Saturday Themeless by Bill Pipal
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| Here's Bill carrying Renny on a very hot day |
From Bill: My very first puzzle was published right here in the LA Times 13 months ago, and I am thrilled to be back! Since that time I have had puzzles published in a few other outlets like Universal, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, but this is only my second themeless.
This picture shows Bill and Renny who is a rescue dog who Bill carried on a very hot day. Bill said: We were trying to pick out a name for her we liked Renny as it means "small, but mighty" in Gaelic. She was quite underweight when we rescued her (after being on the streets and then in an animal shelter), but we knew she had a lot of strength in her and that has proven to be very true!
I currently reside in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood with my wife. Proud double-Illini working as an in-house attorney for a tech start-up in Chicago. Like many, I started constructing crossword puzzles during the pandemic and was lucky to meet so many kind people in the crosswording 
community who helped me learn from mistakes and improve my construction skills. A big thank you to the test solvers of this puzzle (and all of my puzzles). Specifically, my sister-in law, Alie, and my father-in law, Tom. Most importantly, while not a crossword enthsuiast herself, my wife was incredibly supportive of me in this time consuming hobby and encouraged me to keep trying even after some rejections started coming in on earlier puzzles.
I blogged that first themeless puzzle Bill submitted and I had a good time on it and this one too!
Across:
5. Hides from animals: PELTS.
10. Sanctuary area: APSE.
14. Game time?: TURN - You could lose it 😀
15. "Dances With Wolves" distribution company: ORION.
16. Haunted house sound: MOAN.
17. Raccoon, facetiously: TRASH PANDA - 😀 Bill was very pleased to introduce this phrase to the crossword world.
20. Improvises: AD LIBS - The ten most famous film AD LIBS
21. Minimal-compliance hiring practice: TOKENISM.
23. Google __: DOCS - Google DOCS, Sheets and Slides are Google's version of Office.
26. Low island: CAY - Golding CAY in the Bahamas is for sale
27. Tanzanite and black opal: RARE GEMS - A Trillion Cut Tanzanite & Blue Fire Opal Inlay Solid 925 Sterling Silver Pendant For Necklace - $55.25
31. Out: DATED - These items are OUT, DATED and OUTDATED
33. "Go me!": I'VE DONE IT - Upon reaching the summit of Everest, stoic Sir Edmund Hilary said his thought was, "I can't believe that Eddy Hilary made it up here!" His sherpa Norgay Tensing was much more emotional!
35. Turkish coins: LIRAS - A Big Mac Meal Deal is about 65₺ at this Ankara, Turkey outlet mall
37. Country rock band co-founded by Jim Messina: POCO - I've enjoyed Jim in all of his iterations
38. Fictional Gantry: ELMER - Burt Lancaster as the spell binding ELMER is believable, but Shirley Jones as a revenge-seeking prostitute named Lulu was a little tougher.
40. Sheet of glass: PANE.
41. Breadth: SCOPE.
43. Singular source of dissent: LONE VOICE - The day after the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. House voted 388 - 1 to declare was on Japan. JeanetteRankin of Montana was that lone no vote. She was harassed so severely she had to get to a phone booth to call for an escort out of the chamber. 47. "That explains everything": NO WONDER - She was not reelected.
45. Geometry numbers: AREAS.
48. "How unexpected": ODD.
49. Includes, briefly: CCS - Speaking of OUTDATED, Carbon Copies are a prime example but their idea of getting copies to others lives on.
51. Memorization technique: ROTE.
52. Snarky remarks: POTSHOTS - He made a good living at it.
55. Polymer products: RESINS - Epoxy RESIN poured onto a countertop.
59. Legendary: EPIC.
60. Footwear for a private eye?: TRACK SHOES - 😀 Let's see, a private eye can TRACK people and wears SHOES so...
62. Home to the oldest university in the Americas: LIMA - Chartered in 1551 by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
63. Proportional gift: TITHE - 10%
64. Soon, quaintly: ANON.
65. Education acronym: STEM.
66. Base stealer's asset: SPEED.
67. Sits in the sun: TANS.
Down:
1. Flour that's stone ground in a chakki: ATTA - We had just recently. ATTA no longer gets clued as ___ girl!
2. Poutine morsel: CURD - CURDS on French fries? Really?
3. Kazakh/Uzbek border name: ARAL.
4. Skinny, so to speak: INSIDE DOPE.
5. Milieu of Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish: POP SCENE - Okay
6. Detergent brand: ERA.
7. Fuzz: LINT.
8. Chore list items: TO DOS.
9. Unclogged, as a pipe: SNAKED.
10. "Indeed": AMEN.
