Saturday Themeless by Evan Mulvihill and Adam Simpson
Across:
10. Set cymbals: HI-HAT.
15. Wind pitched in G: ALTO FLUTE - Here with a curved or straight head
16. Meditative posture: ASANA.
17. Part of a mane event?: LION TAMER - 😋
18. Fine cuts: SLITS.
19. Puff pen: E-CIG.
20. Many a Dickens child: WAIF - Here are some WAIFS in a production of A Christmas Carol
21. Going rates: FARES and 45. Part of a fleet: CAB.
22. Triple __: SEC - An orange-flavored liqueur
23. "Seasons of Love" musical: RENT - or... Musical based on Puccini's La Boheme
24. Low noise: RUMBLE.
25. Big name in country music: JUDD - Mom Naomi died on April 30 of this year
26. Japanese title of respect: SAN.
27. Web portal co.: AOL.
28. PC nexus: LAN - Local Area Network does not require the internet.
29. Insurrection: COUP.
31. Nice range: ALPS - Nice doesn't fool crossword vets.
 |
| Nice, France |
32. Game room fixture: PING PONG TABLE - BILLIARD fit first after I saw TABLE
35. Victoria, for one: LAKE.
36. Maker of MYDAL bunk beds: IKEA.
37. Judy Woodruff's longtime network: PBS.
38. Verb attachment: OSE - VERBOSE or here's 78 of them
39. Springfield bartender Szyslak: MOE - This Halloween you could have gone as MOE, Homer Simpson's bartender.
40. Perlman of "The Mindy Project": RHEA - Yeah, I know, she'll always be Carla from Cheers
42. Recipe words: STIR IN.
44. Kerfuffles: ADOS.
48. Stuffed shells: TACOS.
49. "This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey From Refugee to Congresswoman" writer: OMAR.
50. Multiparty merger statement?: WE DO.
51. Cut down to size: ABASE.
52. Like some series finales: MIDSEASON - New for me:
What’s a MIDSEASON Finale?
First, a midseason finale is the last episode of a traditional, weekly-airing television season before it goes on hiatus for a month or more. It may be called a winter finale or even a fall finale, but they all mean the same thing: Your show won’t be back on the air for a while.
54. Harder to come by: RARER.55. Handy bookmark for a note-taker: INDEX CARD.
56. Head lock: TRESS - 😋
57. Bear markets?: TOY STORES - 😋
Down:
1. Corporate department: SALES.
2. Chef and farm-to-table pioneer Waters: ALICE.
3. Not easily moved: STOIC.
4. Dance partner?: SONG - Of all the wonderful Mary Tyler Moore scenes, this is one of my very favorites
5. Forward's opposite: AFT - The AFT of the Titanic rose high into the air before sinking
6. Far from perfect: FLAWED.
7. Cuba libre: RUM AND COKE.
8. Had an epic fail: ATE IT - I bought a Beta Max camera and player
9. Feudal laborer: SERF.
10. Lives it up: HAS FUN.
11. Belief of more than 2 billion people: ISLAM.
12. Downside of some self-cleaning: HAIRBALLS - No problem here because Lily gets brushed very frequently
13. Dik-dik or gerenuk: ANTELOPE - A dik -dik A gerenuk
14. Cornstalk toppers: TASSELS - I made big money hiring hundreds of kids every summer for 23 years to DETASSEL corn to make hybrid seeds. Why it is done.
23. Step up: RUNG - Quickly!
24. Moonstruck: RAPT.
25. Homicide detective Rizzoli of "Rizzoli & Isles": JANE - The character and her portrayer
26. Caramel lollipop in a yellow-and-red wrapper: SUGAR DADDY - Memories of my misspent yute
28. "Whatevs": LIKE I CARE - When did "I could care less" equate to "I couldn't care less"?
