Saturday Themeless by Rich Norris
Our former LA Times Puzzle editor returns as a constructor and is even using his real name and not an anagram. You will be fascinated by this C.C.'s 2009 interview with Rich and also by the pseudonyms and anagrams he used as aliases when posting puzzles. The fact that I have a lifelong problem of spelling AMATEUR and no knowledge of RARE GEM and VEGA were a speed bump. All's well that ends well. Are you like me in wondering if any of Rich's clues got changed?
1. File: ARCHIVE.
8. Go as low as: STOOP TO - what one does if he/she 15. Tightens, say: RELACES.
16. Observation when Porky leaves: PIG TAIL.
17. Ready: ON ALERT.
18. "I'll do it": ALLOW ME - Is this okay these days?
18. "I'll do it": ALLOW ME - Is this okay these days?
19. Pass with a wave?: SAIL BY - Fun clue about a boat on a wave
20. Up to one's eyeballs: IN DEEP.
21. "Street Scene" playwright Rice: ELMER - More. Bugs Bunny's nemesis Fudd ain't cuttin' it on Saturday.
22. Water line?: WAKE.
22. Water line?: WAKE.
23. D.C. United's first home: RFK - That stadium is now deserted and will be torn down
26. Obscures: BEDIMS.
28. Belinda Carlisle album with French songs and Irish musicians: VOILA - Are this and Chutzpah the most mispronounced/misspelled words in fairly common use in America?
30. Corkers: BEAUTS and 51. Humdinger: RARE GEM - I'm familiar with the former but the latter, not so much
31. Pub freebie: BAR NUT.
32. Confection that reportedly improves heart health: DARK CHOCOLATE.
34. Small tower: TURRET - Here's a Turret on the USS Monitor, the North's iron clad in the Civil war
35. Lots: DOZENS.
36. Companion of Dionysus: SATYR - Here ya go
37. Fit: BELONG - A goal for school kids and, uh, adults too.
38. TY preceder, maybe: PLS - When saying Thank You and PLeaSe just take too much time. Last week Matt and Christina had IT ME substitute for IT'S ME
39. "Never __ the comments": READ.
40. Scoring instructions: TEMPI - Tina Turner's version of Proud Mary has two TEMPI. starts slow and then, BOOM... (4+ min)
44. Saved for later, in a way: TIVOED.
47. One of the Istari, in Middle-earth: WIZARD - I'll admit I don't know any of them but the fill had to be WIZARD.
48. Tinkerer: AMATEUR - If there's a spelling bee, I hope I don't get this word
50. Disinfectant distilled from needles: PINE OIL - Pine-Sol was based on PINE OIL from Mississippi pine trees when it was created in 1929 and during its rise to national popularity in the 1950s. However, as of 2016, Pine-Sol products sold in stores no longer contain pine oil, which was done to reduce costs. You're welcome.
52. Feature of an assured fit: ONE SIZE - ONE SIZE does not always fit all
53. On point: GERMANE.
54. Scottish dogs: WESTIES - WESTIES and Scottish Terriers are both from Scotland and are closely related but WESTIES are always white and Scottish Terriers are never white.
Down:
1. Stopped lying?: AROSE - STOOD was the right idea but wrong word
2. __ artery: RENAL - The RENAL artery (red) bring oxygenated blood to the kidneys and the RENAL veins take the deoxygenated blood (blue) away
3. Maintain: CLAIM.
4. "Bruised" director: HALLE BERRY - She directed and starred and says she doesn't think she'll do that double duty again.
5. Party exercise: ICE BREAKER - The answers to these questions could be 6. Rather: VERY funny or at least interesting.
7. Suffix for records: EST - The winner of the Olympic 100 meter dash is considered to be the fastEST man in the world
 |
| 100 meter records since 1900 |
8. Defeats soundly, in sports slang: SPANKS.
9. Piñata feature: TILDE - Meta cluing. The word Piñata has a TILDE
10. Look that causes discomfort: OGLE.
11. Member of the Siouan family: OTOE.
12. Images on Clemson Tigers merchandise: PAW PRINTS.
13. Cook with a lot of Apples?: TIM - Tim Cook has been the CEO of Apple since 2011
14. Shout of support: OLE.
20. "My goose is cooked": I AM SO DEAD - Do all of you know this lyric: "The movie wasn't so hot, It didn't have much of a plot, We fell asleep, our goose is cooked, Our reputation is shot"? (* answer at bottom of write-up)
22. Lead-in to draw or hold: WITH - If you WITHDRAW from your job, they will WITHHOLD your pay.
24. Furnace part: FLUE.
25. Dennings of "2 Broke Girls": KAT - After ten minutes I realized that streams of sarcasm and low grade sexual innuendos are not my cup of TV. YMMV.
