Saturday Themeless by Adrian Johnson
Our Wyoming native who went to college in Minnesota is now doing great work for a startup group called BetterFi, a nonprofit working to end predatory lending in Tennessee.
The NW corner wasn't blank, it was just wrong but I persevered and finished there. Stacks of triple 10's always impress me. Ferreting out EMILIO gave me the big finish.
1. "No offense": JUST SAYING.
11. Get better: HEAL.
15. Italian for "entrepreneur": IMPRESARIO and the one below is famous for his 17. Revue element: VARIETY ACTs like jugglers, puppets, plate spinners, et al.
16. Banks on a runway: TYRA - Ms. Banks is on our runway here often
18. Not at all assertive: MEEK.
19. Music producer Estefan: EMILIO - Yeah, I'm the only who put in his wife GLORIA's name first
20. Valleys: HOLLOWS - Twill soon be the season for one
22. Squelch: SIT ON - Media members have been known to SIT ON a story that shows a favorite of theirs in a bad light
23. __ pad: STENO
25. Gravel size: PEA.
26. So-so effort: B-GAME - If you don't bring your A-GAME...
28. Soothed: EASED.
30. "Didn't think I'd see you here!": OH HI.
35. "Tsk" evokers: NO NOS.
37. Etymology concern: ROOT - “Etymology” derives from the Greek root word etumos, meaning “true.”
38. List on a concert T-shirt: DATES.
40. Actress Headey: LENA - Her IMDB
41. City near Nīmes: ARLES - Of course two teams that are 32 minutes from each other in the south of France play each other in soccer, uh, football
44. "The Secret of the Old Clock" sleuth: DREW was a 57. 44-Across, for one: TEEN. You can have this 1931 Nancy Drew first edition for $1,000
45. Food service giant: SYSCO.
47. Asian peninsula: SINAI.
49. Make ends meet?: SEW.
50. Felt lousy: AILED.
52. Label on some bean bags: DECAF - Oh, those beans
58. Comoros capital: MORONI - Crosswords can really expand your knowledge of geography. I had no idea about these islands that are between Mozambique and Madagascar.
59. Stuck in traffic, say: LATE.
60. Early aircraft navigation system: RADIO RANGE - Its fascinating history
63. Frozen treat with Mermaid and Baby Narwhal flavors: ICEE - No really!
64. Caver's cry: I SURRENDER - No spelunking here, just someone caving in to pressure
65. Bird found on all seven continents: TERN.
 |
| Migration pattern of the Arctic TERN |
66. Spirited tale: GHOST STORY - Best lead-in to a commercial ever made
Down:
1. Gets into swing: JIVES - Not "Get into a swing" or "Get into the swing"
2. Taste found in shrimp paste: UMAMI - I first thought it was an ingredient like AIOLI and not a class of taste our mouth detects
3. Diagonal spar: SPRIT
4. Paleozoic marine arthropods: TRILOBITES - A 3-D printer model
5. Believing, so they say: SEEING.
6. Phrase that may start a verdict: AS TO -AS TO the matter of the people of the state of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson case No. BA097211, we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder...
7. "Yesss!": YAY.
8. Plan for the future, in a way: IRA.
9. Recess: NICHE.
10. Happy cry on a fishing boat: GOT ONE - After four hours of no luck fishing in Lake La Ronge in Saskatchewan, I finally yelled this
11. Building site code?: HTML - For the question above: 10. Happy cry on a fishing boat: <b>GOT ONE </b>- After four hours of no luck fishing in Lake La Ronge in Saskatchewan, I finally could yell this.<br /><br />
12. Dose of reality, perhaps: EYE OPENER - The Husker's 1 - 3 start
14. Southeast Asian spicy noodle soup: LAKSA.
21. Front: LOAN - Every summer my bank would loan (FRONT) me enough money to start up my detasseling business
23. Application error, perhaps: SMEAR.
24. Informal language that includes many abbreviations: TEXTESE - Here's 50 of 'em
27. "Then what happened!?": AND
29. Colonial protector?: SOLDIER ANT.
30. "Let You Love Me" and "You for Me" singer: ORA.