30. Number of World Series wins for the Nationals: ONE - World Champions in 2019. Worst record in MLB in 2022.
31. Quartet with the 2021 album "Voyage": ABBA - Forty years after their last concert, ABBA got together again, had themselves digitized, filmed a new concert with 160 cameras, incredible lighting and sound that made for an unbelievable concert! Harbinger of more to come?
32. Where elbows might be on the table?: PASTA BAR.
33. Subatomic particle: PION - Good luck!
34. Parrots: APES - APE/APING/APER are cwd standards for imitating.
35. Skill rarely practiced now: LOST ART -????
39. Tightwads: MISERS.
41. Mounts: HORSES.
43. Blush wines: ROSÉS.
44. __ acid: AMINO.
46. Truly cherish: ADORE.
47. Portfolio option: BONDS.
49. Forget about: OMIT.
50. Baylor University site: WACO.
53. No. after a no.: EXT - How 'bout some Excel code to handle phone extensions
43 comments:
Once I got “sales” and “stoic “ “sassafras “ became clear, and after I got “ping-pong table “ the rest of the puzzle came pretty easily. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Wow, two minutes faster than yesterday. I think this may be my quickest Saturday ever. Did manage to screw up 1d at first -- AUDIT before SALES. Have I ever mentioned....? But no ABASEment today. Fell into the BILLIARD trap, and was unaware that ASANA was plurable. Very nice outing, Evan and Adam (sorta like Adam and Eve). Enjoyed the tour, Husker.
MIDSEASON: Netflix debuted another 10 episodes of Manifest yesterday. An airliner disappears in mid-flight, and the passengers reappear, alive, five and a half years later. NBC dropped the show after a 3rd-season cliffhanger. It was so popular on Netflix that the company agreed to 20 more episodes to wrap up the storyline. No word when the final 10 episodes will stream.
HAIRBALLS: Why is it that a cat will cough and hack on a hard floor, and then make a mad dash to a carpet or a stuffed sofa to throw it all up?
BONDS: I-Bonds have been so popular that buyers crashed the guvment's website last week. Bonds bought today will pay 6.89% for the next six months -- off from its 9.62% peak. They're still a good deal, though TIPS are catching up.
Qne can never use the word "Easy" for a Saturday but I found myself filling boxes. Some deadends: dik-dik was not an Intel Op. But I finally remembered HI HAT.
And it had to be PINGPONG TABLE but I'd already inked Kate (Rizzoli) and Kidd for the singer. Replacing rise with RUNG led to JUDD and JANE.
Finally, I had __NDS and simply froze on the obvious BONDS ntsf HORSES/OMAH.
CAB in the fleet finally dawned.
As I type I never heard of a PION(P-ION?)
Now to hear Gary's take
I think E&A simple meant Verb-OSE
Hmm, are we revisiting the junk-BOND era?
WC
Tassels,e called it silk. Sugar Daddy, used to pull baby teeth when they got loose, bite down then open jaws.
Hola!
Insomnia forced me to get up and retrieve the newspaper and I solved the puzzle in record Saturday time. Thank you, Evan and Adam as well as Gary. I'm wide awake now.
RUM AND COKE was the favorite drink of my late brother, John.
CSO to my friend, ALICE.
It's been a very long time since I visited the Phoenix Zoo but I recall seeing a Dik Dik. It's a tiny ANTELOPE.
Yum. TACOS.
MOE is one of the Pep Boys, a local automotive hardware STORE.
I think I'll try to go back to sleep. Have a stupendous day, everyone!
FIR! ME! SATURDAY! Okay, so it was an easy Saturday, but I did it. Erased price for FARES, car for CAB, awed for RAPT, hops on for HORSES, and enc for EXT. Couldn't figure out PAST A BAR until Gary 'splained it.
We had a wind instrument today that wasn't an oboe! Talk about creativity!
I think I mentioned that the first time I ever visited Virginia I stopped at a little Italian joint that featured ROSE-A by the craft and half-craft. And this wasn't on a blackboard menu, it was on a professionally printed menu/place mat.
