Saturday Themeless by Jamey Smith
Jamey is our Longhorn constructor who worked at the University of Texas for 25 years as a
writer/editor in the university’s development communications office. As always he gives us a very nice challenge today.
Thanks for checking in, Gary, and a big hello to Saturday solvers far and wide.
This puzzle was something of a departure for me in that I began with no particular seed entries in mind. Instead I set myself the challenge of designing an interesting-looking grid and then seeing where it might take me fill-wise. This resulted in, well, a little something for everyone — at least that’s my hope. My favorite juxtaposition is the pair of eight-letter entries in the NE corner. The lower one pretty much sums up my reaction to the “conquest” above!
Warm wishes,
Jamey
1. Be temporarily: ACT AS.
6. Pulitzer-winning journalist for her Clinton-Lewinsky columns: DOWD - The ten columns she wrote
10. Part of an ear: COB.
13. Heckle: TAUNT - Tit for tat
13. Heckle: TAUNT - Tit for tat
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| Works both ways |
14. 2018 documentary about Alex Honnold's conquest of El Capitan: FREE SOLO. 17. "Are you serious!?": WAIT! WHAT? - "You want me to climb El Capitan with no equipment?"
16. Like a classic Reuben: ON RYE.
18. Key of Chopin's Ballade No. 1: G MINOR - Oh...
20. Minute quality: TININESS - Yeah, I suppose that would be the noun from the adjective tiny
23. Pastoral sounds: BAAS - Jamey included sheepishly.
24. Return address for guilty sorts?: SCENE OF THE CRIME - Fun clue!
28. Written in the stars: MEANT TO BE - In a recent q/a with Neil de Grasse Tyson, I heard him say that karma and such. is just a bunch of bunk.
29. 6-Down info: ETAS - That is sometimes a moot point
33. "My Fair Lady" composer: LOEWE
34. Law school newbie: ONE-L
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| This great movie's main characters |
35. Postgame celebrations: FIST PUMPS - Matt Stafford didn't get many during his dismal years with the Detroit Lions. After being traded to the LA Rams, his 37. Elusive result: FAIRY TALE ENDING is being a Super Bowl Champion.
44. Enervate: TIRE - A word I use about as often as last Sunday's ROISTERED
45. Well-thought-of: ESTEEMED.
46. John of Scotch fame: DEWAR - This 32-year-old version will run you about $150 56. Mellow, in some cases: AGE - Can be an expensive process
45. Well-thought-of: ESTEEMED.
46. John of Scotch fame: DEWAR - This 32-year-old version will run you about $150 56. Mellow, in some cases: AGE - Can be an expensive process
48. Showrunner Shonda: RHIMES.
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| Three of Shonda's Shows |
49. Colorful quartz variety: AMETHYST.
53. Victim of Hermes: ARGUS - If you're interested
54. Trepidatious query starter: DARE I ASK.
55. [Shrug]: DUNNO
57. What one often wears out?: COAT - I've been wearing this one for 22 years old and it's still going strong!
Down:
1. __ Fireball: hot candy: ATOMIC
 |
2. Boxer, for instance: CANINE - Woof!
3. Call it a night: TURN IN - If it's bed time, Joann has our kitty staring at her.
4. Fishing line?: ANYONE - Fun clue! Of course you thought of this scene:
3. Call it a night: TURN IN - If it's bed time, Joann has our kitty staring at her.
4. Fishing line?: ANYONE - Fun clue! Of course you thought of this scene:
5. Sound choice: STEREO.
6. Tex. airport that's bigger than Manhattan: DFW.
7. 1/24 of un giorno: ORA - 24 means hours, giorno means Italian and 1/24 means one ORA (hour)
8. One of China's Northern Dynasties: WEI.
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| 386 A.D to 535 A.D. |
9. Take away: DETRACT.
10. Unity: COHESION - In the zero-g of the ISS, water's cohesion pulls itself into a sphere
11. "Frozen" snowman who sings "In Summer": OLAF.
