Saturday Themeless by Christina Iverson and Taylor Johnson
My last Christina puzzle was a collaboration with Matthew Stock in August and Taylor has had a solo Tuesday and Sunday LA Times offering this year. It was a nice solve and this baby boomer enjoyed references to Marvin Gaye, Lou Reed, Lara (Zhivago theme) and Andie McDowell.
Iowan Christina had this to tell me when I wrote her to get some info on Taylor: I will no longer be Patti's assistant editor by the time the puzzle comes out, but you could say I worked as Patti's assistant editor, and am currently working on some other crossword projects.
Taylor had this tell us: I’m a 32-year old crossword constructor living in Minneapolis, MN. By day I work for a food co-op, and by night, (and really all the time), I hang out with a couple of small humans that call me dad.
I first got into solving crossword puzzles around five years ago. I began constructing around the time my daughter was born, in the spring of 2021. I strive to make puzzles that everyone can enjoy solving, from the seasoned vets, t0new sovlers just starting out. I want my puzzles to be approachable, fresh, full of life and zest, a healthy dose of pop culture, and a focus on representation and inclusivity. I want my puzzles to be for everyone, and reflect the world we live in. Most of all, I just want people to have fun, that’s cool, right?
1. Cohen persona: ALI G.
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| Sasha Baron Cohen and his persona ALI G |
5. Within: AMID - I so love the Desiderata that starts - Go placidly AMID the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
9. Insects that may reproduce without males: ANTS - It's called Parthenogenesis. This hilarious scene jumped to my mind immediately.
13. City on the Mississippi, for short: NOLA.
14. Terminal point: GATE - I got very interesting looks when I showed up at the GATE with 110 kids in tow for the flight. The kids always gots lots of compliments afterwards.
15. Pond noise: CROAK.
16. Entry-level perk?: DOOR PRIZE - Clever cluing - A PRIZE for merely walking through the DOOR
18. Angiogram image: AORTA.
19. NPR podcast hosted by Sam Sanders until 2022: IT'S BEEN A MINUTE.
21. A lot to manage?: ESTATE - Like the Biltmore ESTATE in Asheville, N.C.
22. Foolhardy: RASH - Don't say or do anything RASH when you are emotional. Wait until IT'S BEEN A MINUTE.
23. Understand: GET.
24. Keys left for a housesitter: SPARE SET.
28. Revolutionary group?: THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
31. "Elementary" star: LIU - She plays Dr. Joan Watson to Johnny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes in these takes on Sherlock Holmes cases set in modern times in NYC.
33. Righteous Babe Records founder DiFranco: ANI.
34. 24-hour post: INSTAGRAM STORY - you can share photos and videos that disappear from your profile, Feed and messages after 24 hours, unless you add them to your profile as story highlights. Uh, they don't always disappear!
41. Otherworldly: ETHEREAL.
42. Musical Reed: LOU - I best remember his Walk On The Wild Side that raised transgender issues in 1972.
43. "Llama Llama Misses __": rhyming book by Anna Dewdney: MAMA.
44. Some spooky stories: ATTICS - They are usually the top story of a house and can seem spooky
48. "But I can probably manage on my own": NO WORRIES IF NOT.
52. Sub standard?: SONAR - Obviously this about a submarine but the standard for substitute teachers these days is, "Do you have a pulse?"