Favorite was ECIG, after I finally got it.
WE DO makes sense since the constructors are from San Fransisco. Do you Larry Darrell and Darrell, take Stephanie Joanna Fido and Waldo to be your lawfully wedded significant others, from this day forward....
FLN: TTP, I think that Pickle Juice Lager would be a great name for a band.
Thanks to Even and Adam for the fun challenge, and to Gary for the fun tour.
It felt pretty easy for a Saturday. I had HOPS ON for "Mounts" as a verb but I quickly corrected it after getting TOY STORES (best clue of the day!). WAG of the week: with just the O from SONG and the E from SERF, knowing my crosswordese I filled in... TENOR OBOE. No idea if that's actually a thing, I only know of a tenor SAX.
About the LION TAMER clue: Go watch the "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" part from the Lion King. When Simba says "I'm gonna be the main event", he's poking his head through some red leaves to make it look like he has a mane. Very neat detail IMO.
PION - I assume it's a PI-on as in the Greek pi? MUons and TAUons are definitely a thing so it's probably that.
Nice solve for a Saturday with guessable unknowns after a few perps were in place.
FLUTE was in place and I guessed ALTO and that opened up the NW. Not familiar with it.
RUM AND COKE for the Cuba Libre- missing a LIME.
A PING PONG TABLE requires a very big room; better in a two car garage.
RENT, JANE, CESAR, ABBA, OMAR, IKEA, PION, ALICE, RHEA- didn't know any of them as clued but the perps took care of it.
What a day with a RUM AND COKE, a margarita with some triple SEC, while slowly, very slowly eating a SUGAR DADDY. Back in elementary school we would bite on a Sugar Daddy is we had a loose baby tooth to help pull it out. BobB- I see you did it too.
d-otto, I started buying Series I-bonds for grandchildren 23 years ago. For investments they are no-brainers but were limited to $30,000/year to keep the big money from taking advantage. The cap has now been lowered.
FIR in record time. Stumbled a bit with "we do", but knew Waco had to be right.
Good Morning:
This was the most pleasant Saturday solve in recent memory and, IMO, as close as you can get to a perfect puzzle. As HG pointed out, the cluing was clever and, IMO, the fill was bursting with pizazz, e.g., Sugar Daddy, Hairballs, Sassafras, Lost Art, Ping Pong Table, Rum and Coke, just to name a few. The grid was as clean as a whistle and the frosting on the cake was the low three letter word count. My two unknowns were Pion and Antelope, as clued and my only w/o was Mumble/Rumble. Nice big CSO to Moe.
Thanks, Evan and Adam, for a truly delightful solve; your numerous iterations paid off handsomely, and thanks, HG, for an equally enjoyable and satisfying overview and for sharing the constructors’ thoughts. When I filled in Tassels, I immediately thought of you but I would never associate Hairballs with the refined Darling Lily! Looking forward to checking out your links!
Have a great day.
Thank you Evan and Adam for a doable Saturday. I liked it! And thank you Husker. The treatise on hybridization on th hybridization of corn was very interesting.
Some favs:
1A SASSAFRAS. The NW was the last to fall and I think this was the last fill. I've never used the leaves from the tree, but the roots make a delightful tea, with the flavor of licorice. It's easy to spot a SASSAFRAS tree as it has three different shaped leaves: 1 lobe, 2 lobes, and three lobes.
25A JUDD. I've never seen Naomi and Wynnona perform, but was a big fan of the latter's half-sister Ashley, who appeared in Star Trek Next Generation and was a love interest of Ensign Wesley Crusher.
38A OSE. I resemble that remark!
52A MIDSEASON. Most of the new Brit shows we watch come around only once a year. However ACORN, BRITBOX, and other content providers have more old shows in storage than we can possibly stream.
5D AFT. Had SHY for starters.
6D FLAWED. The Titanic was not only FLAWED, but tragically, it ATE IT.