 |
| KAT is on the left |
27. Tear __: DUCT.
28. Midwinter honorees: VALENTINES.
29. Grated ingredient in cranberry relish, often: ORANGE ZEST - Three ingredients you see here. Ready? Set on grate.
28. Midwinter honorees: VALENTINES.
29. Grated ingredient in cranberry relish, often: ORANGE ZEST - Three ingredients you see here. Ready? Set on grate.
30. MVP of the first two Super Bowls: BART STARR - Packer QB
31. Clown whose voice inspired Krusty of "The Simpsons": BOZO.
33. Down __: COLD - I may never have the spelling of amateur (thanks auto correct) down COLD.
34. One of six in a fl. oz.: TSP - My physics lab never used oz. or TSP's
37. "Toss a can my way": BEER ME - Give me another brew
39. City on the Seine: ROUEN - The other more famous 5-letter French city on the Seine is only a 1hr 40min drive to the SE on theA13.
41. Don DeLillo title inspired by an Andy Warhol print series: MAO II.
42. Hold dear: PRIZE.
43. Runs without moving: IDLES - Tach reads 900 rpm but the speedometer says 0 mph. To paraphrase Matt and Christina, "You idling"
45. Market unit: ITEM.
46. Singer-songwriter Suzanne: VEGA - Here's a sample
47. "Sideways" subject: WINE.
48. S.A. country bordering five others: ARG.
49. Novelist Rita __ Brown: MAE.
*That "cooked goose" was a lyric from Wake Up Little Susie the Everly Brothers' first #1 song in 1957
Notes from C.C.:
1) So nice to see you back, Rich!
2) Happy birthday to Lemonade (Jason), our faithful Friday Sherpa! Despite his health issues, he never missed a Friday writeup and continues to bring out the best in every crossword. Thank you, Lemonade!
 |
| Lemonade and his sons and nephew |
43 comments:
I couldn’t get one across for the longest time. I kept trying to put “arrange” in there but that wasn’t working, So I solved what I could of the rest of the puzzle and kept coming back to it. Finally I got “archive “ and that led me to “icebreaker “ and the puzzle started to clear up. Fortunately I remembered Suzanne Vega’s name or I would never have gotten “TiVoed” a word my spell checker doesn’t like. This puzzle was a bit of a slog but, IMHO, not as bad as the last two Saturdays. It didn’t take three hours this time; I finished it in about 45 minutes. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Couldn't manage a no-peeky on this one. ALL ON ME and JFK kept PAW PRINTS from appearing. Bzzzzt. Fell into the STOOD/AROSE trap. The bottom half of the puzzle filled more quickly. Very nice, Rich. Knew those lyrics, Husker. It was the Everly's second single. Their first, Bye Bye Love made it to #2.
TIVOED -- Back in the '90s I bought a TIVO DirecTV receiver manufactured by Sony. DirecTV didn't have their own DVR at the time.
WESTIES -- We often see Hercules on our 3-mile march through the 'hood.
BEER ME -- Caused a stir when one family wrote "BEER ME" in Christmas lights on their roof. This is a very conservative neighborhood. Not sure why they let us in.
HBD to Lemonade and Vidwan. Enjoy the day.
DNF, not because of bad cluing but because I just wasn't on Rich's wavelength.
-Correct entries:
TIM
OLE
BART STARR
BEER ME
WESTIES
-Incorrect ones:
stood
tiger paws
main
pinesol
When I saw Rich's name, I immediately thought of the line in the Police classic Wrapped Around Your Finger: Then you'll find your servant is your master. (The song is about a romantic relationship, but applies to turning the tables in nonromantic relationships too: Hal and Dave in 2001, governments and citizens in many countries, and the old J. Paul Getty quote “If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.”
