Saturday Themeless by Adrian Johnson
It’s great to be back in the LA Times, and I’m excited to share my take on one of the most iconic themeless patterns of recent memory with you this weekend.
I started with a NE crossing of PR BLITZ & ZEDONKS (A ZEDONK with mom and dad - hg), which I thought was a fun, lively and scrabbly launching point for my creative thinking (though it didn’t survive my final edits). When I moved south and got JALISCO/JUKEBOX/XY PLANE to work in the SE, I knew I was onto something. My favorite clues that survived edits are 18A (which I owe to Brad Wilber), 41A and 41D, while my favorite entries are 15A, 1D and 8D.
Ultimately, I’m delighted by the end product, a feeling not based on how I might judge a “fun” or “lively” crossword, but instead rooted in the variety of words and phrases I was able to fit into the puzzle. The grid’s 36 7-letter entries give ample opportunity for a constructor to push themselves to develop an engaging picture of our world using many parts of life and culture, forcing solvers to stretch their brain and use all their knowledge to get to a victorious finish. In just one corner of this grid you get Mexican geography, French language, English playwriting, two musical entries that couldn’t be more different, some math, a cleaning agent and a tedious synonym. That kind of diversity is what makes me the happiest when reminiscing on this year-old crossword.
Thank you for taking a crossword journey with me on this fine Saturday, and I hope you enjoyed the puzzle!
Adrian said to feel free to contact him: Adrian johnson435 at gmail
-AJ
8. Dumpling cooker, perhaps: STEAMER - I wrote to C.C. and told her I'd bet a lot of money that she has a bamboo STEAMER. Her reply: "You lose! We have a small kitchen. These steamers are so bulky. In China, all families have steamers. Chinese don't bake bread. We steam mantou (Chinese bread)."
15. So cool it hurts: UBER HIP - The hippest of the hip
16. Cost of winging it?: AIRFARE - One of Adrian's favorite clues.
17. Court figures: LAWYERS - William Jennings Bryan v. Clarence Darrow is a very famous pairing
18. Bistro cheese?: MAITRED - A MAÎTRE D is a "big cheese" in a restaurant. I struggled for the name of a cheese and then for recognizing the French word I had generated but got 'er done. As you read, Adrian credits Brad Wilber with this cluing
19. "90 Day Fiancé" airer: TLC - Google if you must
20. Fireballs, e.g.: METEORS - Pieces of space rock that usually just burn up in the Earth's atmosphere can be streaking across the sky in this long exposure picture
22. Kings, on NBA scoreboards: SAC - Even Omaha was a part of this family tree from 1973 - 1975
25. Music with conga drums: SALSA - Desi Arnaz's/Ricky Ricardo's instrument of choice
26. Nigerian pop star: SADE - Let's take a nice, smooth jazz break
27. Get a tat: INK UP.
29. Connection: TIE.
30. ESPN analyst Rose: JALEN and 47. Net support: RIM - Those RIMS are now spring loaded so they don't break off when guys like JALEN Rose dunk on them
31. Adolescents: TEENERS - Okay, if Merriman Webster says so...
33. Samovar transport: TEA CART - Samovar
35. Bit of hope: RAY.
36. German gripe: ACH - ACH du Lieber!
37. Offered as proof: ADDUCED.
45. Director Sergio: LEONE - He and Clint made several "spaghetti westerns" and I'll bet you can translate the title below (hint: puñado means fistful - hg)
48. Emotionless: STONY.
49. Streaming concerns: LAGS - A new ISP is coming to our town and promises much faster downloads
50. Skate park features: RAILS - What could possibly go wrong?
52. Leader of a popular breakfast trio: SNAP, Crackle and Pop. A great item in your Keto diet.
53. ER personnel: MDS.
54. "Heather Has Two __": 1989 children's book: MOMMIES - My neighbor's grandson has two MOMMIES and they are both lovely people.
56. Buck Henry was the first to host it five times, briefly: SNL - Who knew it would be a big hit in TV and crosswords?
57. "Do we have the ok?": IS IT A GO - Our constructors' request to Rich. Rich's reply, "Yeah, were' going to give it a 4. Shot: TRY."