11D ISLAM. The PIE of world religions sure has a lot of slices and they come in all sorts of flavors.
44D AMINO. Technically AMINO ACIDS don't do all those things in that illustration all by themselves. Strings of different AMINO ACIDS (there are 20), a.k.a. "polypeptides" comprise the PROTEINS that make up our bodies and control metabolism.
Cheers,
Bill
WEES about a faster than usual Saturday - but an enjoyable run.
I thought of pasta at first for the 48A stuffed shells which was corrected to TACOS- but then TACOS was crossed by PASTA BAR! I had CURSIVE in before perps changed it to LOST ART
SUGAR DADDY is in the same group of candy like Laffy Taffy, Now and Later that keep dentists in business along with underpopped popcorn.
ALICE Waters' restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA opened in the 70's with a 4 course prix fixe meal that was different every day and helped start the local farm to table and California cuisine movement. Even then it was quite pricey- but they also had a cafe for lunch that was more affordable but not cheap!
Thanks HG for the fun blog and Evan & Adam for the puzzle!
FLN - thanks Anon T for the affirmation
and wondering with the pickle juice/relish/yellow mustard discussion - if it helps to take any of those before you go to bed as a preventative.
I’ve been struggling with the Saturday puzzles lately, so was nice to get this one right. Either I’m getting smarter or this was an easy Saturday. Think it’s the latter.
Delightful fast Saturday. As is my wont I didn't expect to finish the usual end week toughie I often surrender to as a DNF and get to my chores. Visiting my daughter's family achieved a quick FIR 😃 before everyone was up... Even using my phone & clumsy thumbs. The slew of expected Saturday unknown PNs and super difficult clues had lots of easier perpaid.
Inked out HI HAT when I noticed cymbals was plural but put it back per perps. Must be a collective term for the two cymbals. Almost put city for LAKE Victoria. IKEA has the CW furniture business RAPT up.
Carb filled puzzle with a PASTA BAR, stuffed shells, and TACOS
PION? ..."a meson having a mass approximately 270 times that of an electron".. Of course!!! "I know that, don't you think that I don't know that!"
When Mom's sis runs off to get hitched.....ANTELOPE
Possible "part of a mane event"...HAIRBALL
Nice "mounts"...ALPS
Sang with recited street talk...RAPT
Have a soccer game to watch in a few ⚽️ (12 yo GS) and later a play 🎭 to attend (14 yo GD). Unseasonably warm NE weather (low 70⁰) for November. 🌞
Enjoy the rest 'o the weekend 😊
DO @ 5:50 AM
I'm a "Manifest" addict and almost went into withdrawal when NBC cancelled the series after an incredible cliff hanger ending.
As you mentioned NETFLIX picked it up and has offered the first 10 episodes available for my binging pleasure ...yesterday November 4th.
✈
Good morning. Thank you, Evan and Adam, and thank you, Husker Gary
Yes, pretty quick and easy for a Saturday. That's ok. Solved in the early morning hours while watching the end of one Sterling Hayden cowboy movie and the beginning of another.
I tried "Hair" before "Rent" for the musical. I didn't recognize it by the name of the song, but would have recognized it if the clue was along the lines of "Musical based on Puccini's La Boheme" as Husker suggested. Mostly Bill, but others have mentioned that fact enough times that it has sunk in.
Also had Lynn before JUDD, my fleet unit was a CAr before a CAB, Puff pen was a vape before an E-CIG, and rigid before STOIC, all while throwing in answers without checking perps.
Gary, I read the article and comments about detasseling corn. One commenter detasseled in Fremont, '68 and '69. Perhaps you knew her.
Inanehiker, good question,in re: preventative. I have eaten a spoonful of pickle relish before going to bed a few times on nights when my calf muscle felt especially tight, and didn't have cramps. But I don't know that I would have, or would not have had cramps on those nights anyway. What I do know is that when I have the leg cramps, it's only a minute or two after eating the relish that I get relief. That beats pacing around for 15 to 20 minutes trying to stretch and get the muscles to relax. That quick relief also lends credence to the idea that it's blocking the signals; there's no way that I'm digesting the relish that quickly.
