Saturday Themeless by John Hawksley
Here are John's notes for us:
Intro for me: I'm an engineer at Yelp and one of my focus areas is machine learning. I now live in Florida, after gradually migrating across the country (from San Francisco) during the pandemic.
This puzzle didn't have a seed entry, but just arose out of a search for fills to the central diamond. I picked this one to develop over about 10 other competitive options, because I really liked the 3 11-letter entries in the middle. (Although, I didn't actually realize DIET SEVEN UP had been rebranded until I got to cluing!) I first took an interest in these "diamond of 11-letter entries" puzzles after solving a 2020 Ryan McCarty puzzle in the New York Times, and hope to create more along these lines. There's actually a bit of specialization involved, in that one step of this work was an initiative to improve the quality of specifically the 11-letter entries in my dictionary. 
16-A has a new clue, and I actually had to look up what hobo bags are! I recently furnished a house for Airbnb, and leaned heavily on boho chic decor. My original clue for 28-A was [Privacy or piracy concern], and 31-A was [Adventurous first date idea], both of which I hoped would go through but didn't make it. I also had an easier clue for COREA that used his first name "Chick". In my high school jazz band, one of the harder songs we learned was Chick Corea's "Spain", so he has always been more than crosswordese to me! I also wasn't able to sneak in a math-y reference to the "DIRAC delta function", unsurprisingly -- my undergraduate degree was in math.
The NE corner in my original submission was different, and it had a dupe I hadn't noticed. Many thanks to Rich for offering the chance to revise it to remove the dupe, as the replacement fill turned out to be a lot better anyway! It's now probably my favorite corner -- CANNOLI and GUAVA? Making me hungry.
Best,
John
1. Destroy: RAVAGE
7. Editor of "The Hugo Winners" anthology series: ASIMOV - Anthologies compiled by Isaac Asimov from 1955 - 1982 and named for this Hugo
13. Bee sting treatment, perhaps: EPIPEN - A peanut allergy sent a boy into anaphylactic shock in my my room and it took an EPIPEN to get him breathing normally again
14. Ricotta-stuffed pastry: CANNOLI - A memorable movie line
15. Big game places: ARENAS.
16. Decor style associated with hobo bags: BOHO CHIC - "Third boxcar, midnight train...". Yeah, right!
17. Soft drink size: LITER.
18. Cousin of org: COM - .COM, .org, .edu, .net....
19. Tropical fruit tree: GUAVA.
20. Home of Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans," briefly: MOMA -That's art because the Museum Of Modern Art says so
21. "Hot House" Grammy-winning pianist: COREA - Here ya go
23. Driver of a converted bus, maybe: RVER - The windows show that this used to be school bus. It could be said this RVER owns a "skoolie".
24. Eastern honorific: SRI.
25. Mercury's had wings: SANDALS.
27. Floundering sounds: ERS - Fourscore and, ER, seven, ER, years ago...
28. Code of concern to users: INTERNET LAW.
31. Gothic fiction outgrowth: HORROR MOVIE and 29. "Dracula" (1931) director Browning: TOD
 |
| Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler and TOD Browning |
35. President whose nickname originated in childhood: IKE - Dwight and his older brothers all got the nickname IKE in Abilene, KS. Dwight carried IKE on into adulthood.
38. Open-bodied truck: FLATBED.
39. Barbecue flavoring: RUB.
41. Beer flavoring: MALT - The role of MALTED barley in beer making
43. Whitewater principal: STARR.
44. Catnap: DOZE.
45. En este momento: AHORA - Español - "Right now" and "Now"
47. "Who am __ judge?": I TO. Judge ITO was in our Monday puzzle.
48. Pie not served for dessert: PIZZA - Maybe not
49. Java serving: CUP OF JOE.
51. Winter airs: CAROLS and 21. Library array: CARRELS.
52. Obsolescent club usually replaced by a fairway wood: ONE IRON.
53. Member of a noted octet: PLANET - It used to be a nonet.
54. Serviceman?: PARSON and 12. Parish priests: VICARS - They both conduct services
55. Break: RECESS - There is a real aroma/odor after kids come back to class after RECESS
Down:
1. Kingdoms: REALMS.
2. Valid independent of experience: A PRIORI - Debates can become very contentious when opposing sides come in with different ideas as being A PRIORI
3. Former Asian communist coalition: VIET MINH - The Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941 to free Vietnam from French occupation. More
4. Sleep woe: APNEA - This is my solution. I was amazed to learn how many others use CPAP machines.
5. Paraphernalia: GEAR.
6. Northern frontiers?: ENS - Yup, there's an EN on each end of NortherN
7. "Finally I can relax!": AAH.