53. Make things interesting, so to speak: UP THE ANTE - I'll see your $2 and raise you $100.
54. Label giant: AVERY - We used these back when we actually mailed out Christmas cards
55. Single serving, say: DOSE - Fun clue
56. Lo-cal: LITE.
57. "Let's Get It On" singer: GAYE - His 1973 hit is so smooth
58. Nestlé brand: EDY'S and 12. Calypso-influenced genre: SKA - A popular crossword ice cream brand and music
59. Bound: LEAP - Considering their age, I wonder if Christina and Taylor know the phrase "Able to leap tall buildings in a single BOUND"? 🤔
Down:
1. MacDowell of "Groundhog Day": ANDIE.
2. Pilfers: LOOTS.
3. Rather brief concession speech: I LOST - This Russian master in The Quenn's Gambit would say "Я проиграл"
5. Accept: AGREE TO - Star NFL quarterbacks can AGREE TO contracts for $50M+/yr
6. Word with drag or sail: MAIN
7. Native people of Guatemala: ITZA - The name Chichen Itza is a Mayan language term for “at the mouth of the well of the Itza.” The Itza were an ethnic group of Mayans who had risen to power in the northern part of the Yucatan peninsula, where the city is located.
8. Judge: DEEM.
9. Piques: AROUSES - Curiosity and cats...
9. Piques: AROUSES - Curiosity and cats...
10. Travel guide?: NORTH STAR - The one point in the sky north of the equator that is in the same place every night. It was very helpful for the night travels of the underground railroad.
11. Big name in British art: TATE Art Gallery in London
15. Yellow hue: CANARY - To switch things up, I'd put my exams on CANARY yellow paper
17. Adventurous brothers of 1990s Nickelodeon: PETES -
20. Good ways to save, initially: IRAS.
24. Katey of "Sons of Anarchy": SAGAL - Some of Katey's many roles
25. Gym ball?: PROM.
26. Minuscule: EENY.
27. "Sorry, did I just gross you out?": TMI - "No, I'd love to see that scar again!"
28. Window shade: TINT.
29. Opposite of a speaking fee?: HUSH MONEY - Sometimes it accompanies an NDA (non-disclosure agreement)
30. "Doctor Zhivago" heroine: LARA - Oscar winning Lara's Theme
35. Service provider?: TEAWARE - synonymous with TEASET
36. Well-protected storehouse: ARMORY - This famous one at Harper's Ferry, WV (then VA) was the site of John Brown's ill-fated raid in 1859. His raid was put down by U.S. Marines led by none other than Robert E. Lee.
37. Part with teeth: GEAR.
38. Date components: SLASHES - I like it when a program enters the SLASHES for me.
39. Fields of comedy: TOTIE.
40. Waste stream's discharge point: OUTFALL.
45. Umbilical variety: INNIE.
46. Terra __: COTTA - A clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous
47. Soak, in a way: STEEP - Steps 4 & 5 below
48. Starburst?: NOVA - a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. You're welcome.
49. "How __!": RUDE - Right?
49. "How __!": RUDE - Right?
50. Shuffle gadget: IPOD - My old red one is full of music and I get it out occasionally
52. Short list of stars?: SAG - SAG is short for Screen Actors Guild who do have a list of member stars.
30 comments:
This puzzle seemed a bit easier to me than many Saturday puzzles have been lately. True, there was a fair amount of misdirection, but that is to be expected on a Saturday and, because I was watching for it, it didn’t throw me. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Went wrong with TEAcARt, but that was my only Wite-Out moment this morning. Managed to perp NO WORRIES IF NOT, but it still seems weird/awkward/uncomfortable. SAG was an outright mystery. Thanx for 'splainin' that one, Husker. The train came into the station with minutes to spare. Plus, there was no reveal for d-o to miss, and no theme to overlook. Thanx, Christina and Taylor.
ITZA was a learning moment. Thought of MAYA and INCA. We visited Chichen Itza for dw's 40th birthday. Back in those days you were still allowed to climb the pyramid. She made it to the top just fine, but coming down was another story. Interesting place, especially the cenotes.
Just under 16 minutes.
Stumped in the top-center and top-right for a long time.
Inca held strong before felling to Itza. I talked myself into "door price" before realizing "door prize" actually meant something.
Didn't know the "Petes" brothers.