12. Some spammers: BOTS - There's this Nigerian Prince...
15. Certify: SWEAR TO.
18. Sporty rides: GT'S - Gran Turismo - Italian for Grand Touring
21. Calif. home of works by Matisse and Warhol: S.F. MOMA - The San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art
22. Skyline feature: STEEPLE - The soaring STEEPLES of Cologne were used as landmarks on WWII bombing runs and were left untouched while the rest of the city was leveled
25. Mooring cable openings: HAWSES.
26. U.K. honor: MBE - These lads are Members Order Of The British Empire
29. False start?: EFF - False
30. __ Maria: TIA - Aunt Maria
31. So to speak: AS IT WERE - Hall of fame QB Dan Marino is also famous, AS IT WERE, for never having won a Super Bowl.
32. Mark with bands: STRIATE.
33. Ukulele forebear: LUTE - What is a LUTE?
36. Like a costly victory: PYRRHIC - The Confederate victory at Chancellorsville was PYRRHIC because Lee's "right arm" Stonewall Jackson was killed by friendly fire
36. Like a costly victory: PYRRHIC - The Confederate victory at Chancellorsville was PYRRHIC because Lee's "right arm" Stonewall Jackson was killed by friendly fire
38. Schwab rival: E-TRADE
39. '60s-chic jackets: NEHRUS - Yeah, I had a green one
40. Stoops: DEIGNS - Many thought she was so snobbish she would not DEIGN to even acknowledge others
41. Protected, in a way: IMMUNE - I've had three Covid shots, a flu shot and a shingles shot this past year
42. "Taken" trilogy surname: NEESON - Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a 59%.
43. Dept. store stock: GDS - GooDS or MERCHandise
46. Post-WWI art movement: DADA - Dada was an art movement formed during the First World War in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and folly of the war.
47. Kindle read: E-MAG.
50. Former hoopster __ Ming: YAO.
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| 7'6" Yao and his 6'3" wife Ye Li |
51. Org. funded by FICA: SSA - Social Security Administration helps fund me!
52. Box office buy: Abbr.: TKT.
52. Box office buy: Abbr.: TKT.
 |
| On Broadway |
24 comments:
Good morning!
Wow, this grid was daunting. RETIRE was my only entry in the snow-covered NW. (And it turned out to be wrong.) Rotated to the NE, and things started to come together. That W at the WEI/DOWD cross was a major WAG. Knew OBE, but this needed to be MBE. In the SE, not Aries, ARGUS. Knew PYRRHIC immediately. Knew there was an H in it. Had no idea where that H was supposed to go. In the SW STRIATE finally appeared for "Mark with bands," because Knopfler was too long. Nice CSO to IM at DEWAR. Finally rotated back to the NW and broke the logjam with TURN IN. Whew! DNF avoided. Thought it had taken forever, but checked my watch, and it'd been less than 16 minutes. Thanx for the adventure, Jamey, and for the expo, Husker.
I wasn't sure what the "mooring cable opening" was, I thought maybe it was "hawser" but "erteemed" didn't make sense. I finally realized the clue made it a plural.
And I couldn't remember Shonda Rhimes' name at first, but I finally did. Also, I wasn't sure how to spell "Loewe" but I guessed right. FIR in the end, which for a Saturday puzzle, makes me very happy.
Totally beyond my abilities. DNF. In fact, not only did not finish, but barely started. Nope. Almost all DNKs. Sigh.
Good Morning:
This was a good Saturday challenge which I thought I had conquered but, alas, the Wen/Wei entry led to a FIW. Despite that disappointment, I enjoyed the solve and appreciated the clever cluing and fresh fill. I, too, went astray at OBE/MBE, and also Lyre/Lute and Deco/Dada. The only true unknown was Argus and the best entry, IMO, was Dewar. Thanks for the SO, DO!