8. Neck, in Newcastle: SNOG - Cwd fill from the UK
9. Provoke: INCUR.
10. Northwestern Arizona county: MOHAVE - It's county seat is Kingman.
11. "Last Week Tonight" host John: OLIVER
14. "Bring it on, dude!": COME AT ME BRO - Okay...
16. Locale with special regard for customs?: BORDER STATE - Bristol, TN is right across the street from Bristol, VA. In the early 1900's you could buy liquor on one side of the street but not the other.
18. Implicit meaning: CONNOTATION
22. Done: ALL OVER.
25. Character-building aid?: SERIF - Those little flourishes on these letter characters are called SERIFS as opposed to NON-SERIF
26. Bookmarked, in effect: SAVED - These are my bookmarks under Cwd.
25. Character-building aid?: SERIF - Those little flourishes on these letter characters are called SERIFS as opposed to NON-SERIF
26. Bookmarked, in effect: SAVED - These are my bookmarks under Cwd.
30. Carry the day: WIN.
34. Daily newspaper entertainment: PUZZLES.
35. Friday revelation?: I'M A COP - When Dragnet first aired, the last line of the intro was Joe Friday saying, "I'M A COP". After complaints from police officers, the line was changed to this:
36. Islands bigwig: KAHUNA.
37. Romeo or Juliet, marriage-wise: ELOPER - Bad news for her father's choice of Paris!
40. Rhinos and hippos: BEASTS.
42. Nice crowd: TROIS - In Nice, France, "Two's company and three's a crowd" becomes "La compagnie de deux et la foule de TROIS"
44. 1933 physics Nobelist Paul: DIRAC - Albert Einstein: "I have trouble with Dirac. This balancing on the dizzying path between genius and madness is awful."
46. Curly hairdo: AFRO - Wonderful Monds was a very good Husker football player in the 70's and recently returned to Lincoln for a reunion
48. Lose color: PALE.
50. Hamm of "Mad Men": JON.
38 comments:
FIWrong. Par for Saturday.
sOHOCHIC < BOHOCHIC, an unknown term to me.
sORDERSTATE < BORDER STATE, I was sure from the perp that first letter was either S or N.
I'm amazed that I got it all filled in, it took so long! I had a bunch of blanks right up to the very end.
Today we had CANNOLI and GUAVA,
Finished it off with slice of PIZZA
Washed down with DIET SEVEN-UP ZERO,
And a MALT and a CUP OF JOE!
In the library, lined up in rows,
Students study in silent CARRELS.
But at winter break,
To streets they take,
To sing "Silent Night" and other CAROLS!
The PARSON and the VICAR argued one night
About which was wrong, and who was right!
They reasoned, A PRIORY,
Which would lead to Glory!
Then compromised on a pepperoni PIZZA appetite!
{C, B, B+.}
Good morning!
Gotta love a Saturday themeless. Only needed my trusty Wite-Out to change TO to AT in 14d, and J to H in MOHAVE. Toyed with VIET coNg, but the perps wouldn't allow it. All of this weeks puzzles came together pretty fast, and this one was no exception. Nice debut, John. Enjoyed the expo, Husker.
APNEA -- I think I'd prefer to die in my sleep rather than wear one of those contraptions to bed.
CARRELS -- Nice pairing with CAROLS. I'd never heard of a CARREL until I visited the university library in my teens. Our local library had no cubbies. It was lucky to have books.
Like ourour moderator, I had some trouble coming up with "Corea" as the pianist and it took me a while to get "flatbed" for the truck. Also, I couldn't remember if the Whitewater prosecutor was Starr" or "Stark" but the perps made it clear. FIR, so I'm happy.
For some reason, I had "our" twice, but I'm sure you folks knew what I meant.