On to Sunday!
-
Never would have got through without red letters. Toughest Saturday lately.
Oh , and Happy Birthday to Lemonade and Vidwan. I guess cross eyed Dave will have to “bake” TWO cakes!
Tough Saturday. Embarrassed that I, who have made cranberry dressing, could not come up with orange zest until I was in the shower thinking about this. The southeast then fell. But not easily. Pine sol was a problem. Mao ll. Yikes. Finished.
No, I think the most misspelt/mispronounced word might be "Kiosk"
The chart on 100M sprint times should make note of the introduction of starting blocks, all-weather surfaces (instead of cinder tracks), better shoes, and electronic timing.
Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast are three wizards in LOTR. The other two are only referred to as the Blue Wizards and were not named.
Tough even for a Saturday, took more than the usual Sunday time.
Good Morning:
I very rarely need help to complete a puzzle but, I’m sorry to say, the NW quadrant’s vague cluing did me in. Filling in Archive started the dominoes falling and led to the finish line, but a FWH, Finished With Help. Overall, I found this a difficult solve and I believe it was due to the grid layout not having the many usual Saturday foothold -type entries. This is not an excuse nor a criticism, just a personal solving experience. Props for the very low (10) count of three letter words and no dreck.
Thanks, Rich, for a real head scratcher and for gracing us with your presence, albeit wearing a different hat and thanks, HG, for being our fair, faithful and dedicated Saturday Sherpa.
Happy Birthday, Lemony, hope it’s a special day. 🎂🎁🎊🎉🎈
Happy Birthday, Vidwan, enjoy and celebrate! 🎂🎁🎈🎊🎉
FLN
Somedaze and Jayce, thanks for the kind words.
Have a great day.
DNF. I was not on Mr. Norris's wavelength. Too many arcane clues for this solver.
Musings
-Happy Birthday to Lemon and Vidwan!
-The Huskers open their FB season today by playing Northwestern in Dublin, Ireland.
-Did anyone else think of Oda MAE Brown played by Whoopi Goldberg in the 1990 movie Ghost?
-Lennie Dawson, Bart Starr’s opposing QB in Super Bowl I, died three days ago
-I suspect that some of us who struggle with contemporary musicians/actors did much better with Wake Up Little Susie
-Bill, I agree with all you said but the introduction of electronic timing. That made the times slower as it eliminated the .014 reaction time for handheld timers.
A big DNF. After the first pass of the Across clues, all I had was RFK and only because I lived 6 miles away from it at one time. I would get on Central Avenue in Maryland and take it straight to RFK Stadium.
I got the first two Down clues, but then had to turn on Red Letters to finish the puzzle.
Methinks BEDIMS was a really Obscure answer.
peaNUT had to be replaced by BARNUT.
Probably like others I had to replace PINEsoL with PINEOIL. If there is no pine oil in PINESOL then what is?
Oh well, Rich got even today with a real toughy.
Have a great day everyone.
Happy Birthday, Vidwan and Jason.
FWIW, I was on the Bozo The Clown tv show for Lanny Barshack's (a neighbor at the time) sixth birthday.
The puzzle? A worthy Saturday opponent. Solved mostly clockwise starting in the NE. I often find that the NW, for some reason or another, is often the last territory to fall.
M-M, if you start in the NE and solve clockwise, it makes sense that the NW would be the last to fall. :)
Unfortunately did not finish, and needed help on some. I did get DARK CHOCOLATE almost immediately but too many proper names I didn’t know and maybe as others have stated I too was not on Rich’s wavelength.
I liked the movie Sideways very much. Sweet and quirky.
Happy birthday to Lemonade and Vidwan. 🎂🎊🎉
New editor has ruined the LATimes crossword.
This was a Saturday was a toughie - very slow to get footholds.
HG already mentioned about my hometown quarterback Len Dawson's death this week at age 87 - his Chiefs lost the first Super Bowl to Bart Starr and the Packers. He did win the 4th Super Bowl against Boomer's Vikings - the last Super Bowl which was the AFL vs NFL before they merged. He was a fixture in my hometown as he segued into sports director at a local TV station - one of the first to do that as a HOF level athlete. Later he hosted HBO's "Inside the NFL"
I'm glad to do my part for heart health - with DARK CHOCOLATE
Thanks HG and Rich- for a Saturday challenge
Happy birthday to Lemonade and Vidwan!