Thanks, Jamey, for a fun, albeit incorrect, solve and for dropping by and thanks, HG, for another eye-pleasing, evocative review. I look forward to reading Ms. Dowd’s columns as I think she is a fine writer and an astute observer of Washington politics.
FLN
Vidwan, so good to hear from you. Feel better soon. 💐
AnonPVX, best wishes to you and hope to see you back at the Corner soon.
Have a great day.
I still cannot imagine the process of constructing a themeless puzzle but Jamey is very good at it.
My comments have already appeared in the early posts and while I have admired the writing of MAUREEN DOWD it is impossible to be more specific without getting into politics. Please do not read the link if you do not want to know her opinions.
Loved 24. Return address for guilty sorts?: SCENE OF THE CRIME and HG's write-up.
DNF, good tough puzzle, very challenging. I like that.
Tough. Took 23:33. A few of the ones I knew, I didn't know how to spell (e.g., Pyrrhic, Dewar, Neeson, Rhimes). "Meant to be" took a long time to parse, as did "SFMOMA."
No theme. Diverse fill, but not horrifically obscure. Tricky, but not overly devious. Solid Saturday, in my book.
Saturday Stumoer. Thanks for the fun, Jamey and HuskerG.
Officially a DNF since I required several visits to Google, but once those areas were opened up, with P&P, I finished.
Google visit number 1 was for DOWD. That changed Extract to DETRACT. But I still did not know FREE (I had the SOLO part). That changed DAL to DFW (this Canadian has not flown through that airport!), and gave me WAIT.
In the SE, I Googled RHIMES (I WAGged Thomas incorrectly with the perps I had in place). That opened the corner.
I did not understand ETRADE because I was thinking of Schwab lager (old Buffalo brewery?), and the online broker was unknown to me.
Hand up for OBE before MBE. Any others think of Ave before TIA Maria?
PYRRHIC left me Agape (gawp, gasp)! after I changed my FIST bumps (appropriate as Covid greetings) to PUMPS ( for celebrating).
I have no idea why I always think erroneously of enervate as energizing. There is also denervate, where nerves are cut.
I smiled at COHESION crossing ONE L.
Another smile at DEWAR for IM.
Thanks YR for connecting with AnonPVX. Greetings from the north.
Wishing you all a great day.
It took a while but I finally started being able to fill in blank squares, struggling longest at the bottom. Imagine my surprise when I FIW at the top due to one unknown crossing a misspelled name: WEI and DOWD. Oh well, I was satisfied to get everything else! Thanks, Jamey.
For postgame celebrations, I tried "high jumps," then "fist bumps" and finally FIST PUMPS. I should have gotten DEWAR easily, but it took a while. Thanks, Husker Gary, for reviewing this Saturday challenge and contacting Jamey. I didn't remember his name.
It's always a pleasure to read the comments to compare puzzle experiences and to hear what's new with our Cornerites. Have a great weekend, everyone!
No V8 moments in a few places today for a DNF. A FIR was not MEANT TO BE for me today. The WEI dynasty was unknown and didn't know DOWD was known for her Lewinsky articles. I guess I 'blew' that cross. Nothing made sense after an ABC run, left it blank. After a coin flip between RETRACT & DETRACT for 'Take away', I guessed wrong with R, not D. Unlike our Canadian friend, EXTRACT wasn't thought of.
I also drew a blank at the cross of the unknown RHIMES and IMMUNE (should have known). Started guessing RHODES , didn't know ARGUS, so my41D fill was IM__NE, even though DEIGNS & NEESON were filled.
FREE SOLO- If Alex keeps pushing his luck he'll join the late Steve Irwin. You have to know when to quit.
S.F. MOMA- never heard of it but it was an easy guess with a few perps in place.
Maureen DOWD is so biased our local leftist rag dropped her after GWB was out of the White house.
Hola!
Super Saturday solve! Of course I thought of IrishMiss at DEWAR and my late DH at AMETHYST, his birthstone. Yesterday would have been his 91st birthday. And ORA was an easy guess when I relate it to Spanish "hora".