The usual pattern: fill some, leave, come back. Fill a square here and there. Oh, that wasn't so hard. Just while solving. I too had to/AT, also fAdE/PALE. And, jumbles/PUZZLES a CSO to two blogs.
It helps to have the xword available Fri. Two alpha runs got me the P in COP/PARSON(AHA, That kind of service) and TOD/TOm.
Having to R's worried me but STARR perped in as I remembered the name if not the details. Much ado…?
NW filled quickly and then nada except IKE/KAHUNA, ASIMOV/VICAR. I thought of giving up but persisted and FIR
WC
Oh, yeah; I had raviOLI*. Those are stuffed too. I think.
Good Morning:
This was a most enjoyable solve with just the right amount of resistance, great cluing, loads of fresh and lively fill, and no blatant dreck. (Ens and Ers get a pass.) Three letter word count was relatively low and they were unobtrusively spread throughout the grid. I needed perps for Viet Minh, Tod, Dirac, and Diet Seven Up. Corea came easily as my husband was a rabid jazz fan and I often heard about many of his favorites. John gave us some fun pairings with Tod/Horror Movie, Vicars/Parsons, Bed/Doze, and Carrels/Carols. He also brought his A Team with Guava, MOMA, Corea, Ahora, Pizza, Apnea, and Kahuna. CSOs to Lucina (Ahora), HG (Apnea), Ray O and Inanehiker (ERs, Epi Pen, CPR), Law (Lemony and Hahtoolah), Ray O and Anon T (Cannoli), One Iron (All Golfers), and, most fittingly, Puzzles (All Cornerites).
Thanks, John, for a very satisfying Saturday solve and for stopping by and sharing some thoughts and thanks, HG, for the detailed summary and the dazzling visuals which, miracle of miracles, all appeared. I particularly enjoyed the Hugo Awards article and even
though I’m not into SciFi, I recognized several winners. Learning moment was the Hugo being honored was not Victor! That tells you a lot about my SciFi knowledge.
Have a great day.
Another FIR this week! And on Saturday with a new constructor! It was slow filling the PUZZLE(S), especially the SW corner, but as WC said, time and short breaks did the trick. Plenty of WOs including REignS/REALMS, sOHO CHIC/BOHO CHIC, decaF JOE/CUP OF JOE and notED/SAVED. But on the whole, it was an enjoyable challenge for Saturday, including some devilish cluing for PARSON and SERIF. Thanks, John.
Thank you Husker Gary for the many links and extra information, including the correspondence with John. Very helpful and interesting.
Hope you all have a good start to the weekend!
This one took 18:44 to get it "all over."
I refused to accept "snog" as any form of acceptable answer for awhile, sloppily entered "hobo chic" first (despite "hobo" being in that very clue), and the middle area was the last to fall for me. I came to a dead stop before Corea won over Alicia Keyes (I don't know many pianists, let alone 5-letter pianists), org's cousin "edu" had to be erased for the other cousin "com," and then the rest filled themselves in.
Excellent debut. Love a good Saturday themeless.
FIR, but what a workout. Tough puzzle, even had puzzle in the puzzle as an answer. Very cute!
Welcome to the Corner, John and thanks for a great write-up, Gary. Loved that on target "King Of The Road" snark.
The grid pretty much dictated the solve - in five parts. NW, NE, SW, SE and then have a go at the middle. Each section provided its own finger holds with internet law being the last to fall because, c'mon, who really thinks much about that while they're "using"?
The Puzzle?
Imho, 50% not too hard
50% really hard
Because I had to turn on the red letters, I cannot say FIR, or FIW. But I will not say DNF...
(I give it a ALIT!)
(At Least I Tried..)
Fav clue/answer: Friday revelation/I'm a cop.
FLN, Anon-T, (re: 90 degrees)
How did you see the whole thing before?
I had only been able to see clips, (like, "lager beer.")
Did you pay for it?
I want to reread The Hugo Winners, so went looking for it.
It is free on the internet in PDF
it may load slow, a lot of pages...
But I have no idea how to access it. So I post it now as it may take me a wee' t9 figure it out...
This had some fresh creative fill and a pleasing to the eye grid - thanks John!
Some of the answers definitely needed perps for me-DIRAC anyone?