11. Bust: POLICE RAID.
12. Cuban movement?: SALSA DANCE.
13. Adversary: ENEMY.
18. Phased-out streaming service: HBO GO
22. "There are others" abbr.: ET AL - John Hancock, et al.
24. Get a whiff of: SMELL.
27. Tears (up): RIPS.
28. Seed germinated on toothpicks in some science projects: AVOCADO PIT.
29. Goal for some Olympians: RECORD TIME - The 4-minute mile was a goal until 1954. The current record is held by a Moroccan at 3:43.13
30. "Lost in Yonkers" playwright: SIMON - A playbill signed by the original Broadway cast. Neil SIMON is definitely not an obscure name.
32. Be respectful, in a way: TIP ONE'S HAT - Golfers don't usually TIP the entire HAT until the end of the round but they often touch the bill to acknowledge applause during the round
34. General sense: TENOR.
36. One who looks to the future?: SEER.
39. Edited: REWORKED - When making a presentation multiple times in a day, I REWORKED it constantly
42. Per: EACH.
44. Primary concern: VOTES - They're all cast, the signs are down and the phone calls have quit
46. Turf Builder brand: SCOTTS.
48. German wheels: OPELS - OPEL plans to launch this electric model in 2028
50. Lose one's shirt?: STRIP.
53. Trick: SCAM.
54. Fill and then some: SATE - Two days ago?
56. New Rochelle school designated a university in 2022: IONA - Appropriate for constructor whose puppy has a dog with a Gaelic name.
57. Adjective associated with some 1980s fashion: NEON.
58. IDs since 1936: SSNS.
61. Sara Ramirez's "And Just Like That ... " role: CHE - Sara plays CHE in this HBO Max show but she is better known to me as Dr. Calliope Torres in Grey's Anatomy.
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| Happy Birthday Dad. |
I didn’t know what “hobgo” was until Gary showed me it was “HBO Go”. And the only reason I got “atta” was that we’ve had it before. Also, I had no clue about the romance novelist’s name, but the perps got me through it. My girlfriend probably would have known it. She likes books like that. ((By the way, her 38th birthday was on Thanksgiving. Since I have no money, I made her something in wood shop. She seemed to like it.) Anyway, after “slogging through “ this puzzle, I FIRed, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteCrashed and burned in the snowy Sierras. AVOCADO PIT and RECORD TIME just wouldn't come to me. Also went wrong with Google MAPS and SAMBA DANCE. Not d-o's finest hour. Thanx for the challenge, Bill, and for the detailed expo, Husker. (Those 10 AD LIBS were interesting.)
TRASH PANDA: We've got several that show up on our back patio, stand on their hind legs and beg. They have no fear of humans...at least not us.
VOTES: The election may be over, but I still get 50+ emails from Georgia every day.
I managed to finish this one in 10:54 today.
ReplyDeleteLike SubG, I didn't know today's female author, and I probably won't get any of them next week either. I also didn't know the fictional Elmer, the country band, or (as clued) Iona. I had "inside info" prior to correcting to "inside dope," and my "record time" was first "medal stand" (even though I think it's usually called a podium).
Good puzzle. I am pro-themeless. They're more fun, aren't they?
I liked Bill's themeless puzzle which took a few WAGs in the NW to FIR. I knew ACAI but ATTA flour and CURD in poutine were unknown. The guess of ARAL was the only thing that fit. I knew where Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan were on the map but only knew the other four STANS were somewhere in between them.
ReplyDeleteI found the long fills easy to guess today. TRASH PANDA, RECORD TIME, POLICE RAID, SALSA DANCE, TRACK SHOES, TIP ONE'S HAT-made filling the rest a lot easier. But I didn't know AVOCADO PIT. ELLE, ORION, POCO, and HBO GO were perped today.