31. Close political contest: HORSERACE.
32. Symbol of purification: HOLY WATER that is hopefully 34. Not so hot: TEPID below
36. Prop for a classic magic trick: SAW.
39. Junior: SON.
42. "Git!": SCAT.
46. Groundbreaking technology?: OIL RIG - Of course that ground might be under a few miles of ocean
48. Digs a lot: ADORES.
49. Left: SPLIT - "Let's SPLIT daddio!"
51. Chow line?: LEASH - Adrian!
53. Complex part?: CONDO.
54. Emotion voiced by Lewis Black in "Inside Out": ANGER.
55. Like some emotional speeches: FIERY - Omaha's Malcolm X gave many
58. Lemur in the "Madagascar" films: MORT - Today I learned that MORONI is very near Madagascar.
61. Pair: DUO.
62. Org. led by Charles P. Rettig: IRS - He seems to like his job.
Rarely have I ever had so big a WAG as the one I needed to suss “Mort” and “Moroni.” And rarely have I needed ESP as badly as I did for “Laksa.” The rest of the puzzle was not AS bad, though still quite a slog. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, there were some potentially tricky crossings. It took me some time to sort out the NE because I got HT and instinctively filled in HTTP instead of HTML.
ReplyDeleteFavorite clues:
- plan for the future
- chow line (I got the dog wordplay but I was expecting the usual "line" wordplay too, with something about dog noises)
- groundbreaking technology (I was picturing something HOE- or PLOW-related but the technology part didn't quite fit)
- spirited tale (they seem to nail the ghostly punny clues, "spooky stories" for ATTICS was great a couple weeks ago)
- and last but definitely not least the "bean bag" clue.
After struggling for about an hour I was down to just a few clues in the northwest, but I had to resort to the red strike through feature to finish it off. I’ve been a lawyer for 35 years, so you’d think I’d know “As to,” but you’d be wrong…
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteGuess who managed to screw up 1d? Have I ever mentioned.... JeVES crossing eMPRESARIO was my downfall. Saw "Estefan," but read "Esteves" -- EMILIO still worked. Whew. Gotta get those cataracts looked at. Thanx, Adrian and Husker.
DECAF: That bag of coffee looks almost like the brand we buy -- 8 O'Clock Original Whole Bean.
IRS: They got an interesting referral this past week.
"Lead in to a commercial": I thought Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire would be a cute follow up to a Preparation-H ad. The agency that made the commercial buy wasn't amused.
Challenging solve as expected on a Saturday!
ReplyDeleteAt my mom's for her birthday and my high school reunion - busy weekend but all is quiet right now so time to solve the xword!
Thanks HG for the amusing blog and Adrian for the challenging puzzle!
And a big shout out to Albert Pujols for joining the 700 club for HRs with two in last nights game!
I just checked answers and my WAG of MORONI/MORT got me the FIR
ReplyDeleteMe too, Gary, on Gloria E. What a mess
The HOLLOWS and Tom Bombadil was cut out of LOTR movie Heres what might have appeared
The F that filled DECAF and FIERYsaved me, finally (decal?,teary?)
Joseph Smith(LDS) had a pal name MORONI
two had to become DUO as ratio RANGE sounded good
UMAMI was my first thought but I inked aioli first
Hmm, YAY following OJ verdict. Did you lay a bet, Gary? It was obvious payback for Rodney King verdict.
LOAN and REPO together
D-Otto, your Cash line solidifies your wry humor rep
Typical Saturday. Nada on north, caught a few breaks here and there. Had an errand run down at Villages, was asked to buy CBD gummies. Too one for sciatica but I think it helped my solve
Some clarity and while Mr S lurked(c above) Mr W got the better
WC
Lotsa tricky clever misdirected Saturday worthy clues. Enjoyed this one. Impressed by the difficult construct of so many stacked long clue answers North and South.