59. Common cleanser: SAL SODA - It's been around for decades
61. Habitual surfer: NETIZEN.
62. Medieval trumpet: CLARION.
63. London area: EASTEND.
3. Unsuccessful rollout that tried to imitate Pepsi: NEW COKE - The Edsel of soft drinks
5. "I'm talking now": AHEM - "I didn't mean to talk while you're interrupting"
6. Rotation targets: TIRES - Most say you should rotate your tires every 7,500 miles
7. High-level H.S. math course: AP STATS.
9. Crown: TIARA.
10. Goddess of discord: ERIS - Here ya go
11. Sailor's direction: AFT.
12. Wine used to flavor zabaglione: MARSALA.
14. Trifling sum: RED CENT - Derivation
21. Certain Ivy Leaguer: ELI.
24. Community-building races: FUN RUNS - FUN and RUN in the same sentence?
26. Potpourri packets: SACHETS.
28. Parting word: PEACE - The one-word sign off word for the host of the original Today Show, Dave Garroway
30. Pickup game: JACKS - The set I had
32. Manhattan liquor: RYE - 2 oz RYE or Canadian whisky, 3/4 oz Sweet red vermouth, Dash Angostura bitters, Maraschino cherry (Garnish)
34. Café freebie: EAU
37. Hardly sharing words: ALL MINE.
38. Jordan River outlet: DEAD SEA.
39. Monitors a Lab, say: DOG SITS - Uh, that lab is a canine, not a scientific area
40. Place to play ball: DIAMOND.
41. State known for its tequila: JALISCO - Blue Agave plants used to make tequila in a field near Tequila, Mexico in the state of Jalisco
42. Lyon greeting: BON SOIR - Good Evening in Lyon and the rest of France
43. Without respite: ON AND ON.
44. Where many plots are made: XY PLANE - Plot these points in an XY PLANE (Cartesian Plane), join the points and you got yourself a triangle
50. Seth who played Wozniak in "Steve Jobs": ROGEN - ROGEN and Woz below
51. Makes watertight: SEALS.
54. Place to use an exit strategy: MAZE.
55. Rock quarry unit: SLAB - This quarry in Carrara, Italy produced the SLAB that Michelangelo used for the David
58. Start of a fair exchange: TIT - TIT for tat
60. Sign of success: SRO - Husker VB has a streak of 270 consecutive sellouts and so Standing Room Only tickets are all that are available for games
DNF. Got the left side complete, but had a couple blank squares in the NE, and mostly white in the SE. Hit the check button, and only two letters went red: STO🅸🅲. Changed that to STONY, and the entire corner fell! But I just couldn't remember SA🅼OSET, and couldn't suss _AIT RED. Finally threw in the towel and let AL (AcrossLite) fill in the M.
ReplyDeleteMAITRE D'! Argh!
The director, Sergio LEONE
Made B films, that's B for Baloney.
Still, they were good.
See them, you should.
So should everyone who's not ABALONE!
(Blame my deafness if that one doesn't rhyme.)
Once we were seated, the MAÎTRE D'
Asked if we wanted the CART for TEA.
We said coffee was fine,
Or white MARSALA wine,
If it went well with burgers, Mickey D's!
{B+, B+.}
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteTwas not to be. I new a RED would be a wine, but what's a MAIT RED? Why is a NETIZEN a habitual sufferer? D'oh! ERIS reminded me of the Mirror of ERISED (desire) in Harry Potter. Don't believe I've ever heard of Rose Jalen. Managed to Wite-Out all my problems until I attempted Sherman's march to the sea. My BON JOUR and BAR SOAP kept the solution from appearing for a long time -- forever, actually. I never did hop aboard that XYPLANE. Spelling JALISCO with an H didn't help, either. Thanx for the slap of reality, Adrian. Enjoyed your tour, as usual, Husker.
RYE: Where I grew up, everybody made Manhattans with brandy -- definitely a regional thing.
EREADER: That photo Husker posted looks exactly like my Paper-White. No more dead tree versions for d-o.
Coolish this morning. Should be a good day for that bike ride through the 'hood.
Very tricky cluing for a Saturday solo debut; well done Adrian. MAITRE D was diabolic, but after yesterday's DECREASE debacle, I was ready.
ReplyDeleteThe grid was classic and the write-up classic HG. I learned a ZEDONK can also be called a ZONKEY which described many college classmates in the 60s.
Thanks guys
This was a two day ordeal with CULT appearing in my brain finally and when I changed anemone toABALONE, UBER popped (LAWYERS duh). And of course, TRY for 'Shots'.
ReplyDeleteThen I skimmed and saw MAoTRED and yes he did have a long trek but nothing to do with cheese. ERoS is not the discordant one.