Google DOCS- I've been using them at least 16 years because they were FREE and Microsoft Office wasn't. I tried Drop Box but found the Google Docs were easier to share.
TOKENISM- every commercial on TV these days
CHE- why that murderous thug is pop icon is a mystery to me.
FIR, and in "record time". I was definitely on Bill's wavelength. An easy puzzle for a Saturday!
ReplyDeleteYes, really, CURDS on fries, but also gravy is required to make poutine. Very big in northern New England and into Canada.
ReplyDelete❤️ Yes!
DeleteYES to Poutine for me too! And, yes, the gravy’s a must.
DeleteAmericans do Chili Cheese Fries - not so different.
I eased around the grid little by little, filling it in until I had a FIR for this Saturday. Yay! Thanks, Bill, and please come back soon. Thanks, Husker Gary, for the explanations, interview with Bill, and verification of my answers.
ReplyDeleteTRASH PANDA was hard for me and my last fill. I waffled back and forth, wondering if it could be gRASs PANDA, since I wasn't sure of ATTA and HBOGO. But then I parsed the latter word as HBO GO and realized that TRASH PANDA was more humorous to fit the clue better so that gave me some assurance. My WAG was right today!
D-Otto, you have my sympathy. Here in ATL we are inundated with reminders to vote in the run-off election, as you might expect.
From earlier:
It was good to read your Thanksgiving post, D4E4H. Come by again soon.
I admire you, PK, and think you deserve to take it easy now. Glad you had a Thanksgiving visit from your son.
It sounds like you are making the most of your holiday trip to San Francisco, AnonT.
Hope everyone has a good weekend. We'll be seeing family and friends and look forward to following the World Cup as well.
Seems this was a little easier than most Saturday’s as I managed a FIR in under 15 minutes, normally I have to devote about a half hour to complete it. Had to change KEY to CAY, and MAPS to DOCS, which I was unfamiliar with, but the perps were kind today. Actually it was a fairly easy week of puzzles, thanks Patti for taking it easy on us! Also, thanks to Bill P for the construction, very nice themeless. As Anonymous stated, the themeless are quite fun, but I also very much enjoy the themed, especially when I have to figure it out with no reveal (or circles).
ReplyDeleteHG ~ always enjoy your commentary, replete with graphics and information (and also your musings on the days you don’t blog).
To get my initial drivers license back in ‘69, I drove my sister’s ‘68 OPEL Cadet with a 4-speed manual transmission, at the time my dad worked for Buick and OPEL was some sort of subsidiary of GM. Haven’t seen any in years, but I know they are still sold in Europe.
On a sad note, I just saw where a person clued in yesterday’s puzzle passed away yesterday ~ IRENE CARA
Hola!
ReplyDeleteWow! An easy puzzle for a Saturday! For some reason I started in the eastern edge where SALSA DANCE filled nicely. I had no idea about ELLE but she came in on the POLICE RAID.
When visiting in Turkey, our cab ride cost two million LIRAS which amounted to two American dollars.
In the days of car pooling, my friend drove an OPEL when it was her turn to drive.
VOTES are still being recounted in some close races. Our governor-elect won by 500 votes so that triggered an automatic recount.
Time to return to bed. I'll be back later. Have a wonderful day, everyone!
FIR in a track-scorching time of 31 minutes. W/Os RAYONS:RESINS, KEY:CAY. Thanx for the challenging CW, BP, and thanx too for the terrific write-up, HG.
ReplyDeletePuzzling, sussable, and in the end, satisfying.
ReplyDeleteMore than I could ask for in a Saturday stumper.
FLN,
I looked at that IOS Lock Screen, yuck is right!