ReplyDeleteLike SubG..got to _ ORONI crossed with _ ORT as my moment of truth and guessed "M" correctly to FIR (Whew 🤓) Moroni is also an angel in the LDS church
Inkovers: texting/TEXTESE (?), radarrange/RADIORANGE, (think a Radarrange is an old microwave model)....The microwave we brought to camp in 1989 was purchased in the mid 80's and still works fine... it's huge... has a convection oven feature, pre-turntable. (JUST SAYING.)
They are starting to fill HOLY WATER church fonts again, (I can use all the blessings I can get 😇)
Seems we've been REPOssessing lotsa stuff on CWs lateley. The only time I've had an ICEE is as a puzzle clue answer (thus avoiding a brain freeze 🤯). Have heard of a political "close race" but not as a HORSE RACE
At first read it as "revenue element", so didn't understand when VARIETY ACT perped forth. 😃..."label on some bean bags"? don't eat
"Magic prop" : SAW, (A coW is too big to pull out of hat).....Can't imagine Lewis Black voicing anything other than ANGER as an emotion. There's a Lewis Black ANGER button that releases a slew of ired expletives 🤬 that many would find offensive so I didn't link it. 🙉 🙊
Mom's military sister..SOLDIERTANT
Results of a vocally contentious polititical contest....HOARSE RACE
Boss who dismisses a lot of workers....FIERY
If provoked would a ______ ? ... TRILOBITE
Snowed 60 miles north late yesterday in the central Adirondacks (Yikes).
Actually an enjoyable Saturday, mostly sussable with a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteEspecially enjoyed the wordplay, and the fact that most clues had answers that made sense.
One thing that had me going was, I thought I remembered the name for the crosspiece that holds a sail on a mast as a four letter word. Just could not get it on my tongue. So I went looked for diagrams.
this one calls it a "yard."
(No, that's not right...)
Again, this one's calling it a "yard?
(Where's SpitZboov when I need him...)
Searching this diagram, head cr8ngle, leach clew? oh there it is! Hidden in tangled mess of lines! The four letter word I was looking for! "Spar."
What was the puzzle answer again? sprit? Hmm, I've got to look at that clue again...
3. Diagonal spar: SPRIT
(Oh crap,do I feel stupid...)
Of course! that's where "bowsprit" comes from!
DNF. Looked at 64A for the longest time, and all I saw was 2 words "I sure ___", and would have helped if I knew Mort, then I could say "I surrender."
ReplyDeleteOh well.....
CED, and "yardarm" comes from your "yard."
ReplyDeleteA very tough crunchy themeless, apropos for a Saturday, thank you Adrian for the challenge! Managed a FIR w/o help in just under 45 minutes, close to my average Saturday time. Lots of DNK’s, so very much aided by the perps and a few WAGS. TRILOBITES, LAKSA, TEXTESE, and ORA were firsts for me. WAGed the M in MORT/MORONI, and thought the so so effort may be CGAME, so the B was also a WAG. Hand up for also filling Gloria before EMILIO, I know him as an actor (Breakfast Club, Mighty Ducks), but didn’t know he was a music producer.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gary for another typically fine review, always enjoy your comprehensive take on the puzzle!
Patti, I'm JUST SAYING but some of the fills and clues are MORONI-C. I FIR this morning in 20 minutes but the capital of a country that most people have never heard of? The commissioner of the IRS? And the lemur's name in the country close to the capital of the other country? I would consider those as NO NO'S.
ReplyDeleteSPRIT- I've owned three sailboats so that was a gimme. Ditto for knowing TRILOBITES and MORONI from all the geology and geography courses I took but the spelling of the capital of Madagascar-Antananarivo- that would trip everybody.
TEXTESE-I'll never learn it.
ARE WE DONE reminds me of Steve Martin's "Are you through yet?" on his "Wild and Crazy Guy" album.
Adrian- good luck dealing with mafia loan sharks and the legal loan sharks known as 'pay day loans'. Cutting up the credit cards is about the only way to avoid falling into those situations. Money burns a hole in many people's pockets. Polonius's advice from "Hamlet"- 'Neither a borrower nor a lender be'.