17down- The Adventures of Pete and Pete. Tales of two brothers named Pete. My kids (and I) loved this show and then, for the final season in 1994, they used our block as home base for the family home. Our house got used for a few scenes including the epic boxing match between Santa and the evil garbage man who insisted everyone throw away their Christmas trees on 12/26. It was a fun 4 months of having the cast and crew around. The cast couldn’t have been nicer to my kids, 5 and 9 at the time. Our brush with Hollywood fame right here in New Jersey!
Another Saturday that had to be put down, do the Jumble, sleep, wake up, wordle and finally the SE fills along with the long NO WORRIES… and GEAR.
But… I had cAbBAGE and nOOb (I might have caught onto ALI G). Anybody read a 70s tome: The ?? Bible? In the middle the author lists pages of hypothetical bands. Cabbage would've fit
I should have caught WARd/E and GAYd/E
Why did I have Rex Reed? I think the Platters had a singer named LOU Reed too
Mario Bros and LARA's
Why not a PRIZE for the NOOBs? Any ideas -T?
WC
Good Morning:
I had a tough time getting any traction, mainly because two of the long answers, No Worries If Not and It’s Been A Minute, took forever to parse, the latter being unknown and the former being head-scratching-ly obtuse. Finally, I got some toe-holds and finished in below average Saturday time. Other hold ups were the usual proper name suspects, Garbage, Gaye, and Pete’s and the unknown Outfall. Only w/o was Inca/Itza. Some of the cluing was quite clever, my favorite being the one for Hush Money. Props for the very low three letter word count, 9 if I caught them all.
Thanks, Christina and Taylor, both for the challenging puzzle and for sharing some personal thoughts. Good luck, Christina, in all of you new endeavors. Thanks, HG, for the usual sparkling and informative review and visuals. The best invisible visual is picturing you herding 100+ kids through an airport!
FLN
DO, your comment about Ken and Grand Mariner evoked the memory of my husband’s long ago faux pas order to a waiter for the Lack of Ram, induced no doubt by no lack of Chivas Regal! 🤭
CED, years ago, Rumaki was an appetizer staple on Chinese restaurant’s menus that consisted of chicken livers and water chestnuts wrapped in bacon. My tweaked version is replacing the water chestnuts, which I don’t like, with pieces of green pepper that I think adds an extra flavor. They were always a big hit at my Christmas cocktail parties.
Have a great day.
Slow going, but finally success. I held on to SPECTRAL instead of ETHEREAL too long. After that no worries, but it took more than a minute. I really like all the clever clues. Christina and Taylor deserve a prize for a fair and challenging puzzle to entertain a cross section of crossword aficionados.
IM, I think I've mentioned before that at one office meeting the boss went on and on about the "faux pas" wall finishes at a house he'd visited over the weekend. I struggled valiantly to keep a straight face.
DNF. NW refused to show itself, what with Ali G, Garbage, and Itza, complete unknowns to me and perps were of no help.
Well this was definitely a Saturday puzzle. Thank you Christina for your parting shot and we wish you the best in your new CWD gig. And thank you Taylor and thank you Husker.
I worked on this for about 45 minutes, left it 1/3 completed on the dining room table for Teri to look out (as a diversion from the Jumble). I returned to find that she'd corrected a lot of my stuff and completed another 3rd (the hard parts!) and together we proceeded to hammer out a FIR.
This was a cleverly clued puzzle with a DOSE of ephemeral "healthy pop culture", a lot of which I suspect will turn out to be "single servings".
Some favorites:
9A ANTS. Had BEES, but they couldn't produce any perps.
16A DOOR PRIZE. Teri gets the PRIZE for this one.
41 ETHEREAL. My favorite sniffer for LOOTing stuff off the Internet.
28A SOLAR SYSTEM. This was WAY over my head.
44A ATTICS. This was NOT over my head.
52A SONAR. Wanted HOAGIE but it was too long.
10D NORTH STAR. Teri located this one.
11D TATE. We had this yesterday, filled with TATE MODERN.