STARR was a gimme - as he was president of Baylor University when my son started there - but less than ideal responses to some events at the school led to his replacement. Our son was glad to be the first class when President Linda Livinstone was handing out the diplomas at his graduation. She played basketball at Oklahoma State as did her husband - she is 6 foot tall but he is 6'10"- quite the presence on campus. He is a high school history teacher so was able to find new positions wherever they moved for hers: Baylor, Pepperdine, George Washington, and then back to Baylor.
Thanks HG for a fun Saturday am and to John for his debut!
I often skip doing Saturday puzzles because they're so tough, but I got enough items in this one that it was still fun. So, many thanks, John, and enjoyed your commentary. And thanks for all the great pictures, Gary.
Got started with ARENAS though I haven't been to one in a decade or more.
IKE helped me get ELOPER for Romeo and Juliet.
By the time I got to RECESS, I needed a recess.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
It's been awhile since I've solved a Saturday puzzle and when I opened it the sea of white in the center was so daunting that I almost turned tail and crawled back in bed.
But I recalled Bill Clinton's (of Ken STARR fame) advice in "WordPlay" - just find something you know and branch out from there. But this puzzle really required "branching in", so I started in the corners. Surprisingly the NW, NE, and SE fell fairly quickly, but I foundered around in the SW for the longest time. Filled IKE but couldn't seem to make it work. Breakthroughs were finally MALT (held onto HOPS far too long), AHORA (my Spanish lesson) and TROIS (oh yes "Three's a crowd!"), my French review.
Couldn't avoid the center any longer, so I started with COREA, HORROR MOVIE, and FLATBED. The rest fell for a FIR after much wailing and gnashing of teeth. There is such a thing as INTERNET LAW? IMHO, if TV is a "Vast Wasteland", then the Internet is a "VAST CESSPOOL". Nevertheless, lots of clever fill.
Favs:
4A APNEA. I'm a confirmed CPAP user and use a Dreamware mask. It covers a minimum of your face and is so light you barely know it's there. After posting this I'm headed for a 44A.
52A ONE IRON. Don't know my irons, but I do know Trevino's famous opinion of this one.
34D PUZZLES. A meta-meta-clue!
Thanks John and congrats on your debut. And thanks as always Gary for an illuminating review.
Cheers,
Bill
Word of the Day abulia
Part of Speech: Noun, mass (no plural)
Meaning: A mental disorder characterized by a loss of will or the ability to act decisively.
Notes: The adjective is abulic and the adverb, abulically. A person suffering from this dysfunction is an abulic. The British prefer spelling today's word aboulia, keeping the original Greek stem intact (see Word History).
In Play: Medical abulia usually results from physical brain damage; however, today's Good Word has applications far beyond the hospital parking lot. My own informal research shows that shopping triggers abulia in some women and chocolate often has the same effect on members of both sexes. Few of us have escaped the effect of this affliction: "Mick Stupp completely succumbs to abulia when it comes to buying sports cars."
Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Greek aboulia "indecision", made up of a- "no" + boule "will-power." Boule is is a noun from the Greek verbs ballein "to throw" and ballizein "to dance", the root of which also shows up in English ball (a dance that someone throws) and ballet.
For more info see Word of the Day
Wow. This must have been quite a challenge to construct with those big blocks of crossed long answers. Definitely a Saturday challenge. Struggled in SW and NE. When I got to BOHO CHIC I was sure I FIW but left it in. Who knew that is a thing?
MOHAVE COUNTY ARIZONA has many notable sights. But this may currently be the most famous.
Here we were on the West Rim Grand Canyon Glass Bridge Skywalk in MOHAVE COUNTY ARIZONA
Has anyone else been there? It is basically a fund raiser for the Hualapai Tribe and it is rather tightly controlled. You can't take photos and have to buy their photos. It was interesting to see a part of the Grand Canyon that is less visited.
I should add that we have GUAVA bushes right outside our front door and very much enjoy the fruits!
Happy to see a physics star DIRAC in the puzzle today. I actually was stuck a bit. I have usually seen his name written PAM DIRAC. PAM being the initials of his first names PAUL Adrien Maurice.