A COAT is rarely worn in these parts but I do have one for when I travel to northern climates.
DNF because I didn't finish COB/COHESION at the top. Also I was unaware of FREE SOLO about the conquest of El Capitan.
FISTBUMPS changed to FISTPUMPS with PYRRHIC. What a fun word though not a fun meaning!
Yes, I thought of AVE Maria before TIA but knew it wouldn't work with ETAS.
Enjoy a wonderful day, everyone!
Our newspaper used to carry Maureen DOWD's columns but dropped it years ago.
Thank you, Jamey Smith and Gary for today's puzzlement.
A close one but FIW for one letter had a for Gminor GTA 😧
inkovers: ave/TIA. rooftop/STEEPLE, Aries/ARGUS, Han/WEI, I remember NEHRUS as guy jackets. oh you mean sheek not chick 😂. SFMOMA was a WAG/perp, I only knew of the Moma NYC museum.
Perpwaited BAAS (maas, moos, lows?). Started to fill SUBTRACT, too many letters which DETRACTED from the correct answer. DUNNO if it's in OED. ..ONE-L?.. is GDS for "goods" a thing? 🤔. Had wire for "enervate". TIRE seems more related to denervate. one of my Bds (opposite of "goods") 😉
Alex Honold climbing El Capitan in FREE SOLO is incredible, nail biting and insane.😲 A must see. Shonda RHIMES:writer/producer of "Inventing Anna" I just finished binging.
Seems we useta call those huge hot candy balls "jaw breakers" 🥵
Ired about......ESTEEMED
Hamlet's crowd....DEIGNS
Pastoral sound...LOEWE.
The sound of Dorothy's heartless woodcutter friend...TININESS
Activist...DEWAR
Swear wds...GDS (gosh darns)
Spent the AM looking for a microwave fuse after You tube vids explain it's the only thing a dummy like me should try to repair on my dead unit. 5 stores later found the elusive fuse which didn't solve the problem. 3 month wait for a new unit cuz of the super weird color to match our other appliances.. WHITE!! 😤😡
Fun Saturday toughie, Jamey, many thanks, and thanks for stopping by. And great commentary and pictures, Gary.
On my first quick run-through I only got AVE, and thought to myself, well, at least I got one correct answer. 'Twas not to be--though I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Surprised to see only one 3 letter item--figured that would make Irish Miss happy.
Couldn't believe TININESS was an actual word, even though I got it, and so I googled it. Yep, it's a real word and the meaning given for it is MINUTENESS. (Even weirder, in my opinion).
My goodness, I would love to have seen that production of "My Fair Lady" with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. Must have been utterly fantastic!
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Well, this one was way above skill. I had less than half done when I pressed check grid. And with less than a quarter done, I turned on the red. Even with that help and a lot of WAGs, I still ended up with white in the SE.
Misty @ 1:34 ~ Sorry to say, I counted 14 of those pesky three letter words. 🤭
A fine XWD from Mr. Smith, well explicated by HuskerG!
What does it say of me that I got TIA before AVE?
(Er... to tell the truth, I didn't think of AVE at all--until reading of my colleagues' irreproachable fills.)
~ OMK
____________
DR: A 3-way on the far side.
The central diagonal presents a lot of vowels but still yields an anagram (12 of 15 letters) suggesting an answer to the charge, "You never listen to me!"
In truth, one cannot ignore an eminently ...
"HEARABLE MATE"!
-or-
with reference to the Fab Four Fellows depicted with their MBEs, this could simply be a reference to them as a...
"HEARABLE TEAM"!
I found this to be a toughie and had to resort to clicking "Check grid" to see which letters I filled wrong. There were many. I eventually solved it all correctly but it took a lot of help to get there, so technical DNF. I'm still shaking my head over Enervate=TIRE and my nose is still wrinkled at ORA (sheesh, how much Italian do I need to know?), GDS, and TKT. Yep, I filled AVE before TIA. Nevertheless, I think it is a challenging, fair puzzle, and just right for a Saturday.
