puzzle was the "no notes" musical theme back on Oct 16th that we either loved or hated.  I loved that one, and today's construction, too - it might well be the epitome of a crossword, at least within the context of a themed, Friday-level one.  A solid concept, four answers in a pinwheel, plus a grid-spanner, with each of the matching "?" clues beginning with "Go", but interpreted as "G and O" - the letters that start the matching two-word fills.  A theme that even if solvers sussed out, only gives them two cells for "free".  Plenty of deceptive and/or obscure clues, with almost no dreck for fill, a high Grid Flow, and four 9-letter Downs on top of the themers.  My only 'nits' ( 58D. ) were the five additional "?" clues that were non-themers, used as a hint at punny answers, and of the mere four names ( one a themer ), one could have been clued differently; perhaps a change by the editor.  The five themers, no reveal;

18. Go with the flow?: GIANT OTTER - This animal "weaseled" its way into the crossword . . . 🙄

38. Go wild?: GREAT OUTDOORS - An 80's movie I did not see - Dan Aykroyd, John Candy

I went as Dan Aykroyd's Ghostbusters character Ray Stantz at the gym on Halloween

59. Go vegan?: GREEN ONION - A.K.A. 'scallions', I liked the fact that "Go Green" was not used for any of the clues. I chop up and add the whole bunch when I make my Kung Pao Chinese chicken dish. Here's the musical version

Booker T & the M.G.s

3. Go blond?: GOLDEN OREO - I liked the cute clue for this version of our beloved crossword cookie

31. Go figure?: GARY OLDMAN - One of my favorite actors, I am fascinated how his appearance and demeanor changes drastically from role to role, with hardly any makeup; here he is in the Fifth Element as Zorg, then Sirius Black from the Harry Potter movies, and again as commissioner Gordon from one of the Batman triologies - name #1

But Wait - Go On - There's More~!

ACROSS:

1. Wilts: SAGS

5. Lacking the knack: INEPT 

10. Each, informally: A POP - OK, twurd(ish)

14. Monkey's fist, for one: KNOT - solid Friday obsure, if you're not into sailing - or crafts . . .

Here's how to tie one, and some history / uses

15. James of "North by Northwest": MASON - second of only four names today; didn't have to be one - he was the actor originally cast as "Drax" for the 007 movie "Moonraker"; here's more from YouTube . . .

Fact #9 @ 8:12

16. At its prime, in a way: RIPE - this is true, of fruit - B.O., not so much - see 56 Down

17. Online chat status: IDLE

20. Reduce the importance of: DEVALUE

22. Osso buco cut: SHANK

23. Early tourney rounds: PRELIMS - tournament & preliminaries both abbrs

25. Storage tower: SILO

27. German article: EIN - "a"

28. Clothes line: SEAM - We've seen this misdirection before

30. Herding breed that originated in Wales: CORGI - proper noun, not quite a 'name'

33. Sponsor, as a stretch of highway: ADOPT - Here's a link to the history, and how it works

I believe this is on a stretch of I-84

35. Exceed 21 at a casino, say: LOSE - Dah~!  Not BUST

37. Legged it: RAN - my thanks to the constructor fo teeing this one up for me . . .

A leg, a run, a tragedy

41. Shrill cry: "EEK~!"

42. Part of AM: ANTE - Latin, ante meridian, before ( meri dies ) mid-day

43. Make quickly, as eggs: FRY UP - Also learned this is what Brits call a full breakfast

The YouTube video

45. Not just dreaming about: DOING

47. One, for two: HALF - another vague, yet great clue for Friday

49. It's mined, all mined!: ORE - Great new way to clue this old fill

"Mining" Nemo

50. Noun suffix: NESS -  I read this as the suffix one puts on a noun - e.g. SOFT is an adjective - softness, however, is the noun . . . one can't put "ness" on a noun; I have never enjoyed the "deskness" of my office . . . 😜