Ray-O, you "Inked out HI HAT ..." ? Isn't that kind of permanent on your phone, or did you replace the screen protector ? :-)
TTP...
Oh nooooo 😱 By mistake I used ink pen on my phone but..
Just kidding. Typing "ink" simply a hobbitt 🧙♀️
🤭
TTP,
-I didn't start my detasseling work until the bicentennial year of 1976 and so I would have missed that girl in the fields. By the time I started, hauling workers in trucks was verboten and country roads around here became full of rented school buses.
-Kids learned a lot about life in those fields. Swimsuits went away too as skin cuts from corn leaves made that untenable .
-In the 1930's and 1940's my grown men worked there as that was all the work that was available.
-Today groups of Hispanics do a lot of this work and they are very good!
-Detasseling machines now remove 70%- 90% of the hassles before the kids go in to "clean up" but it is still hot work usually in mud because all the fields are now irrigated. The standard is 99.5% removal and we always made that.
Gary
That sounds like such hard work for the most wonderful food in the world.
Hi All, what a good Saturday puzzle! And thanks Evan and Adam for all your efforts and sticking with it.
TASSELS: stumbled on the "is it EL or LE" dilemma.
Loved that Chuckles episode, too. And the emojis that dotted the review!
I had to take a couple of breaks before I finished the puzzle. Most often a second look helps things fall into place.
Lots of HUHs? before AHAs in reading the clues.
WACO: Thanks to Chip and Joanna for making it so popular.
Thanks Husker Gary for an A+ review.
Fun Saturday toughie, many thanks, Evan and Adam. And always enjoy your pleasant commentary, Husker Gary, thanks for that too.
This puzzle felt a bit like it was hosting a party, maybe at a place someone managed to RENT near a LAKE overshadowed by the ALPS. Nice that it began with a bit of music, someone playing an ALTO FLUTE to accompany one singing a SONG. Folks indoors HAd FUN at the PING PONG TABLE, while food was being prepared, including TACOS and a CESAR sandwich for folks sitting around the PASTA BAR, and drinking some RUM AND COKE, with a SUGAR DADDY for dessert. Have a good MID-SEASON, everybody.
And have a good weekend, too.
Ray-O, I figured as much, but couldn't pass on the opportunity :-)
Husker, thanks for the update. We didn't have the large cornfields in my part of eastern Ohio, so I was unfamiliar with detasseling.
Following up on a previous subject, it doesn't matter to me whether we call them baking sheets or cookie sheets or sheet pans. Mox nix to me. We have eight of them. I counted. Five of them are the large "1/2 sheet size" (13"x18"), two "1/4" sheets (fits two per over rack), and one mini sheet. Apparently, when making large batches of Christmas cookies, it is important to let the sheets cool fully between each bake. So she rotates the batches when using the 1/2 sheets, so the cookies all get an even bake. Who knew ?
There was a series program on PBS last night called "Weekends with Yankee" and the host traveled to Fall River, MA to meet with the founder of Leite’s Culinaria. I checked out the website, and found a link to "Our 13 Best Sheet Pan Dinner Recipes". I've bookmarked that page and am going to make some of those recipes !
Also, Jinx and Wilbur Charles, the other day I mentioned using Gasbuddy to check gas prices locally and in other cities, but also noted that the Chicago search was returning prices for Kenosha, WI for some reason. I think there's a bigger problem.
When I checked that day, it said the prices near me for reg unleaded were $3.79 at the nearby station. The next day I went to fill my 5 gal can for the lawn equipment. The price at the pump for reg unleaded was $4.50
I checked Gasbuddy later that day and again yesterday, and the prices, supposedly reported by local consumers, are still way under the $4.50 charge at the pump, and the Chicago prices still show stations in Kenosha.