But the update allows you to use your own photos as a Lock Screen background...
celebrating Sparky's 100th!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle has three features that are not only impressive but in short supply of late: Fresh, lively fill; Minimal (6) three letter words; Limited pop culture references. Oh, one more thing; no “glue”, at least that I discerned. The difficulty level, though, IMO, wasn’t quite Saturday level, based on a finish time of 18:01. For me, any time less than 30 minutes on a Saturday is a fairly easy solve and any time less than 20 minutes is a walk in the park. I’m not a speed solver nor do I try to be; the completion time is just my own personal difficulty barometer. I needed perps for Orion, Elle, Poco, and Che, as clued. I was pleased that I remembered Atta, though. I stumbled over Reworded/Reworked, Tip Your Hat/One’s, and Audis/Opels. Love the Trash Panda reference.
Thanks, Bill, for a very enjoyable solve and please come back soon and thanks, HG, for a dazzling and detailed review. Thanks for the words from Bill and an introduction to him and to the indomitable Renny. BTW, HG, I’m certain that your Dad would be very proud of you. This may be a silly question but if Tanzanite is a rare gem, why is it so inexpensive?
FLN
PK, I have three words for you: You Are Amazing!
Anon T, nice to hear what you’re up to in sunny California!
Ray O, another silly question, who is Toby? Also, I was one of those poor unlucky souls who had no Thanksgiving leftovers to feast on yesterday, a result of being a guest not the hostess of the festivities.
Have a great day.
FIR! ...hmmm ...Maybe eating a whole pumpkin pie (wait, that was over 3 days) helped?? Liked the "primary concern" clue..Usually Saturday puzzles have no theme but I thought we were headed that way with TRASHPANDA and TRACKSSHOES but then zip.
ReplyDeleteInkovers: Esme/ELLE, key/CAY, samba/SALSADANCE, Lobo/POCO
"Tanzanite and black opal", semiprecious way too long and they are not fake. rewritten also too long so I REWORKED it. Remembered ATTA from recent puzzles (atta boy!!). In our house "chore list items" aren't just TODOS, they're Honey dews. "Game time"? Like my TURN?...RESINS not RoSINS
LIMA Univeristy 1551? Old? My Alma Mater: motto: "Alma Mater Studiorum" "nourishing mother of students" founded 1088
I wonder if Italians can use their old LIRAS in Turkey..HBOGO is now HBO Max.
CURDS, I've had poutine in Québec, like it, but with more gravy than in the picture....it's often on the menu in Upstate NY towns along the border.
Had a sedan, now ______ SUV....IONA.
Screen cover....APSE
Everyone in Mexico....TODOS
Subway and bus fare....TOKENISM
Irene Cara singer and frequent CW visitor ...has died at only 63.
It's a sunny balmy day at 40⁰ and those outdoor Christmas decorations ain't gonna put up themselves...
I enjoyed all sorts of things about this puzzle - lots of new but doable answers, like TRASH PANDA
ReplyDeleteA few redos like tasks became TO-DOs and WEES about Google MAPS becoming DOCS.
I think of the Canadian dish POUTINE right up there with Chicago style stuffed pizza as a good litmus test to see if you have gallstones!
Took a second to parse HBO GO - I thought of IM this morning as I read an article about Netflix still having the red mailer envelopes with the DVDs - they talked about how it will likely be gone in the near future.
Thanks HG and congrats on your team's win over Iowa yesterday! and thanks to Bill for the puzzle.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteFIR after looking up ATTA, and correcting a number of w/o's (although now that I am doing the puzzles "on-line" I'll have to come up with a different term for w/o)
IVE MADE IT/IVE DONE IT; Google MAPS/DOCS; STAN/ARAL
Great recap Gary, and a TIP OF MY CAP to Bill Pipal for a fun theme-less puzzle
Still testing positive for COVID; the symptoms have eased a bit but I'm not "out of the woods" yet
Big day of college football rivalry for you sports fans out there
Difficult puzzle, but not frustrating at all, just a good treasure hunt. I have no particular preference for themeless or not. Variety is pleasant.
ReplyDeleteI too at first had key instead of CAY. Should have known better. A rash fill.
I certainly didn’t know LIMA was home to the oldest American university.
I remember the inimitable Burt Lancaster in “ElmerGantry”.
HG: We always wish we had spent more time with our parents, asked more questions, listened more.
IM ☘
ReplyDeleteNo doggy bag to take home?