From Tuesday:
MalManLearning moment that BAMM BAMM was an adopted child of the Flintstones.
From Yesterday:
AnonT
Way cool that your mother also has BEES. I really do need to ask Danielle for a bit of her honey! What? What did you think I meant?
Glad to know you also know the Star Trek SCOW reference.
Here is this most memorable Star Trek SCOW scene in all its glory!
Hola!
A Saturday slog but managed to finish it with some help. Thank you, John Hawksley! Though I'm familiar with the name ASIMOV I don't know all his works so that was LU. SNOG did not come easily but eventually filled it.
I finished the NW and SW both quickly and easily but the center gave me problems. Finally HORROR MOVIE and DIET SEVEN UP emerged. That helped fill the surrounding areas.
This took much longer because I had to stop for delivery of my new recliner. The old one is well used and no longer comfortable. I do occasionally DOZE in it.
TROIS filled only because I remembered "menage a TROIS".
Thank you, Gary, our constant and consistent Saturday guide!
Have a lovely weekend, everyone!
Puzzling thoughts:
4 "stealth bombers" formed the "BORDER" of the PUZZLE today
If you're scratching your head, asking yourself "where's the stealth bomber that Moe refers to", look at the four blocks at the N, S, E, and W points of the compass of the grid ... their shape resembles a B-52
Even after looking up several clues (DIRAC/TOD/COREA) I did not solve this correctly
W/O's included: MIA/JON; MOJAVE/MOHAVE (and I live in AZ, dammit!); HOPS/ MALT; COME TO ME BRO/AT; EDU/ADELE; COM/COREA; MOTIF/SERIF
[sigh] Glad this one's ALL OVER
Moe-ku:
If rapper Nicki
Was cloned twice, she could then have
A Minaj a TROIS
Thank you John Hawksley for a very challenging puzzle, that I almost couldn't finish and Thank you, Husker Gary for a complete and thorough explanatory blog.
Despite it being a Saturday, I was hopeful to solving this, until I saw the geometrical burr shape of the puzzle and the underlying clues, and I was very dejected.... however, with some googling etc., I was able to solve almost all the answers, so I learnt a lot, for better or for worse....
I have never used a CPAP device, altho a close friend has run an APNEA mobile Clinic van for the past 20 years or more... My problem is getting up in the middle of the night because DW elbowed my back side or side ribs ... if I'm snoring or mumbling in my sleep. There is no CMOM device to cure that.
LUcina, your posts always make me smile, and sometimes laugh out loud. For an ex-___ to know all about Menage a trois, seems hilarious. ( Forgive me, if its a sin ..! )
BTW, we too, had a recliner, that I used to doze off on, as well.... DW solved the problem, by moving it to the basement, which is cold and damp, so it is never used now.
The mid-day dozes and naps have miraculously ended for the past fifteen years...
I would like to thank MICHAEL from 2 days ago ... who posts late at night for giving me the formula and chemical name for the Pent C-ene 5 C-one, for the molecule that MalMan had posted. I did not read the late colms so I never discovered his contribution. Thank you.!!
DIRAC ... I remembered from a (handwritten - but printed ) book by Dirac on Fermi-Dirac statistics. He, like many others, was a genius, .... who, probably people like Picard would know for sure. The only physicist scientists, that I have personally seen, within hailing distance, ( rather than met,) ... is Hans Bethe ( " ... the beta rays were not named after me ...") and Emil Wolf ( Optiks, Born & Wolf), and a couple of indians, S. Chandrashekhar ( Chicago Astro physics) Jayant Narlikar and George Sundarshan... and lectures by Murray Gell-Mann (quarks) and Richard Feynmann.
For, a half a-- mathematics student, like me, thats the most important periods of my life, that I value.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
Given what I posted yesterday, I expected a much tougher PZL today. Mr. Hawksley's fine creation turned out to be a do-able delight!
I found myself boxed in ultimately in two spots--in the NE and SE far corners. Nevertheless, I managed over 90% of this beauty before cheating, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Many thanks!
Fave clue? 25D, "Character-building aid?" SERIF.
This one had me going. Even when I got it, I wasn't sure I'd got it.