Time to pay attention to college football (and the laundry).
Quicker and easier than usual for a Saturday. That I FIR at all is better than most Sats. Ping pong table was among the last to fill in. Once I had the “PIN”. My feeble brain kept trying to whisper “Pinochle” in my ear. Is there even any such thing?
I’m with those who thought this was easy for a Saturday puzzle. I finished it in roughly half the time it usually takes me and with no need to utilize the red strike through. Still fun, though. I got a late start working on it as I volunteered this morning at the Fellowship Housing Opportunities 5 K Home Run. It was a great event and one which I hope will become an annual event in Concord, NH.
Hi Y'all! Whew! the puzzle was not as hard as I was expecting when I read the 1a clue and had no idea what "file'powder" was. SASSAFRAS was a gift from perps. Thanks, Evan & Adam. Took me 5 minutes less than Friday and 8 minutes less than Thursday. Surprise!
Thank you, Gary.
DNK: There was an ALTO FLUTE pitched in G; SEC, LAN, PBS lady, ALICE, PION, EXT as clued. Baylor is in WACO? Hunh!
Found the SE tough as I did not understand why a FINALE would be MID SEASON and I did not know CESAR or WACO. Also stuck with unknown RHEA and ABBA seemed impossible for 2021. Learning moment about ABBA! Would love to see that! FIR.
Here I was hiking in the ALPS above the Medieval village of Entrevaux, northwest of NICE.
Happy to see the physics term PION as a break from all the unknown proper names.
From Yesterday:
AnonT Thank you for the Weird Al Devo shout out. I am impressed that you know our home grown Santa Barbara band Toad the Wet Sprocket! I am friends with the mother of lead singer Glen Phillips. His father Dave Phillips was a research and business partner with my physics mentor Virgil Elings.
Just for you I dug out this Physics Today article about Toad the Wet Sprocket father Dave Phillips and his wild and wacky 1970s physics adventures!
The article is a joy for science nerds and those who want to believe in the paranormal; these serious physicists explored the edge of science and maybe went a bit too far beyond. A wonderful 1970s throwback!
From Thursday:
AnonT, Bill Seeley Thanks for explaining the CAR Talk connection to MIT. I had a hazy memory of this, but was not sure I was understanding. Thanks!
Betsy was wat ginger that Sterling Cowboy movie around nine. How many did he do?
TTP, RayO and keep the same terminology regardless of medium. Sorta like "Wood" for faireay non-iron
The classic Saturday xword was 4* as hard as Friday sy. Now a mere twice as hard but was psyched out because it was Friday.
Mr S was hovering
WC
TTP @11:57 AM Teri cools her cookies on "cookie racks", elevated 1/2" or so above the table to let air circulate underneath.
I also recall a friend who used to make "Texas Sheet Cake" in a 10 x 12" brownie-deep pan with vertical sides. DNK what she called it? A "Texas Sheet Cake Pan?". The "cake" was basically a big brownie with 1/4" layer of chocolate icing made with lard. I use to OD on it every 4th of July.
Excellent puzzle. Well made. Interesting grid. Enjoyed it. Smiled at "Dance partner".
Whoot! I nailed a Saturday! //scoot over, Jinx; I need a seat on the proud-of-myself-bench too.
Hi All!
I started the puzzle at the hair-cut SHOP and was surprised what I filled in short order. After I got home, I played with it while listening to Weird Al's interview on Bulls Eye. (Picard - this is for you, bro.)
Fun puzzle, Evan & Adam - both in the fill and the cluing. Thanks for the grid and thanks for taking time for some inside-baseball w/ HG.
Mighty-fine expo, HG. I had to watch the RUNG video 2x before I figured out the why. Thought of you at TASSELS.*
Excel formulas can be powerful but the syntax is suck. Give me regex!