We, too, persevered and finished in the what-until-then-was-empty Northwest.
ReplyDeleteTough puzzle + entertaining write up = great start to the weekend!
ReplyDeleteFinally! A very tough, but fair and intelligent puzzle, not a trivia contest. We both struggled separately for quite a while, then teamed up to get to a triumphant FIR. We do the LA Times print version, so I don’t keep track of our time and don’t really care as long as we get to the finish line.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Adrian, for the workout, and thank you HG for the great write-up. Loved the jive dancing.
Wendy, B.E. here. My print version is the newspaper. I don't keep time but will notice about how long it takes by looking at the clock I don't like the proper name filled puzzle either.
DeleteSaturday toughie (hey, they're supposed to be), many thanks, Adrian. And thanks for your always helpful comments, Gary.
ReplyDeleteEmil was a SOLDIER whose wounds took a long time to HEAL. But friends bought him some OIL paint and he soon DREW some works that were shown at ARLES!
When their steed lost the HORSE RACE, the owners were FIERY with ANGER and tried to fire the jockey who agreed and said "I SURRENDER." But when he won his last race, it was an EYE OPENER for the owners and they let him stay.
The TEEN had trouble SEEING, so her friends read her some GHOST STORIES and now she looks forward to their NEXT visit.
Enjoy your weekend, everybody.
P.S. I miss Owen's verses--hope he'd okay.
ReplyDeleteWhew, this was a workout. I had to look up a lot of stuff. Very "stretchy" clues. Satisfaction level upon completion: medium, 3 out of 5. While I was struggling to solve this beast, I found myself repeatedly thinking about the balance (if there is one) between a "gotcha" clue/answer and a wonderfully clever clue/answer. I think there's a fine line between the two, which is all too easily crossed.
ReplyDeleteThe one clue/answer from which I got the most pleasure solving was "Asian peninsula." I tried INDIA, KOREA, and MALAY before perps showed me it was SINAI. I don't know for sure why that clue/answer so tickled me, but I think it had something to do with (1) it was not a "gotcha" clue, and (2) my thinking had to veer around from east Asia and south Asia to western Asia, which I found liberating.
That's all for today. Good wishes to you all.
Jayce, I've been to western Asia, but never felt liberated there.
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all! Thank you, Adrian, for the challenge. Thank you, Gary, for the great expo.
ReplyDeleteNo offense = JUST SAYING? This, as many phrases we see in puzzles, is so not precise. Meh!
The NW was the last to fill. First pass, only IRA skied on the all-white field.
Hand up for Gloria before EMILIO perped in.
Wish I had a $ for every STENO pad I filled in 20 yrs. of taking notes for the newspaper.
Nancy DREW: I had all those books and wore them out re-reading with my daughters.
DNK: LENA, Nimes (WAG: ARLES), LAKSA, SYSCO, Cosmoros or MORONI (except the LDS angel), TRILOBITES, ORA, MORT, Rettig who runs IRS (badly, methinks).
FWH. Terrific Saturday puzzle, Adrian!! I enjoyed your clever misdirections. Several got the better of me (caver, SOLDIER ANT, beans). Others made me feel brainy for sussing them out (SEEING, SPIRITED TALE, collection).
ReplyDeleteHG, another great review! I read through the text abbreviations link. Most useful: #29 LMGTFY (Hint: Don't ask me what LMGTFY means.)
A fine Saturday PZL from Mr. Johnson, returned for us by Husker G.
ReplyDeleteThis needed only four cheats from me to finish.
HOLY WATER. Ah, memories!
In the second grade at St. Vincent's, we had a near-historical alignment of a loud-mouthed sassy classmate, David, with Sister Agatha, our most hysterical Nun.
She had "taken just about all I can stand" from the boy.
I can still picture--and hear--their ultimate encounter (back over my right shoulder, near the rear door of our classroom):
Sr. Agatha clutched David's nape in her left hand while, with her right, she had ripped the HOLY WATER vessel from the wall and was dousing the entirety of the blessed liquidum over his head--
all the while shrieking repeatedly, "I'll drive the Devil out of you!"
