Saturday, March 29, 2025, Kunal Nabar

 Saturday Themeless by Kunal Nabar

Kunal is a Senior Software Engineer at Snowflake in the San Francisco Bay Area and makes his second appearance here in the Saturday LA Times Crossword. My first puzzle I blogged for Kanal was undone by his use of ASMRTIST who is a producer of Autonomist Sensory Media Responses ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. 

                   

Across:

1. Units of growth?: ACRES 😀 A very common sight in my part of the country

6. Bygone autocrat: TSAR.

10. Folder that may hold a missing email: SPAM.

14. Words of consolation: THERE THERE.

16. Avgolemono option: ORZO - Orzo is pasta

17. Developer's displays: MODEL HOMES.

18. Think piece?: BEAN. 😀

19. Futures analyst?: ORACLE.

20. Some specialist MDs: ENTS.

22. World Cup chant: OLE.

23. Breakout group: SECT.

24. "No one can know!": IT'S A SECRET - I'd bet Kunal has no idea about this TV show. FWIW, I can name the moderator and all four panelists. 

27. Relatively recent arrival?: TOT.

28. Symbol an anxious texter may stare at: DOTS - I wonder what the reply will be...

29. End notes?: CODAS.

30. Skyscraper top: SPIRE - A famous one

32. "__ a thought ... ": HERE'S - They don't all work out

33. Divine messenger?: TAROT READER.

35. "Sláinte": SALUT - Cheers!

36. Filled: SATED.

37. Like some Oreos: VEGAN.

38. Stag: HART - A red HART or stag and his hinds or does

39. Tags on social media: ATS.

42. Proposed: ON THE TABLE.

44. Minor deviation: BLIP.

45. Radio personality Angela who co-hosted "The Breakfast Club": YEE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

46. Take off: SOAR.

47. Grade again: RERATE.

49. Gelatin alternative: AGAR.

51. Ray Charles hit whose B-side was "Come Back Baby": I GOT A WOMAN - As good as it gets!

53. Wild-tasting: GAMY.

54. Bit of extra time: LEAP SECOND - Neal Degrasse Tyson explains it in 58 seconds 

55. Coding conditional: ELSE.

56. Rolls the credits: ENDS. 🎥

57. Fresh: SASSY.

Down:

1. Maximally: AT MOST.

2. Dance sequences, familiarly: CHOREO - Sometimes used as shortened word for choreography 

3. Ready for publication, perhaps: REDACT.

4. Put up: ERECT.

5. Move like a bear: SELL.

6. "OTOH ... ": THO - On The Other Hand...

7. School trips?: SEMESTERS ABROAD - My granddaughter spent a SEMESTER ABROAD in Lyons, France

8. Places to watch Earthquakes and Hurricanes: ARENAS - The San Jose Earthquakes play in the Major Soccer League and the Carolina Hurricanes are in the National Hockey League

9. Some score marks: RESTS - John Phillips used them. Go ahead and sing along...

10. Melodramatic sound: SOB.

11. Diehard's purchase: PREORDER - Every Star Wars film had diehards who PREORDERED tickets to make sure they got in for the first showing.

12. Plants whose name derives from the Greek for "dry": AZALEAS - The name azalea is from the Greek word azaleos, which means dry. These lovely plants are very prominent on the Augusta National Golf Course where the Mater's starts on April 10th. 

13. "Water Lilies" and "Irises": MONETS.

15. Elif Batuman novel about a first-year college student: THE IDIOT.

21. Leave the country: SECEDE.

25. Suit material: TORT.

26. Prepped for a pie, perhaps: CORED.

30. Mohamed who is captain of Egypt's national soccer team: SALAH - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

31. Gets snippy?: PRUNES - 😀 

32. Cape that's home to North Carolina's Diamond Shoals: HATTERAS - Along with its famous lighthouse

 

33. Tackles together: TAG TEAMS.

34. __ Grey tea: EARL.

35. Closest country to Cape Verde: SENEGAL.

37. Odyssey: VOYAGE.

38. Part of an ice cream brand's pseudo-Scandinavian name: HAAGEN.

39. Los __, New Mexico: ALAMOS - The super secret site where the atom bomb was developed 

40. Nashville team: TITANS.

41. Expensive, informally: SPENDY 🤔

43. French for canvas: TOILE (twäl)

a

44. Scientist for whom a part of the brain is named: BROCA.

48. Much of a flock: EWES.

50. Bananarac liquor: RYE.

52. Rolls over a tree?: TPS.