Toby: Tobias, in the "Book of Tobit"
Have you noticed that the constructors no longer (or I haven't seen) mention which clues were altered or eliminated by the editor since the new gang took over. Maybe they hafta sign NDAs..😉.
Happy 100th Birthday to your dad, Gary.
ReplyDeleteIn the same vein, in today's newspapers cartoonists of all stripes have paid tribute to Charles Schulz in honor of what would have been his 100th birthday. For those cartoon fans among us it's worth taking a look even if you are not a regular reader of the funny pages.
Schulz Museum
Thank you Bill for a rare Saturday FIR. I can't say I breezed through it, but rather did some chores, while letting my subconscious do the heavy lifting. Lots of good clues and fill.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you Husker for another excellent review. Your personal constructor interviews put faces to names and give us some idea of what make these special people tick.
Some favorites:
17A TRASH PANDA. Definitely fill to be proud of and my favorite. When I saw Husker's pic I immediately shared it with my son. We'll be seeing him for "second Thanksgiving" later today and I'm sure there will be lots of stories. Both he and I have had a lot of experience with these masked marauders. My solution was to get tightly lidded steel trash cans that apparently they are unable to open. My son's solution was to lure them into "have-a-heart" traps and release them at a reservoir miles away. I had similar problems with groundhogs getting into my garden, but my solution wasn't quite so merciful.
37A POCO. One of my son's 4 cats is called POCO LOCO. I think it's more like MUCHO LOCO. They're all "outside cats" and their masked marauders were more like CAT FOOD PANDAS.
3D ARAL. Wow! a gnu clue for this dried up old crosswordese.
9D SNAKED. This doesn't always work. We found out to the tune of $10K when we had to have a new sewer line put in.
18D DOCS. PLEX didn't feel good, and NEWS didn't feel good, and only DOCS could cure them.
29D RECORD TIME. It's been 68 years since the 4 minute mile was broken and there has only been a 17 second gain. I guess the human body really does have limits.
34D TENOR. So if a GENERAL is a TENOR, then a COLONEL must be a BARITONE, and a MAJOR must be a BASSO.
Cheers,
Bill
Happy Birthday Mr. Schlapfer 🎂🎈🎀. And thank you for the picture and the touching sentiments about your Dad Gary. I have similar thoughts about my Father. He was a master builder and carpenter and had I spent more time with him I wouldn't be such a wood butcher.
Bill, I'm always surprised the way our cats will totally ignore the raccoons, unless they get too close. Then the cat will just swat the coon away. Those coons are considerably larger than the cats, but they take the abuse.
ReplyDeleteManageable Saturday puzzle, many thanks, Bill--much appreciated. And thank you for your always helpful commentary, Gary.
ReplyDeleteYes, this morning's cartoon page had practically every single site pay tribute to Charles Schultz on his 100th birthday. Wish he could have seen them all, I think he'd be so pleased.
It was on a POLICE RAID that the officers heard a LONE VOICE making a MOAN in a back yard, and saw it was a PANDA living in the TRASH can. They figured the sound was an AD LIB request for a home, so they started RE-WORKING all the local ads, and in record time found a comic STRIP author who needed company. When the police showed her a picture of the critter, she decided he'd be a RARE GEM. The PANDA now lives with her, enjoys eating AVOCADOs and POP corn, and in thanks does a SALSA DANCE whenever the police come to visit him. In return, they always TIP their HAT to him in congratulations.
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and have a great weekend.
Inanehiker @ 10:42 ~ That’s interesting news about Netflix. It should be interesting to see how they handle the issue. If they make the more current movies available on streaming, that certainly means a price increase. Not a problem for me as I’m paying dual fees right now, but some folks might balk, those who don’t care about access to the last films. I’ll keep you posted!
ReplyDeleteRay O @ 11:09 ~ With 23 guests and 3 care package recipients, I’m not sure there were any scraps left over for a doggy bag! I’m not familiar with the Book of Tobit, or Toby, but I’m well familiar with Mike, as my longtime parish was St. Michael the Archangel.
MalMan @ 11:10 ~ Thanks for sharing the tributes to Charles Schulz.