Fave fill? Probably SNOG. It's a word I had the pleasure of learning first hand way back in my youth, on a student year in Old Blighty. Ah, nothing like coming-of-age nostalgia...!
Only regret? The lack of diagonals.
~ OMK
John Hawksley, another new young whipper snapper..A first glimpse of your blank puzzle arrangement was kinda scary 😨... .then even after a long struggle, with all 4 corners slowly filling, the middle 🔶️ remained as clear as a flawless 💎. A few WAGS helped to finally FIR...🙂
Inkovers: fade/PALE, EUROpean/ZONE. "The Hugo Winners" and DIRAC were new to me. Thought GUAVA was a plant not a tree (yer thinking of guacamole/avocado)🙄. O I C, ENS on "northern"
"Bee sting treatment" 🐝, neither mud nor Benadryl would fit. "Big game places", safaris and casinos wouldn't fit either. "Decor/hobos" shabby chic didn't work. BOHOCHIC.("hobo" spelt backwards?)
Do "flounders" make sounds? "Nice crowd"..foule? Nope. "Catnap" ain't stealing a feline. Non dessert pie wasn't Humble.
"Sgt. Friday should I text you with the info?"..."No, use just the fax Ma'am". 😄. When I was in grade school (1955-63), we were taught never to call a policeman 👮♂️ a cop. It was considered derogatory back then.
A VICAR is apparently an Anglican, PARSONS more generally protestants. ⛪
MOMA: Saw "The Andy Warhol Diaries" docu last week on Netflix.
CANNOLI, canna, (reed or tube), cannoli little tubes. cannuccia (drinking straw). "Mercury": god of speed and florists
I enjoy John OLIVER's commentary each week.
"implicit meanings".....
Can't start a laundry with just _____ ONEIRON
For a successful affair, you need to ____ well...PLANET.
Prisioners' diaries...CONNOTATIONS
MASH local...COREA
For weight loss, they're all the same, in the end all _______ DIETSEVENUP
Outlaws left to drive back to Rochester, puzzle time...
Wow, I liked this puzzle a lot. Such terrific fill. Interesting grid layout. Excellent clues (favorite: "Friday revelation"). A pleasure to solve.
Vidwan:
I am surprised that you would be surprised I know such terms as MENAGE A TROIS. Being a Nun is not the same as living under a rock. I read widely though you are correct, at the time of my enclosure I likely would not have known its meaning. And even had it been explained to me I might not have understood the significance.
Sigh. Now that I have bought a full sized bed for the spare bedroom and a new recliner I have the problem of the old ones. Good Will Industries no longer picks up donations so I have to find some way to take them away.
Chairman Moe @ 2:18
Great catch!
B2 bombers , awesome!
Wait a sec,
You said B52...
Hmm,
It may be just a typo,
but I am a little concerned it may be your eyesight.
Please be sure, and take this eye test...
I don't get why BOHO CHIC is in any way related to Hobos or Hobo bags.
The hobo bag (on the end of a shoulder stick) is called a "bindle."
A Google search sez that BOHO CHIC is derived from pop ideas about Bohemian artists. It "emphasizes natural materials and retro objects from Beats and Hippies of the '50s and '60s."
Nothing to do with hobos. Hobo = a tramp, vagrant, a term popularized in the '30s to refer to "bums" or displaced migrants during the Great Depression.
I liked this XWD a lot, but wonder why this clue was used.
~ OMK
CED - LOL! Yes, a typo ... good catch as well
Took a while, but FIR. Some clever clueing and answers. Well done puzzle!
Word of the day: ANTIMACASSAR - A small covering placed on the backs or arms of upholstered furniture to prevent wear/soiling. I have seen those things my entire life but never knew this word until a few minutes ago. It was the last to fall in today's Saturday Stumper puzzle. An hour and a half of head scratching to complete a 15 x 15 grid. That's something like 25 seconds for each and every square.
Jean Luc at 12:18, I think that you meant to say Rubble not Flintstone. I mention this only because the crossword gods and goddesses are likely watching and they are apt to spring that on us at some point in the future.
Hi Y'all! Wow! Big challenge, thanks, John. Thanks, Gary, for tapping into John's tricky mind.
NE was the last to fill. All downs were unknown & so were most acrosses. Red-letters & WAGs to the rescue.