35D TEA WARE. I've made a 1/2 dozen or so TEA POTS. Getting all the parts to work together is tricky.
45D COTTA. I don't make make TERRA COTTA, because it won't hold TEA.
Cheers,
Bill
FIW with fatal errors in the NW (noob price, Inca) but enjoyed it! Favorite entry: HUSH MONEY. Thanks for the fun, everyone!
Fun, if challenging, Saturday puzzle, Christina and Taylor. And, of course, I always enjoy your commentary, Gary, thanks for that too.
Any chance you get a DOOR PRIZE if you come in through the GATE of an ESTATE? You certainly shouldn't be asked to give any HUSH MONEY by the butler. Maybe they could give you a SPARE SET of keys for the next time you visit.
I'm not a very skilled gambler so I often LOST a LOOT when I agreed to play. And then, when they UP THE ANTE to a higher DOSE it really AROUSES my worry that I'll spend my IRA and that gives me a RASH.
Time for me to take a break. Have a great weekend, everybody.
Incomplete NE and SE. Kept staring at the quick fill of beautiful ANDIE McDowell. Plus just back from my grandson's HS football game where we baked in the sun for 3 hours. At least they won against a good team from Syracuse. But too nice a day to continue to labor over the puzzle. I see now I shoulda know ALIG 😠. Missed DOORPRIZE too. AVERY a complete unknowned but wanted to and shoulda WAGed it like OUTFALL.
Excellent clever ingenious, Saturday level, cluing, my fav was "Spooky stories" ATTICS...
Inkovers: ere/AGO, admitTO/AGREE, spiceitup/UPTHEANTE.
"Doctor Zhivago heroine" was Ла́ра. We just had TATE, hmmm? (PETE & PETE; bros with the same name? Wha?). TEAWARE?
Brief concession speech: "Buy my hotdogs" 😄....Gym, yep that's where we held the Junior Prom 1966. (The Senior Ball 1967, at a fancy shmancy country club). Break terra COTTA by dropping it on terra firma. "Miniscule": EENY?
TOTIE Fields way goes back to the Ed Sullivan days.
Pricey....STEEP
"Global warming" : Terra ____ .....COTTA
Old timey anesthesiologists....ETHEREAL
In Mexico, "Chicken" ____ "Pollo"...ITZA
There was a spectacular deeply vivid blood red moon last night, Have never seen the one so striking..
DO @ 11:04 ~ Yes, I remember that story and it still brings a chuckle. The funniest linguistic blooper that I recall (and I’ve mentioned it before) is when an acquaintance was asked how his postsurgical wife was doing and he replied, in a worrisome tone, “Well, she’s doing better but she’s not out of the woodwork yet!” Need I say more about failed valiant struggles? 😈
BTW, I’m still recovering from the shock of my bill from the farmer’s stand on Thursday. 8 ears of corn + 3 tomatoes = $18.00. To be fair, the tomatoes are all larger than a softball, but it’s still a stiff price, IMO. 😬
Hola!
Christina and Taylor threw us a hard ball! But of course it's Saturday so it's expected.
Thank you, Gary, for your Saturday selections!
The low hanging fruit filled quickly but then I've never heard IT'S BEEN A MINUTE so I LIU. That gave me some toeholds and the NE filled easily. How great to have THE SOLAR SYSTEM span nicely across the grid with only one space left. The same with INSTAGRAM STORY.
TOTIE Fields is surely a blast from the past! And we have NORTHSTAR and short list of stars. Is that repetition now allowed?
ETSY provided me with some unique gnomes to give to my daughter who collects all kinds of them. A family of gnomes sits outside the doorway of their home. I told her that in Poland almost every home has them, too.
Our townhomes do not have ATTICS, only flat roofs. I recall one at my grandmother's house, though.
I have an ample supply of AVERY labels.
Beng so much younger back in 1984 climbing Chichen ITZA was easy!