Misty @ 1:23 ~ A+ for today’s flight of fantasy. 😉
Latest films, sorry.
ReplyDeleteMany fresh clues today. Learning moment was the history of the Kazakh/Uzbek border and the role of Stalin in dealing with the complex cultural issues. Delighted to read that constructor Bill is a resident of Lakeview in Chicago. That was where I was born, lived, studied and worshipped many years ago. Many memories..
ReplyDeletePart two - Charles Schulz used to sit in his office and interact with the skaters at his ice rink/museum in Santa Rosa. Very much a participating citizen within his community.
DeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteY'all said, "Must be easy for a Saturday." I think so too 'cuz I got it in ink on newsprint (San Francisco Chronicle carries the LAT).
Thanks Bill for the sparkly puzzle and HG for the shiny review.
WOs: POP Stars -> POP SCENE, Tasks -> TO DOs, INSIDE info, sluth(?)->ELMER
ESPs: ATTA, ELLE, ELMER, POCO | AV[a|o]CADDO PIT, CHE, IONA
Fav: TRASH PANDA
Sparkle: (as clued) POLICE RAID [not statues], RECORD TIME [no medals], AVOCADO PIT, STRIP, NEON
Sparkle: INSIDE DOPE, POT SHOTS
Inanehiker - I too thought of IM when I heard on NPR that Netflix only had a couple hundred-million folks world-wide still getting DVDs and they were going to phase 'em out.
Time to run - we have to get to UPS (too much shopping so we're shipping) b/f dinner and then Eldest's red-eye back to DC / VA.
Cheers, -T
I liked this puzzle. Hand up for filling KEY before CAY and MAPS before DOCS. I also had HAIR before LINT, ALL before ERA, VOTER before VOTES, and AUDIS before OPELS. Interesting about LIMA; I will likely remember that fact. I wanted GUMSHOES for the private eye footwear, but it was too short.
ReplyDeleteFIR in RECORD TIME! I like what Tante Nique said, "Difficult puzzle, but not frustrating at all, just a good treasure hunt." Thanks for the fun puzzle, Bill! Please give Renny a pat for me.
ReplyDeleteFAVs: Out, TIP ONES HAT, Primary concern, TRACK SHOES, proportional gift
Everything seemed to fall into place after I filled NO WONDER
I am always amazed at how many AVOCADO PITs I see when I turn my compost pile. It seems I eat a lot of avocados!
MalMan: I love the funny pages. Thx for the link!
HGAry: Thank you for your research and for introducing us to the constructors.
FLN: PK & Lucina. Thank you for sharing your memories.
Irish Miss @2:45 PM Tobit is one of my favorite OT books. It takes place during the Babylonian exile and is a story about Tobit and his son Tobias (Ray - O's "Toby"). After going blind Tobit sends his son on a long journey to find a wife, accompanied by the Angel Raphael (Ray - O's real first name), who is in cognto. The potential bride is actually Tobit's cousin. She is possessed by a demon who was frightened her last six suitors to death. I won't say more other than that this is beautifully written story of love and adventure with much to tell us about faith and piety
ReplyDeleteA tough but amusing Pipal PZL, brought to us by Husker G...
ReplyDeleteI used about 5 cheats (or so) to get through to the end.
Learned a few things today. Google DOCS, for one. I didn't know there were such things OR that they are free!
I got started on Word years ago, during my PC days.
I've kept all my class and students' records on it. So now, I have to use it, even though I've been on Macs for the past 20+ years--and that I must pay for it.
LIMA - famed for more than just their beans!
We northerners are apt to forget that Euro-civilization was established in So. America long before either Jamestown or the Mayflower.
~ OMK
___________
DR: We have four diagonals today, three on the near side, and one more in opposition.
The nearside center diagonal gives us an anagram (13 of 15 letters) that describes one of Elvis' characteristic expressions.
I refer, of course, to that sneer or pout that drove the young femmes wild. (And not just the young ones...)
I refer, of course, to his...
"SWOONIEST MOUE"!
Hi Y'all! Thanks, Bill, for a doable but challenging puzzle which took me 35:17 minutes. Not as easy for me as some of you. Thank you, Gary, for another great expo.