When I Rich's name I knew he was coming back with a vengeance. A DNF today. The NW started bad and stayed bad after I filled GOT UP, then STOOD, but never AROSE. At least I guessed RENAL Artery. The SW was just as bad. I figured it was ARGentina or BRAzil (more than five), had TARR from the only gimme in this puzzle-BART STARR, and BEER ME but that was it.
ARCHIVE, RELACES, ON ALERT, & SAIL BY never had a chance and ELMER and HALLE were unknown as clued.
ICE BREAKER as a fill- give me a break.
PLS & TY- I filled it but had no idea. Thank You, not TY, Gary.
I've never heard the term 'Corkers' and I had filled BE_UTS; call me crazy but I thought it might be "BE NUTS", which isn't too PC these days. BEAUTS? No way.
I filled the right side correctly guessing VOILA and BAR NUT. KAT and VEGA were unknowns over there.
IDLES- on my Highlander it doesn't; the tach goes to zero when I push the brake all the way down; engine starts back up when I let off the brake. Weird getting used to.
My Tigers from LSU put PAW PRINTS on those ACC tigers a couple of years ago in the championship game.
WAKE as water line eludes me.
TY and PLS is in a language I suppose I am too old ever to have learned.
Never knew there were BAR NUTS. Though sometimes you can sit next to one.
This may have been the toughest puzzle I have ever completed: 51 mins. It was a BEAUT.
Hi Y'all! Thank you, Husker!
I thought Rich Norris was retired. Right smack in the middle of the puzzle I AM SO DEAD jumped out at me. What kind of message is that? Does he know this puzzle is so tough that he expects us to "put him down"? Well, I won't go that far, but I wanted to throw some rotten tomatoes at him in honor of all the red (letters) it took to fill this MESS. DARK CHOCOLATE was the only fill I like.
Happy Birthday, Vidwan!
Happy Birthday, Lemonade!
This puzzle was way above my pay grade....
The puzzle was so white, I could have ski'd on it if it weren't for all the moguls...
( I did get "beer me" though...)
Pinesol sent me down the rabbit hole.
Glycolic acid is now the active ingredient.
(What the heck is glycolic acid?)
Google says it's an ingredient in many skin care products...
Wikipedia says it's a skin irritant...?
Happy birthday Lemonade! your cake looked so good, i had a piece...
Happy Birthday Vidwan!
Note:
I was once paid for tinkering with an old ladies TV set. Does this mean my amateur status is void?
Aside to TTP (& tinkerers everywhere)
I always wanted to take a blown up engine from the junkyard and see if I could make it run again. But more often than not it is more involved than just new piston rings. If you have 40 minutes to kill, check out this guy (no relation) fixing a blown up engine. I got all excited by this, but DW and the kids won't let me on a ladder anymore. I doubt they will let me play with muriatic acid...
Thank you Rich for a truly Saturday level puzzle, and it was great to see you again. This was a real slog for me, but I (we) managed a FIR with a little help from Teri. PARIS wasn't making it on the SEINE and she suggested ROUEN, which broke the logjam. I think the cluing in this puzzle was very clever. If Patti had anything to do with it, she must have learned it at the feet of a master.
And thank you Husker for your usual informative and entertaining review.
1A ARCHIVE. ARCHIVES are much in the news these days. I wonder if they'll result in a FILING? On an immediate note, Husker cites the tradeoff between INCREASED ACCESS and DECREASED PRIVACY. But there is also an ongoing LONG TERM problem with retrieving digitally archived info which can REDUCE ease of ACCESS to it. I recall overhearing a conversation on a train platform between two people who worked at the National Archives. One of them was lamenting that they now have to maintain inventories of peripheral devices that become obsolete with continual advances in storage technology.
28A VOILA. Here's Carlisle's rendition of Jacques Brel's Ne Me Quitte Pas ("Don't Leave Me").
32A DARK CHOCOLATE. Sent the pic to my DIL immediately. It's one of her 4 basic food groups.