Teri and I have been visiting an old friend that we haven't seen since pre-pandemic days, and so I'm late to the party.
Thank you Jamey for a fine FIRable Saturday puzzle that was just right. And thank you Husker for another interesting and well illustrated review.
Just a few favs:
49A AMETHYST. All the usual suspects (AGATE, ROSE, OPAL, ONYX, etc.) were too short. CHALCEDONY was too long. There may be other 8 character varieties, but they are unknown to me.
53A ARGUS. DNK ARGUS. Liked the link. Ole ZEUS was a real scalliwag. Had he lived today he would have been #METOOed down to HADES.
57A COAT. I wear them even after they wear out.
7D ORA. Last time around it was ORA PRO NOBIS.
27D EEL. AHI fit, but didn't perp.
29D TIA. Had AVE to start, but it wasn't a good mixer.
41D IMMUNE. Timely fill.
50D YAO. My 2nd oldest grandson comes from the same region of China as YAO. He's 17, already the tallest Seeley, and hasn't stopped growing.
Cheers,
Bill
Word of the Day amalgam
Pronunciation: ê-mæl-gêm
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. An alloy of mercury with another metal, especially those used for filling teeth. 2. A well-integrated blend of otherwise various and diverse things.
Notes: This word is the patriarch to a large family based on the verb derived from it, amalgamate. It includes the noun amalgamation, the adjective amalgamative, and the person noun, amalgamator. The verb means (1) to alloy with mercury or (2) to join and integrate, as Acme Amalgamated Industries, implying a group of distinct business entities that have been acquired and integrated into one company.
In Play: Our primary source of amalgam is dentists, who once used amalgams to fill cavities: "His mouth is so full of amalgam that he receives radio broadcasts from outer space." However, anything containing well mixed and integrated ingredients is an amalgam: "Her theory is little more than an amalgam of bits and pieces from other theories and contains nothing new."
Word History: Today's word began its life in the alchemist's lab in the 13th century, perhaps as a corruption of Latin malagma "poultice, plaster".
For more info see Word of the Day
I started this at 7:50. Went to a tennis clinic, came back looked at a sea of white put in Rhimes and Nehru. Googled a couple things, finally finished this really REALLY difficult puzzle at around 3:30. Did have an hour nap.
What a wonderful Saturday puzzle by Jamey Smith. I s*cked at this one big time
Becky
Had to solve online and when I filled the A on COAT(V8) no CONGRATS! I decided since I was nearing the deis ORO(Two Lucina?) that I'd let Gary straighten me out.
And there it is DOwD! I had DOdD. Maureen as I recall. And that negated Tan/WEI
I came out of the barn with Abide, tease(ACT AS, TAUNT). It was very slow going . And when I entered esteemed. Pyrrhic I erased them. Also DUNNO, ATOMIC
Solids were ONEL and YAO
PUMPS or bUMPS? DARE I say/ASK
Enervate/TIRE? LIU says yes.
DEWAR should have been obvious but I had Deere
Duh, when you're OUT you WEAR a COAT
I read three DOWD-Lewinsky columns and was entertained. Great writer. Yes, it's all bias today
Pyrrhus
was the Greek General who defeated the Romans so much he had to go back to Greece with his decimated army
Satisfied by my near FIR. Very tough Saturday again
WC
Ps, if Zeus was reincarnated he'd be Bill Clinton(per DOWD)
Aaarrggh! You're totally right, Irish Miss. I saw that 3 letter AGE at the bottom, and never looked carefully enough to find the others. 14?!! Either my eyesight or my math is lousy because I can still find only 13. But given how I goofed this morning, I trust your math more than my own. Sorry you didn't get the reduced pests you would have enjoyed this morning. Maybe tomorrow.
Started right after lunch ...tossed it @ 11 p.m. I thought puzzles were supposed to be challenges to solvers, not monuments to the constructor's weird sense of cluing. No fun today!!!!
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