WOs: ANTaLOPE, HOpSon->HORSES (Wow! SS made the same err?!?)
ESPs: ALICE, JANE, CESAR
Fav: So much goodness in the grid (PASTA!) but I gotta go with LION TAMER [Monty Python]
Who else wanted a suB in the fleet? I didn't ink it but I really thought about it...
SASSAFRAS tea - In Boy Scouts we'd make it from the root of the tree. Supposedly thinned our blood after winter to get ready for summer. Seems waseeley knows this too (I love, er, ADORE licorice - I have little candies from Italy for my fix)
Picard - Small world! I've got your linked cue'd for reading after posting. Thanks.
Great clip w/ Marin Short, Ray-O! //and always, punny takes.
Jinx - I love that band name! (CEO) Bro's dad-band is Red Pinto Wagon. Named for Pop's fireBALL on wheels he'd borrow in HS.
TTP - Cooling racks like these? Youngest, The Baker, cools cakes & cookies on 'em. //kid was making $0.50/cookie selling at school. //yeah, I ATE the material costs ;-)
D-O: I missed out on I-Bonds @9.6% - I heard about them on Market Place the last day they were offered. Even at 6.9%, a good deal.
Y'all have a wonderful Saturday afternoon. I'm going to finish off the laundry, get a nap, and GO 'STROS!
Cheers, -T
*There was also big $ (for a kid) in IL for two weeks of hard-labor. Pop wouldn't let me do it; said I had enough on my plate with throwing papers & mowing lawns.
Hi Bill, yes, she uses cooling racks after the cookies come out of the oven. But she also lets those hot sheet pans sit and cool completely while the next batch is in the oven. My mother and my three sisters, as well as some of my nieces all made Texas sheet cake. Anytime there was a large family event, you could be sure that there would be a Texas sheet cake there, and sometimes two !
Dash T, it was Bill that mentioned the cooling racks. Ours don't have the folding legs, but they are designed to just fit into the half-sheet size sheet pans, so they store nicely in the bottom of our Hoosier cupboard. I don't bake, but I use them when I make schnitzels and similar meals.
Oh, and here's The Savage Truth about I-Bonds. Read the embedded link about T-Bills as well.
Husker G takes us by the hand through the ins and outs of today's Mulvhill/Simpson PZL...
In agreement with my friend, Wilbur (@6:52 am), I find I was using the word "easy" somewhat cautiously, but with real pleasure, as I completed today's Saturday challenge.
Nothing but HI-HAT (10A) and LOTUS (16A) clicked on my first scan, but then--after I was forced to change the latter to ASANA (!)--fills started rolling in.
Rolling, rolling rolling...
Even the toughest (SASSAFRAS) gave way to perps.
Many clues turned out to be enjoyable jokes (TRESS) or mild complaints (MID-SEASON).
All in all, some Saturday morning minutes well spent!
~ OMK
____________
DR:: Four diagonals, three facing in, and one facing out.
The near side diag has too few vowels, so we'll go with the main diag on the opposite end.
And here we find an anagram (13 of 15) that seems a bit redundant.
It appears to be about the Seoul-based car company, and in particular to the "autonomous driving feature" of its electric vehicles, set to launch in 2023.
It is not a joke, but a reference to...
"KIA AUTOMATION"!
I haven't made cookies in a long time (diabetes, you know) but I have several cooling racks. They have triangular shaped "feet" to keep them elevated. With the holidays approaching I see baking in my future. Now that the temps are cooler it will be a cozy activity. I should take out and dust my cookie recipe book. My grandchildren have ravenous appetites for sweets, especially my 16 yr old 6ft grandson! I'll get to initiate the 3yr old gr grand.
So happy to have a FIR on a Sat. puzzle -- even though everyone thought it a bit easy for a Sat. Thanks Evan and Adam for such a fun CW with so much good fill (See IM @ 8:48.) I ADORE your work and hope to see more from you!