47A WIZARD. I recall two of them (GANDALF and SURUMAN), but didn't know they were ISTARI - thought it might have been a synonym for WRAITH as in the RING WRAITHS. But nothing worked their until I got 29D.
29D ORANGE ZEST. I knew it was ORANGE something (PEEL?) almost immediately, but unfortunately filled it under 28D, an exercise in futility until I took a closer look.
41D MAO II. The last to fall. Didn't know the book, but recalled one of Warhol's MAOs in the BMA collection. It's in the same gallery with his GINORMOUS black and white double photo of Da Vinci's Last Supper. A few years back the BMA stirred up a hornet's nest when their new curator announced that he was selling the Warhol's and using the proceeds to buy some "modern art". They're still there.
Cheers,
Bill
The Saturday clueing debacle continues.
At least I don’t have to be creative:
“New editor has ruined the LATimes crossword.”
Indeed.
Happy B'day, Lemonade!
A true Saturday toughie from Mr. Norris, softened up for us by Husker G...
I struggled with 85% success to understand the mind of Mr. N.
I had just a coupla gimmes (ELMER & SATYR).
At times, I thought I was on his curious wave length, with colloquialisms like BEER ME and I AM SO DEAD, but then I thought him surprisingly prosaic, with SAIL BY & VERY ("Rather" as a mere intensifier!), and passé (does anyone still TIVO?).
All in all, it was a workout. But then, that's what we sign on for, isn't it?
~ OMK
____________
DR: One diagonal, near side (NW to SE).
Its anagram (12 of 15 letters) is a tribute to the dear little weasel who, having never signed on for the deal, is the foundation for an entire industry, sacrificing his life to make ladies' coats--and to provide the ermine trim on regal capes.
Yes, today we salute the...
"STOAT DAZZLER"!
DNF. After 21 minutes I was having no fun, so quit. 1D STOOD prevailed and messed up the NW. 22A DIKE did the same there. 50 A PINESOL sunk the SE. Only the NE and Mideast got filled correctly, and even there PEANUT became BARNUT. I spend way too much time in bars, and have never heard the term “barnut”. ORANGEZEST I got after considering ORANGEPEEL and ORANGERIND, but even that didn’t rescue the SE because I couldn’t get past PINESOL. No joy in this CW, ya got me good, RN. This CW is just too difficult for my meager abilities. Nice write-up. HG, thanx. Sorry I can’t be more effusive, but after getting so thoroughly spanked, I’m a bit grumpy.
Hand raised for PINESOL before PINE OIL before the perps chastised me. Oh, and I had to look up the health properties of DARK CHOCOLATE...sorry to say there aren't any (but I won't let that stop me!) Great to see Mister Saturday back...missed him!
Happy Birthday, Lemonade and Vidwan!
D.N.A. (Did Not Attempt).
I should add that I did fill BARTSTARR, being a cheesehead, that’s a gimme. Also would like to add “Toss a can my way” would NEVER be said by someone wanting a beer, unless he wanted it sprayed all over the place.
Good point, D.O.😁
DNF. No worries, though. I have a plan to improve my brain's function before next Saturday by eating more DARK CHOCOLATE.
Happy B-day to Lemonade and Vidwan!
I had to resort to looking up DOZENS of clues to get the answers, mostly names of authors, names of books, names of movies, and names of sports figures with whom I was utterly unfamiliar. Had to change PEANUT to BARNUT (ugh!), LEER to OGLE, OTOH to OTOE, DROP to DUCT, HOBBIT to WIZARD, and PINE SOL to PINE OIL. I found the whole puzzle to be a brutal slog and did not enjoy solving it. It was such a fun sponge that any appreciation I had for imaginative clues such as "Stopped lying", "Cook with a lot of Apples", and "Sound of a sock" was totally sucked away. Big fat Thumper.
Oh, I almost forgot. Speaking of VALENTINES, yesterday's VDAY elicited a noisy scoff from me when it filled. V DAY? Does anybody actually ever say that or write that? C'mon, Christina Iverson and Beth Rubin, you made that up!
Hi All!
Theme: "Rich's Revenge"
I don't feel so dumb now that I read IM had troubles solving
Thanks for the puzzle Rich. Jinx nailed the lyric w/ 'servant is the master.'
So, echoing HG, did Patti change your clues?