I had bots for the streaming concern and I'm broke but…
I came up with RAmpS < RAILS,RMS for net support and MOMsIES which finally yielded JApISCO and a broken heart for Wilbur, boohoo I coulda been a xword hero. As if I don't know a RIM supports a net. But I don't know Mexican States though we had a map in here not long ago.
I had equal trouble with SW with PETS IT'S and rmS. I think MAZE came in a dream. I thought of RAmpS after seeing Anon-T 's link fln. There were neither ramps nor RAILS. The S in SALSODA was a WAG.
And yes RMS could be considered "Net support" eh -T?
BTW, this week constructor names were eliminated from the weekly insert.
DEAD SEA should have been a given but I'd already blotched up the area.
I suspected XY PLANE was right up Gary's alley. When staid and stoic wouldn't fit was left with XY???. But PL was there so NE filled. I heard a distant CLARION but only knew Ozzie OSBORNE
Liked your l'icks Owen and yes, rhymes perfectly
D-O, that's JALEN Rose one of Michigan's fab five of which three starred in NBA.
WC
This was challenging but ultimately doable. I had a little hold up trying to remember JALISCO, I kept thinking it was Talisco or Calisco when JUKE BOX was slow to fill.
ReplyDeleteThe Rocky Horror Picture Show was already a CULT HIT back when I was in college 40 years ago - it played at midnight almost every Fri/ Sat at the movie theater in my college town.
I was in high school when the Kings were in Kansas City- my high school choral ensemble sang the "Star Spangled Banner" at the beginning of one of the games back then.
Thanks HG for the always fun write-up and to Adrian for the puzzle and visit!
This took a tad under 21 minutes to finish. I agree with the constructor that it's a very diverse puzzle, but, to me, the enjoyment of the puzzle suffered a little as a result. But I guess that's bound to happen when you put style (the grid design) over substance, which seemed to be his goal.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the Maitre D clue, but would if it was "Bistro big cheese" instead of just "Bistro cheese."
ReplyDeleteGood morning. Great puzzle, Adrian. A good test. Fun to solve. Very nice review, Husker Gary (with one caveat).
Hand up for not seeing Maitre D. I had L as in Lait red. Seemed to make the most sense. D'oh !
Desper-otto, not knowing what a Paper-White looked like, I opened an enlarged image of Husker's E-READER jpg. Except for Kindle, I couldn't understand a word of what I was trying to read !
As with inanehiker, I remember (way back in the day) people dressing in costumes to attend "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." It was played every weekend at some movie houses, and the audience knew the dialogue lines and songs word for word. It still happens to this day. In fact, as Chicago opened back up, one of the A&E reporters recently commented that it's being shown again every weekend here, albeit with a limited number of tickets available for each showing, and masks are required.
Husker, et al, it's never a good idea to put someone's email id in a blogpost (or blog comment) (or most other social media websites and message boards) in its correct email id format. Bots (email harvesters) will collect it, and the owner will start getting spam and scam emails.
I would suggest obfuscating Adrian's email address. Perhaps change the @ symbol to the word "at" and maybe add a space between his first and last name, with a note to the reader to remove the space.
Gotta run.
See all y'all later n'at !
TTP 9:19 AM Adrian needs a blog profile with his email accessible only via a menu entry. A determined hacker could script a way to scrape it, but it's probably not worth all the trouble.
DeleteTTP, you can adjust the print size on a PaperWhite. Put your scrunched fingers on the screen and open your hand to make bigger...or place them splayed and close your hand to make them smaller. I like it for a) long battery life, weeks rather than hours, b) backlit screen that can be read in the dark, c) water-resistant for when I drop it while reading in the bathtub, d) can contain an entire library so I don't run out of reading material when on the road, e) lightweight -- much lighter than a paperback, and finally f) flat and thin -- fits into the back pocket of my jeans.
ReplyDeleteWilbur, thanx for the correction. JALEN Rose, Rose JALEN -- macht nichts to moi. I don't recognize it either way.
Anonymous, it's Saturday, "Bistro cheese" was an excellent late-week clue. "Bistro big cheese" is too obvious.
Hi Y'all! Adrian Johnson, it is nice that you are so happy with your masterpiece puzzle. However, I was not so thrilled. Got 'er filled but took lots of red-letter runs to get toe holds in places. I thought we were getting a pangram but the "V" & "Q" didn't appear.
ReplyDeleteLast fill was the "J" in JALEN/JACKS cross. Duh! I had seen Jalen last week and knew him from watching him play NBA basketball. I played JACKS as a kid & It is definitely a "pickup game". I was thinking impromptu basketball game in the 'hood.