52. Handout to a passerby: LEAFLET

54. Tempo slower than adagio: LARGO

57. Gulped down: INHALED - had this clue/answer two weeks ago

61. "Could not agree more": "AMEN~!" - two weeks in a row for Friday

64. Sting operators?: BEES - har-har; non-themer "?" #1

65. "Alice in Wonderland" instruction: "EAT ME"

66. Prefix with quit or bait: RAGE

67. Point of view: TAKE - as in, "what's your - - - on things~?"

68. Optional stair part: RISER - the vertical part between treads if they're NOT optional by code

Vertiginous

69. With 23-Down, stir-fry vegetable: SNOW - AND - 23. See 69-Across: PEA

. . . OR . . .

DOWN:

1. Compete in the super-G, e.g.: SKI - I start with the Down clues to give me some crossings at the themers, which was only 3/5ths effective today; I did not know what 'sport' this clue referred to

2. "Is there more to this story?": "AND . . .?"

4. __ wool: STEEL - Dah~!  I shoulda known this one . . . 😖

5. "Sign me up!": "I'M GAME~!"

6. Paperless filing center?: NAIL SALON - "?" clue #2, very clever, and the first of four 9-letter Down fills; the place one can go to get your fingernails filed, trimmed, painted, etc.

7. Genesis sibling: ESAU - Dah~!  I went with ABEL; CAIN, SETH, and even LEVI fit; name #3

8. Southern cornmeal cakes: PONES - A bit Meh in the plural

9. Letters on red Minecraft blocks: TNT

10. Hybrid subgenre for Ari Aster and Jordan Peele: ART HORROR - Down 9 #2, I have not heard of this type of film-making, and I only recognized ONE movie from this IMDb list; name(ish)

11. Kebab bread: PITA - Dah~!  I filled in NAAN to start

12. Kick off: OPEN

13. Added benefit: PERK - I tried PLUS; 25% correct

19. Scandinavian city served by Gardermoen Airport: OSLO - Four letter yada yada Scandinavia~?  

21. Far-reaching outlook: VISTA

24. Like Ruffles: RIDGED

26. Sugar-coated, in a way: ICED - another great clue, talking birthday cake, e.g.

29. Cave entrance: MOUTH - I pondered our more obscure crosswordese "ADIT"

32. Create a policy for: INSURE - spot on, but took me a while

34. Toy breed that originated in China: PEKINGESE - Down 9 #3

36. Touch base in an unusual way?: STEAL HOME - "?" #3, and Down 9 #4 - baseball, but it's a bit 'meh' as home is a 'plate', not a base . . .

39. License plates: TAGS - I see this in books and hear it in movies, but most of the people I am acquainted with on the East coast do not call them "tags" - it's just "the plates".  Perhaps due to my time in New York where the registration is a sticker in the lower corner of the windshield, not on a corner of the plate

40. Ingredient used by nose-to-tail chefs: OFFAL - Another learning moment; I never realized that "offal" is the word/term/definition of the edible organs of an animal.  More about the cuisine - also British - here in an LA Times article

44. Caress: PET - I put in PAT

46. Inert gas: NEON - second in the Noble gases class

48. More economical: LEANER - CHEAPER didn't fit, but I left in the  "E R" and waited on perps

51. Red Sea peninsula: SINAI - More Bible, Geo name #4

53. Psychoanalysis topics: FEARS - nailed it - not the fingernail kind of hammering fear, either . . . 🙄

54. Pride Month letters: LGBT

55. Side by side?: AREA - a very clever, but fourth "?" non-theme clue

56. Raise a big stink?: REEK - our last, "?" clue #5

58. Minor complaints: NITS - see above

60. Poetic contraction: O'ER - in just a couple of weeks, we will be o'er the fields jingling bells . . . 

62. I, to Claudius: EGO - Dah~!  I went with "ONE", for the Roman numeral

63. Still in the box: NEW - "in mint condition" - I have these two original Star Wars toys, but they're pretty banged up, as I played with them when I was a kid . . .

. . .GO HOME~?

Game Over

Splynter

Grid Flow 62.6