Have a super Saturday, everyone!
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Christina & Taylor, for a difficult challenge. Thanks, Gary!
The puzzle was filled with bits & pieces here and there. Hard to get a toe hold. Not fun but some satisfaction in filling it.
My daughter went to Chichen ITZA, but I didn't know the ITZA were Indians. I tried Maya. We had two Mayan boys as exchange students for a couple of weeks in 1982, so I've always been interested in learning about the area.
Before starting the puzzle, I had seen a listing on YouTube for Marvin GAYE singing "Let's Get IT ON". Spooky how that happens sometimes.
Since the new editor has assumed control, I'm finding the Fri and Sat puzzles too show biz, too rap oriented, and just too bizarre. I'm looking for puzzles elsewhere.
DNF but enjoyed this puzzle's many clever misdirections. The SE was my nemesis today.
Nice work, Christina and Taylor. Thank you for adding your thoughts to HG's terrific tour!
FAVs: a lot to manage, gym ball, revolutionary group
Anonymous @ 8:56. Cute story about the PETES.
I once took a yoga class in Ashville, NC with ANDIE MacDowell just 3 mats away. It would have been RUDE to stare.
Hi All!
Close but no cigar... Which is pretty good for me on a Sat.
Thanks Christina & Taylor for a pleasing (and Sparkly! - lots of fun c/a's) Saturday near-solve and for giving HG some inside-baseball.
Good luck on your next adventure Christina.
WOs: IncA-> ITZA, TEA cart->sets->WARE, SeGAL
ESPs: ITZA, PETES, SAGAL, ANI, 'STORY' part of INSTAGRAM fill
FIW: TOToE | NO WORRIES of NOw |SwEEP
Fav: Don't be RASH [young RUSH :-) --- real RUSH is at the counter in the sketch]
GIMMEs out-of-the-gate (#IDIOM): ALI G | ANDIE, LOU Reed, & I've listened to ITS BEEN A MINUTE for years. Those gave me Saturday hope.
AVERY cuz DYMO & Brother didn't fit; neither did W.C..
Just me? Anyone else keep looking for a theme at the long crosses and all the 'star' clues/fill? Patterns where they ain't ;-)
FLN - Misty: It was you that mentioned the book here at The Corner. I found it on Amazon and a few days later started reading it... I'm not very far into it. Maybe I should read Dubliners 1st :-)
SpeedyS - really?!? Took me >90 minutes; 45 of those semi-focused during WWDTM.
PJK - I take some of these show-biz bits as a learning opportunity.
FLN - Gen-Z Eldest only knew one of the pop-culture references in Friday's puzzle.
WC @8:57 - I'm guessing to get you in the door when the fliers go up(?).
Biltmore - DW & I went with college chums and later returned with our kids. Amazing place.
Ray-O: After the induction into the Order of the Arrow ceremony [Boy Scouts], we exited the trail to the biggest, reddest, creepiest Moon I'd ever seen (to be fair, I was only 12).
Trooper (that was his moniker), decided it fun to make spooky noises outside of camp about 45 minutes post lights-out.
We new inductees all needed a new set of skivvies :-)
Cheers, -T
DNF, Googling for ITSBEENAMINUTE, GAYE (doh!), GARBAGE, and TOTIE (I had toady). Still managed six bad squares in the SE, mainly because I finished being interested before I checked my work down there.
Looks to me like the Nickelodeon writers were fans of Newhart's brothers Darrell and Darrell. I first wrote "Mario" instead of PETES.
D-O and IM - I worked for a boss who used to tell tales of his wonderful visits to the Smithonian museum. My peers and I would exchange sideways glances to see if we could make each other laugh, but no one ever did. (He was otherwise an intelligent man and a good boss. Except he was a die-hard Huskers fan.)
Very tough Sat PZL from the charmingly-photographed Iverson/Johnson team, broken down for us by Husker G...