ReplyDeleteTRASH PANDA: new description for me. Racoons found no trash cans at my place on the farm, but they did love my self-feeder for my big tom cat. I bought it when I was going on a two-week bus trip. My farmer told me the food didn't last a week because I had a critter. Kept watching and saw a big skinny coon. I talked to it thru the window, "Hey, you little bandit, what are you doing here?" She turned around and listened to me talking then left. A short time later, I heard "Brrrt, brrrt" and looked out. She had brought her babies back to show me. No wonder she was skinny. They were so cute and funny, that I couldn't remove the self-feeder. I spent quite a bit of time watching and enjoying their antics. The next year a family of possums had the concession. My cat just got up as high as possible on the window A/C and watched with his tail twitching but never approached them.
Thank you, AtlGranny, IM, Lucina (FLN), and Sumdaze for your kind comments.
Yes. It was heartwarming to see/read all the tributes to Charles Shultz on what would have been his 100th birthday.
ReplyDeleteIt's a social weekend and today is a birthday party for one of my grandnephews who is 21.
I compose my posts on DOCS and paste to CC
ReplyDeleteSNAKED finally V8'ed. Not hard as Saturday goes but clever clueing. Lots of footholds
?BOGO stared me in the face before HBO dropped
I agree having _ _MON got me SIMON
After his harassing in Boston Ted Williams refused to TIP his hat, even after the iconic homerun. Fans-bid Kid Adieu*
Misty, that was one of your best xwordese olios. I like IM'S desc
SWOONIEST MOUE!, one of your better ones, OMK
Congrats to all the FIRers. I managed it too
WC
* Anyone for Wordle
I agree that this one was a very easy Saturday puzzle, meaning that even I was able to FIR. Took me a bunch of sessions, and I almost gave up near Seattle. Between packing up the RV, driving, setting up the RV and enjoying this rare warm (for late November) day, I must have had about 6 goes at the grid.
ReplyDeleteHBOGO because CNN+ didn't work (see what I did there?)
Phil, small world. You're a couple of years younger than me, but my older sister also had a OPEL with a 4-speed (on the column). I drove it around our land, but once I got my permit my dad got me a cute Corvair convertible. Piece of junk, but I loved that car.
On to Sunday!
Thank you so much for the kind words about my comment fiction, Irish Miss and Wilbur--much appreciated. I always enjoy your delightful comments too!
ReplyDeleteCrashed and burned on today's slog. Blew a fuse over "The oldest university" clue! U. de Santo Domingo predates U. De Lima by about a decade (I've visited there). I've camped all over No. America for over 50 years and had experiences with raccoons scores of times and NEVER heard them called "trash pandas". "POP SCENE": are you kidding me?? I guess "preciseness" is not part of the LAT editors' definition?!?!
ReplyDeleteSuperb Saturday. Thanks for the fun, Bill and HuskerG.
ReplyDeleteI am very late to the party, but I was so happy to finish a Saturday puzzle in good time, even after a busy day getting out Christmas decorations.
Only one lookup required to break my logjam in the NW corner. I used the Blog Search because I knew we had just recently had that Indian flour. Sure enough, on November 17- ATTA. That confirmed TURN, gave me the TRASH (I had PANDA).
I needed the H for HBOGO (hand up for not parsing it correctly).
But I arrived here to discover that I FIWed. At first, my Breadth was SCALE, but DOPE changed it to Scape, which seemed a bit meh! My Olympians were looking for Reward TIME (also a little meh!) and I had no idea about the country rock band (Powo was as good as anything).
Oh, RECORD TIME, POCO, and SCOPE.
DH helped with SNAKED and SCOTTS (you know who looks after the clogs and lawns at our house!).
I smiled at the AMEN crossing the APSE.
I too debated between key and CAY- perps decided.
As others have said, Curds and gravy are put on fries to make poutine. It’s a Quebec favourite, but not mine. Too rich.
LOL inanehiker re the gallstones test.
Wishing you all a good night.
Bobbi @9:31pm.
ReplyDeleteIs the Dominican Republic technically in the Americas? I thought the term referred to North, Central, and South America only?