Thanks for filling in 3/4s of my grid HG. I was not picking up Rich's vibe and was asea - PINE sOl was 4/7th right but adore (42d) was right-out. As was 'Never mind the comments'. #Sticks&Stones
Fun expo too. Thank you.
Fav: BEER ME.
Happy Birthday Lem & Vidwan. CED, nice cakes.
CED & TTP: Do you recall BooL from a few years ago at The Corner? He has a number of YouTube videos bringing old lawnmowers to life. I couldn't quickly find them - maybe someone at remembers how to spell his whole NAME ;-)
LOL sitting next to a BAR NUT, AGM.
I was thinking BEER NUTS but not enough blocks for letters. Here's a BAR NUT recipe -- I can't say if it's authentic 'cuz I've never had anything but Spanish peanuts at a bar.
Jayce - I liked Cook w/ Apples and Sock Sound... At least insofar that I could fill it ;-)
D-O: Are you still getting the paper you're not paying for? If so, go tell the delivery guy where I live now (Spring, TX). See if he can't deliver the paper I've been paying for but not received in two weeks (after 13 phone calls!).
No wonder the newspapers are dying [I'm this close ( ) to cancelation just out of frustration].
Cheers, -T
Jayce @4:44 PM Needs another letter, like an E or a J. My parents were married on VJ in the UK.
Make that VJDAY
Congratulations to your parents, waseeley. Without them we wouldn't have you!
Puzzling thoughts:
Had to reveal too many answers; Rich's revenge is an appropriate title
Happy Birthday to my fellow Friday blogger, JC, aka Lemonade714
Happy birthday to you two brothers from different mothers. May you continue to enjoy your families for years to come.
Thank you Jayce!
Whadayano. I FIR after deeming it impossible. I struggled last night and decided to sleep on it. Woke up. Nada. Went out came back and boxes started to fill. Yes, SW was tricky as Gary pointed out.
I couldn't get a foothold except for BART STARR, which wasn't helping in SW.
Neither was Paris cutting it for Seine City
I king CHOCOLATE got me restarted
There's Saruman and Gandalf and a third one? who's featured in the Hobbit movie riding large hares. There were four more Istari but not named.
Aha, RADAGAST. Thx billocoes.
So, HG, you didn't like 2+1/2 Men either
BOZO immediately came to mind but how to perp it in?
This xword more than any to date illustrates how the brain works. I was total DNF after 3 hours. Not a single box filled on second go-round. Somehow in some mysterious way they all filled. I was ready to keep it all week. I'm glad I can finally read the write-up and post..
Hbd to vidwan and Jason aka lemonade
WC
A somewhat, no, extremely, annoying puzzle today. Finally finished but I wonder what happened the correct use of the English language????? I thought these things were edited!!
It's so late I doubt anyone is reading comments anymore. Had a long day with lots going on.
Gave the puzzle a go. Actually went through the "across" clues top to bottom totally blank, not one secure answer and tossed it aside.
Wonder how many of his own clues Rich changed? Edited to be as obscure as possible
🙄
Finally, FIR, but so many unknown names: Suzanne Vega (never heard of her); novelist Rita __ Brown - who? Don DeLillo? Istari? - not a clue. Luckily, the ol' TIVO appeared, which opened up the SW. Hand up for Pinesol<PINEOIL. Thankful for the cute pooches I knew right away in the SE corner which helped that area.
Agree, wholeheartedly with Ray-O @ 9:24p. I've only worked LAT C/Ws for the last 20 yrs, and I've never seen such bizarro cluing appearing suddenly, but I have my suspicions.
Had a VERY busy day and only opened LAT puzzle after dinner (about 8 pm). It just turned 2 a.m. and I tossed it almost TWO THIRDS EMPTY!! I have an important question to the editors: Is the purpose of your puzzles to outwit the solvers so they all put DNF? Or is it to challenge their thought processes as they dig their way to success? More and more, I'm beginning to believe it's the former and not the latter - exemplified by today's entry. Why not develop a coding system that warns solvers of difficulty levels (i.e. "E" for everyone, "M" for MENSA only). When I caved and saw the answers, I was stunned by the archain answers there in. By the many negatives here in, I believe others will join me in my lament.
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