Guys, this puzzle has interesting shapes, but I can't find any bombers. What you drinkin'?
At age 81, I shall probably never SNOG again in my life.
PK,
this is the silhouette of the B-2 Bomber.
A similar shape can be seen 4 times in the grid,
Top center facing NW
West facing SW
South facing SE
And East, facing NW
Hi All!
Close but no cigar... Crossing of AHORA & TORIS was a blank square. Though, this is way better than I normally do on a Saturday.
Thanks for the puzzle, John, and congrats on the LAT debut.
That NE corner was right up my alley and filled within minutes of me sitting down in my dentist's waiting room.
Then center?, not so much even after CONNOTATION filled with only a perp-check.
//I use ML for CyberSec; I assume you're engineering it into Yelp.
Thanks as always, HG, for reaching out to the constructor for some inside-baseball and for the Saturday expo.
//RECESS - aroma/odor: I thought you were going to say Congress.
WOs: eArED @SAVED, CuRRELS.
ESPs: VIETMINH, DIRAC [I kept reading Pauli]
Fav: clue for SERIF
Fun-ness!: ASIMOV, CANNOLI, general (not crossword) PUZZLES, IM A COP (crossing CUP OF JOE [Friday]), PIZZA, OLIVER (watch'd him on JON Stewart's Daily and now every Sunday on HBO)
Did it have to be Ken instead of Ringo? Oh, right, 'cuz #Saturday.
{C+, A, B+}
Cute Ku, Moe. //that's a (CED caught it too - LOL eye test) B-2 bomber
FLN - CED, I'm not sure 'cuz it was over a year ago I saw it. Amazon Prime Video?
COREA? - Didn't Boomer's Twins pickup the second-baseman from my Astros?
Oh, I'm thinking Correa.
Ray-O: Humble was also my first thought at non-dessert pie.
W.C. You're thinking manicotti (not ravioli) for stuffed pasta. Neither are a pastry.
//did you never go to the North End when you lived in Boston? :-)
Cheers, -T
-T, back in the 70s I spent a lot of time around the North end. Those were lost (post Nam ) years and I was delivering linen to certain restaurants, mostly Mafia.
My memory is fuzzy re. Names of restaurants
BTW, how about Scottie Sheffler, eh. I'm watching rerun of today's Masters. Through 8 that guy us terrific.
I've see JT leave several putts on the rim of the cup.
WC
I got stuck for a while with bad guessed FADE instead of PALE, MOJAVE instead of MOHAVE, and later assumed "SOHO" chic.
In 3 sessions throughout the day I finished in black in 70 minutes, my second time ever for a Saturday!
I FIR but it took two sessions, WAGS, and perps. I filled the four corners early but left the center open; had to leave for a tournament. Got home after 6:30.
NW- APRIORI was all perps.
NE- ASIMOV was a WAG; SNOG & BOHOCHIC were unknowns. SNIG or SNUG wouldn't allow any suitable cross for BOHI or BOHU to go with CHIC, so HOBO backwards was a lucky guess.
SW was the easiest. DIRAC was an unknown in the SE.
Correctly filling in the center when I got home was sheer luck. ITO & WIN was about it until I took a couple of WAGS on Chick COREA and HORROR MOVIE from the H in VIET MINH. Then I remembered Mercury's SANDALS had wings. Whitewater principal- Hillary and her cattle futures wouldn't fit but I had a V8 moment and remembered Ken STARR, no relation to Ringo Starkey or Bart Starr.
CARREL is a new word for me. JON Hamm, John OLIVER, and TOD Browning were other unknowns due to the fact I've never seen Mad Men, the 1931 Dracula movie, or heard of "Last Week Tonight".
A grind it out Saturday puzzle, the kind I like. You don't know them but you get to figure them out.
OMK- as for BOHO CHIC apparel it reminds me of "a fool and his money is soon parted". You could dress as well with clothing from a Goodwill Store.
Mister Canoehead- I was also thinking of SOHO but BORDER STATE erased that thought.
-T @ 6:15 - Carlos Correa is a SS (shortstop), but is close to 2nd base (between 2nd and 3rd bases).
@11:12 - *sigh* I knew that... Thanks for the correction. -T
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