"Heather has two"... I had an "O" & "IES" and tried cOokIES. MOMMIES? Oh
Tried "silence" before ALL MINE for "not sharing words".
DNK: LEONE, XYPLANE, APSTATS, ADDUCES, NETIZEN, OSBORNE, JALISCO. I don't think SALSODA is a common cleanser in this day & age.
Gary, thank you for your good work on these Saturday puzzles and your educated in-put.
ReplyDeletePicard 😂 😂 😂
ReplyDeleteA bumper sticker I designed years ago about Heather's mommies.
OwenKL @11:08 AM ROTFL! 😂
DeleteFor the life of me, how I screwed up e-reader is beyond me, because I have one and use it all the time! Other than that, I finished this Saturday's all by my little ole lonesome, even though I FIW.
ReplyDeleteThat's something, right?
Becky
PK I am with you. Sorry, I was not so thrilled with this, either. SAL SODA utterly unknown as a "common" cleanser. I tried SAW DUST. Anyone else? Tried BON NUIT, JOUR before SOIR.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of OSBORNE, "90 DAY FIANCE". I consider unknowns SAMOVAR and SAMOSET learning moments. Hand up RAMPS before RAILS. Tried VEE before SRO. For me, JAdEN/MARSAdA was a total Natick answer that might have made sense. What kind of name is JALEN? FIW. That sort of thing makes me grumpy.
I did like clue for ALL MINE.
OwenKL Thanks for the shout out. But I don't have access to that link. Can you please say more?
Once again I needed a bit of help to figure out where my mind was wandering in the wrong directions. Thank goodness I can find it here (plus all the comments that help me feel better about not getting some of the answers into place.) Sherman, the tank kitten, helped with the paper and pen as I tried to wade my way through this puzzle. I wish he was better about giving me answers. Anyway, I'm looking forward to running my errands on a beautiful fall day, but dreading the thought of winter. Happy puzzling, All!
ReplyDeletetiptoethru @11:41 AM Welcome to the Cornerites Confessional. All puzzle penitents accepted.
DeleteFrom Wednesday:
ReplyDeleteGlad that my comment about a cold July 4 at Candlestick Park generated so much interest. Surprised no one commented on me as an actual PIED PIPER. I had never known before what PIED meant. At least AnonT noted that I am PIED in my shirts.
From Thursday:
Malodorous Manatee As always, a feast! I never heard the HIPPOPATAMUSES Christmas song. Love it! Learning moment about SHEL and "A Boy Named Sue". And Weird Al. Yay!
Our next door neighbors are WOODSTOCK alumni EX-HIPPIES. He serves on our Water Board. Who is the guy in your photo?
From Yesterday:
I found the NO SEE UMS theme very original and clever.
Husker Gary and Jayce hand up had EAR CHUMS which had me thinking the theme was DR->CH which held me back.
It was close, but another FIR. So much time was spent dithering between "e" or "o" for the crossing of ERIS and MAITRE D! I finally decided to try "i" and got lucky! Did not know ERIS and didn't get the meaning of MAITRE D until Husker Gary explained. So thanks, HG, for the extremely helpful review and Adrian for the Saturday challenge. (Next time don't get help from your friend, Brad!) My messiest areas were the SW and the SALSA, TIE and METEORS part (North Central?) But got 'er done.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to a fun weekend after getting my booster yesterday. Hope you all have a fun weekend, too!
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteACH; das war ein schwieriges Rätsel. Started off with mostly a sea of white and a few entries like EAU and ELI; and then DIAMOND. Then the SW filled in and I thought I may be able to do this. Got the SE and NE and started tinkering with the NW. Ungulates pointed to 'nail' or HOOF, but waited 'til FUN RUNS perped. Teeners????? Duly noted by Husker. Couldn't believe I remembered SAMOSET from grade school.
Thanks Adrian for a good mind bender and HG for the usual excellent start-off.
FWIW, I agree with TTP regarding the writing out of email addresses in places where bots are able to pick them up. I was taught to use something such as name dot secondname at gmail dot com.
ReplyDeleteAs for the puzzle, it proved to a true test of patience. A couple of the clues were a bit too "out there" but mostly things proved to be not inappropriate for a Saturday. The grid itself was a work of art and the explanations were spot on. Thanks, Adrian and Gary.
Jean Luc, thanks and I am glad you enjoyed the music. "Who is the guy in your photo?" Well, I can tell you that the dog is Georgie or, more precisely George G. Named by my mother for George Gershwin. How do I know this? Well, I would guess that you know the answer. Hint: the photo was taken by my father circa 1974.