It made quite an impression on my young brain.
~ OMK
_____________
DR: A DUO of diagonals, one on each side.
The near side anagram (12 of 15) speaks of an ardent prohibitionist, or of the latest synthetic fabric.
Regarding the former, ir means a citizen who denies the legality of the 21st Amendment. As to the latter, it is not merely "perm press"; this one resists absorption of any liquid or fluid-based stain!
He/it remains...
"PERMANENT DRY"!
Desper-otto, heh heh, good one. I like it.
ReplyDeleteBig FIW - SE did me in. Only familiar with the movie title "Madagascar" and certainly none of the characters. Fairly knowledgeable about world countries, but never heard of Comoros or its money. After the two LIUs, it came together. Embarrassed about not filling in DECAF right away, because I only buy coffee beans. Liked the clue "caver's cry" although my brain wouldn't budge from the spelunker type of caver or "teary" instead of FIERY. Rest of the puzzle came together quickly, so no complaints.
ReplyDeleteOMK - hilarious childhood memory of Sister Agatha - laughed out loud. Maybe because in our catechism classes, we had Sister Gabriel, but certainly not hysterically funny, but only dour to the max. Even though we were six or seven at the time, we all wondered what caused her bitterness. She was fond of slapping faces for any reason not to her liking.
Came directly to comments; now I'll go back and read HG's always entertaining recap.
WC
ReplyDeleteJinx, BTW, 99.7 is now a religious music station
My 3rd grade nun, Sister Kevin thought the lefthand was the devil's and hated my ink blotches. Then I tried to fraw a horse and kept "retouching" it. Result: Completely square head. She made sure the class knew beelzebub drew it
WC
A BIG DNF today due to a BIG geographic disagreement: I have a good friend from Egypt who is a tour guide for No. Africa and the "Mideast". He has hounded me that the Sinai Peninsula is NOT in Asia but historically has been included within the Moslem Empire of North Africa and therefore is a part of Africa ... not Asia!! This item made me leave the heart of this puzzle vacant ...hence I called this a "heartless" waste of time!
DeleteQuite a coinicidence...I'm waiting for a performance of the book of Mormon to start and here's MORONI blowing his horn
ReplyDelete🌈
Thank you Adrian for a Saturday toughie, albeit a FIR; and I commend you on your efforts to protect the unsuspecting from lending SCAMS. A lot of the cluing in this puzzlde was very clever, e.g. for the fills REPO, SEW, DECAF, GHOST STORY, HTML, SOLDIER ANT, OIL RIG and CHOW LINE. Without the ??? some of these might have never been answered.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you Husker for another illuminating review.
Some favs:
1A IMPRESARIO. In German the word is "Der Schauspieldirektor" and is also the title a comic opera by Mozart. My favorite impresario is JP, the program director of our local classical radio station, WBJC which is broadcast and streamed live all over the world. Not only does he direct a team of great classical DJs; but he also does much to promote the florishing classical music scene in the Baltimore area; and also leads yearly musical tours of Europe and the US. I believe there as still seats left to this year's tour of Portugal.
23A STENO. THAI didn't fill the bill.
58A MORONI. DNK the capital or the islands.
60A RADIO RANGE. DNK the precursor to RADAR, one of the few things to thank WWII for.
4D TRILOBITE. Thank you for the picture Gary. I promptly shared with my BIL, who collects them.
5D SEEING. Some say BELIEVING IS SEEING.
24D TEXTESE. I promptly shared Gary's list with myself. It might come in handy for solving a future puzzle.
Cheers,
Bill
Anonymous @4:26 AM HTTP is a protocol; HTML is a CODE for defining web pages.
Anonymous @6:28 PM. I got SIN__ and worked out the last two letters with perps. Apparently at least part of it is considered to be in ASIA
Been to my 6year old great grand niece BD party in the wilds of Pearl River. So just now barely finished this challenging puzzle. The NW was the last to fill in. All in all a good day.
ReplyDelete