I got a quarter of it on my own, then cheated a little before cheating a lot.
I flatter myself that I got all the fills that a gentleman should know, and even a few that were beyond the pale.
The only one I missed that I should have known was... ITZA. In the mid '80s. I stood on the top of that very pyramid at Chichen ITZA.
(What a flake I was back then, thinking it a joke to call out, "Bring me your virgins!" at the top of my lungs.
Good thing I was traveling alone. No one should have known me.)
I lived in three houses that had ATTICs, three more with crawl spaces. In one, I used the ATTIC for my office. In all the rest, I just forgot an ATTIC was there. Nothing spooky about them. Basements with furnaces were always scarier.
I get SLASHES (38D) now, but I sure didn't get it for the longest time. I use hyphens myself.
Biggest write-over? UP THE ANTE over SPICE IT UP.
(Mine was better, but whatcha gonna do...?)
~ OMK
____________
DR: Four diagonals! One at hand, and three opposite.
The far side main diag offers an anagram (11 of 15 letters) that seems an inane (with or w/o the "s"?) mockery of today's Second Amendment, forcing us to wonder in sorrow if the NRA's lobbying hasn't set us up for what seems like a series of over-empowered solo-civilian enemy ...
"GUN WARGAMES"!
Close but no cigar for the NOLA solver today. A DNF. The Dakotas had me stumped.
My DOOR PRIZE was a Door GUARD.
The unknown Guatemalans were MAYA, not ITZA.
The unheard song was from the unknown band GARBAGE in spite of having GARB_AGE filled.
NPR podcast? I've never listened to anybody's podcast but had IT'S____A MINUTE on the page. Sanders and "It's BEEN a minute"- both unknown.
Ditto for Nickelodeon and the unknown PETES brothers.
My Terminal point wasn't to be. With MAYA in place GATE wouldn't cross.
Everything south was filled with only MAMA and AVERY filled by perps.
PK After listening to Marvin GAYE's "Let's Get It On" you could listen to LOU Reed's "Take A Walk On The Wild Side"
Jinx:
You gotta provide a Larry, Darryl, & Darryl link, Bro.
C, -T
Musings
-I had a nice lunch yesterday with a constructor and former university president from Lincoln. He asked the waitress if they had green tea. Receiving the answer I thought he would of "no" he asked for a cup of hot water and drank that as we ate our salads and had a very interesting discussion.
-Jinx, Do you have a problem with Husker fans? :-)
-I would like to add one thing about how you finish a puzzle. One recent constructor wrote to the effect that: "How you finish the puzzle is not that important. It's a game not a test!"
You can find that “game not a test” quote here
By all means, Anonymous T, do read Joyce's "Dubliners" first. I hate to even mention this but there is a 2006 Norton Critical Edition of "Dubliners" that is edited by me (not under the name of Misty) that has all the chapters with notes, plus a collection of articles by other writers on the stories. But I think you would enjoy the stories of "Dubliners" in any edition--they are easy and fun to read.
Anon-T, you might want to try "Simply Joyce"
Good advice pour moi, aussi
WC
I couldn't get my one-track mind off of sports this a.m. @47down and quickly filled in sWeep (hi, -T) instead of the simple STEEP. Should've read the clue through again. I'll blame it on not being a tea drinker - sure.
AVERY reminds me that I need to pick up my Avery address labels at Walmart's curbside pickup this afternoon. Favorite was as most have said HUSHMONEY. Glad that the proper names were well-known, as I would never have known the rock band, GARBAGE??
Misty @ 5:05 PM Would this be it Professor? - Dubliners Norton Critical Edition 2006
Yes, that's it, Waseeley--the one you list in green letters.
And, yes, Wilbur, "Simply Joyce" is also one of my books, though focused not just on Joyce's 'Dubliners.' I unfortunately can't find a copy of it anywhere in my study, so I may have to order one on Amazon, or someplace where I can get it for less than $10.
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