Malodorous Manatee Way cool that you were a WOODSTOCK ATTENDEE! I am guessing you are still a HIPPIE at heart as are our neighbors!
ReplyDeleteI almost forgot...
Here was my article about our experience viewing the Perseid METEORS last summer.
Picard @12:32 PM Listening to a WBJC fundraiser today and the DJ told this story: Stevie Nicks was driving thru Silver Spring, MD and she was so enthralled with the name that she titled a song with it. Anybody know it?
DeleteCheers,
Bill
Thank you Adrian for a Saturday challenge, which I would rather not talk about. And thank you Husker for your remarkable lotion wherewith I'm soothing my sore neurons. 🙃
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Bill
Robert, I too was at Woodstock My unused ticket was my Corner avatar for a while. For the life of me. Joseph I don’t recall seeing you there Where we’re you when my classmate Michael Vanghetiis climbed a tower and peed on the crowd below?
ReplyDeleteIn fairness, I must confess that I was not at Woodstock, which I regret. I was also not at Altamont although I was nearby in Berkeley that day. I do not regret missing Altamont (although a great Grateful Dead song did result from the tragedy). The "Who Me?" under the photo referred to the "hippie" aspect of the clue not to the Woodstock aspect.
ReplyDeletePuzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteDNF as I came up blank in the SE coastline. I had JUKEBOX & BONSOIR; CLARION & OSBORNE; SNAP & SNL; but I was STOIC instead of STONY. SAL SODA made no sense though I considered putting it in. Not sure the XY PLANE would’ve ever hit me …
I had DADDIES before MOMMIES, but figured that out eventually
Favorite clue was “rotation target”: TIRES
Favorite crossing was MÂITRE D with RED CENT
Least favorite was AP STATS, and possibly NETIZEN
I love good sipping tequila so JALISCO was cool
Moe-ku:
The shared ride driver
Played all the new JUKEBOX hits:
He was UBER HIP
Hola!
ReplyDeleteWhew! This puzzle took way longer than it should have but thank you, Adrian Johnson, for the challenge.
ERIS was my first fill then I jumped around; LEONE was easy, as was SALSODA and CLARION. Many, many years ago my family drove to Guadalajara and as we passed through JALISCO we observed those vast acreages of agave.
MARSALA is often called for in cooking. JALEN is totally unknown to me but perps filled it. I have a box of JACKS and tried to teach my granddaughters to play but they were not interested.
Needed white-out in only a couple of places: changed STOIC to STONY and CAN WE GO to IS IT A GO.
NPR instead of SNL. FIW
Watching Entertainment Tonight pays off when a clue for Seth ROGEN appears. I did not watch "Steve Jobs". Last night, however, I saw "Starling" on Netlix, a very good movie which I recommend.
As kids we loved SNAP! Crackle! and Pop!
It's such FUN reading you all!
Thank you, Gary, for the interview wih Adrian and for your jazzy commentary.
Have a FUNfilled Saturday, everyone!
Whew. This puzzle beat me up but didn't take all my lunch money. I won't list all the divots I left in the turf after my many stumbles. Ended up needing to do a "Check grid" to see which cells I filled wrong, after which I was finally able to crawl, panting, over the finish line.
ReplyDeleteChilly enough this week that I finally turned on my furnace a couple of nights ago. TOday I am cold so I checked and found the light is off on my thermostat which says OFF altho it is set on heat. Tried switching it on & off with no results. Seemed to work fine for two days/nights. I have a feeling it is the thermostat not the heating system. Not cold enough yet to call a tech out on the weekend. Guess what is on my Monday agenda.
ReplyDeletePK, many thermostats today run on a couple of AA batteries. Have you checked for that?
ReplyDeletePK:
ReplyDeleteWishing I could send you some of our 93 degrees. I just walked to the mailbox and started to perspire a bit. A few people are in the pool including a woman holding a tiny infant.
A good Sat PZL by Mr. Johnson.
ReplyDeleteWould have had it, if I'd continued with the patience I began.
But it wore thin, so I cheated once, twice, thr...--oh hell, I lost count.
Sorta like your experience, Jayce, I believe.
Husker G ~ Your message with HOOF seems a neat example of Occam's Razor. (Unless of course you live on the Serengeti.)
My one gimme: OSBORNE. (The Entertainer: A favorite play and film!)
A fave fill: MAITRE D (But I wish the clue had included the word "Big." Don't you?)
Who is UBER HIPper than MalodorousMan? Anybody?!
I think NOT!!
~ OMK
Gave up banging my head against the wall with this one it was starting to hurt 🤕 and I wasn't getting anywhere. Plus it's a stunning Fall day in the Adirondacks after a disappointing summer so DNF and what some of what I did finish was a
ReplyDeletewrong.
Saturdays are hard enough but APSTATS? Our AP math course was Solid Geometry demonstrating the age gap between CW author (looks like a TEENER) and me, myself, and Irene, yet (as an oldster) never heard of SALSODA. Didn't help that I had UBERHot. Did not know SAC and always forget SADE is Nigerian.
Liked "pay to play" JUKEBOX. Almost tried Étagère for Modern bookcase, an ERE ADER? ohhh..E-READER!! 😁. Inkovers: mine/MAZE, gin/RYE, rampa/RAILS, mothers/MOMMIES....wrote in RED SEA too fast (too short). Remember Saturday midnight screenings of the RHPS in Rochester NY. Had returned from Europe in 1977, and my young BIL had to 'splain it all to me.
ERIS (discord), EROS (love), ARES( War), all kinda related
That Clint Eastwood spaghetti western title is Spanish not Italian "(Per) Un Pugno di Dollari" (For) A Fistful of Dollars, 1964. Like LEONE/Eastwood " Il Buono, il Brutto, e il Cattivo" The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", 1966 (title reversed to sound better in English) 🤠
Bade Nice goodbyes....ADDUCED
Portmanteau for "Dear Ann's" opinion of her sister's advice....ABALONE
shimmy struts SACHETS
Went from 45 last night to 72 mid day today.. 🥶/😅
OMK, thanks for that. Er, I guess. I have spent most of my life trying very hard NOT to be hip! Under the radar is the only way to fly. Perhaps counter culturalism is making a comeback?
ReplyDeleteDesper-otto, thank you so much for telling me about the batteries. I did not know that. Checked it out and sure enough there were batteries. Changed them and am now toasty warm.
ReplyDeleteLucina, glad we haven't had such high temps this week. It hasn't really been that cold here yet -- only in the upper 40's at night then 60's to 80 in the daytime. I opened the door today to let in the warmth and got smoky air from somewhere so the house was just lower than my comfort level. Furnace running now tho.
ReplyDeleteThose (SAC)Kings as noted started in Rochester where the owner, putting $ash before brains(He receives Ixe Capade dates from owner Brown) allowed Boston to move up in the draft to pick Bill Russell. SAC took Sihugo Green, remember him?
ReplyDelete"Mindbender", exactly Spitz. Remember Milo Minderbender*?
DIAMOND actually didn't come easy this baseball fan(nor TRY and RIM). There's psychology in solving. Saturday is like playing the Patriots
Robert, thanks for meteor info and pix. I thought "Shot" might be pic.
WC
* Here's the wiki on Milo Minderbinder
Picard You might find the article here. Just the first paragraph, but I added the rest in the comments (tho I expect it will be censored soon).
ReplyDeleteThanks, HG, for your fun and informative recap (my fav, SADE video - great voice and song), and Adrian Johnson. Yep, AJ, it was an enjoyable brain stretch as you said, and a ta-da after I changed "uberhot" to UBERHIP and "stoic" (recent CW answer) to STONY, after I had XcPLANE? I admit, though M-W said so, TEENERS? Really? Kinda like TENNIES for "Sneaks" recently - ugh. Never heard of JALEN Rose (not an NBA fan) - so in my mind it coulda been Rose Jalen, but JACKS crossing JUKEBOX (fav clue) with JALISCO in the SE rescued me. Love my margos!
ReplyDeletePK, pleased that you're "toasty warm" after checking out D-O's suggestion. That's what I love about the Corner - everyone pitches in to help - whatever the need.
Ex-hippies out there - enjoyed your stories from the Woodstock era (those were the days, right?). Growing up in redneck farming country (SE TX), we sprayed herbicides on whatever weed we could find. It wasn't until about five years post-Woodstock that "weed" had a different connotation, and our county belatedly caught up with the times.
Picard, You might enjoy a free app titled Skymap. It shows what is in the sky above you. It includes natural and manmade objects. Alot of fun!
ReplyDeleteHere it is: Stevie Nicks' Silver Springs.
ReplyDeleteTxMs: help from Cornerites is the best. Saved me a big tech bill & the worry of having some one come in with covid,
ReplyDelete