FAV: Stuffed shells
Clues like "Skill rarely practiced now" always stump me because my first thought is to try to identify the "skill" but the answer is just another way of saying the clue.
Last fix was CAr to CAB to get BONDS.
Thank you, Husker G for teaching me about detasseling corn!
Wilbur Charles, I forgot to answer you earlier question. I'm not sure what your Betsy was watching, but the two Sterling Hayden cowboy movies that I was watching last night were "Top Gun" - 1955, and "The Iron Sheriff" - 1957. Hayden has 73 credits as an actor according to IMDb.
Interestingly enough, both movies also had actor John Dehner in a key role. That may or may not be surprising, because he has 289 film credits according to IMDb, and was in many western movies and TV shows.
Picard - I just finished the article. First thoughts - Ghost Busters quickly followed by Real Genius. Neat you know those guys.
What separates US fundamental research from the rest of the world (save, maybe, UK) is the digging into nutty ideas and see where they go. Oh, and getting ARPA/ DARPA/DOD to fund it :-)
Thanks for the link.
Lucina - I just got off a call w/ Eldest. She & a 90yro lady kvetched the price of croissants & scones noting that butter (for your cookies) is not cheap. Have fun with the baking season -- and try not to 'test' too many :-)
I need to brush off my recipes for shortbread cookies. I always build Pizzelles but I'm in the mood this year for rich-y nibbles.
Cheers, -T
A fast FIR on a Saturday! Thanks Evan and Adam for an excellent puzzle!
My first fill was ALICE and second SASSAFRAS. From there the NW was easy sailing and soon filled. The NW went quickly too and only in the middle did I slow down until I quit trying to fit in BILLIARD instead of PINGPONG TABLE. I also put car before CAB. Did anyone else think of gerunds and fill in ING before OSE for verb attachment?
Thanks Husker Gary for the "spot-on" review today. Learning moment for me today was that the Alps reach as far as the Nice area. (Nice picture, HG.) We hiked around Mont Blanc from Chamonix to Courmayeur and back up to Chamonix again, not going so far east.
Have a NICE evening and don't forget about the time change tonight.
Superb Saturday. Thanks for the fun, Evan and Adam, and HuskerG.
I was on a roll with this CW, but came to a halt in the SE. Hand up for Hops On before HORSES (they have Manes too).
This Canadian can never remember OMAR.
I didn’t know SUGAR DADDY. I’m not sure if we have them around here, or if I just missed out because I had braces on my teeth in my youth.
Yes AnonT, I had Sub before CAB.
WE saw Dik-Dik on our safari in Kenya, not far from LAKE Victoria - and LIONs but no TAMER..
ALPS were seen on another trip. (Great photo Picard.)
Favourite today was the clue for HAIRBALL, followed closely by PASTA BAR.
Ray-o- we have that beautiful, unseasonably warm weather for November, too. Our fruit farmers are worried that the orchards are not getting “hardened up” for the cold and snow that are inevitable soon.
Constructor Evan might be interested in the “pickle juice for leg cramps” discussion. There might be a pharmaceutical worth money in that pickle jar!
Wishing you all a great evening.
I was pretty certain that it was here that I first heard of drinking pickle juice or eating pickle relish. Found it !
It was Father's Day, Sunday, June 18th, 2017 when TX Ms suggested pickle juice or pickle relish might work to relieve leg cramping based on the article she'd read.
It's been working for me ever since, but as indicated earlier, for me, the pickle relish is less noxious than drinking the juice.
So, thank you TX Ms ! Thank you, thank you, thank you !
I've been stocking up on butter every time I go grocery shopping. Our Fry's market (Kroger's) sends coupons and there is always one for butter. Every bit helps, so 50 cents off each time is a boon. And butter freezes well.
I'll start the first weekend after Thanksgiving. Sugar cookies are my favorite but I make others too. Bachelor's buttons are yummy.
Tony, "testing" is obligatory! There's always a cracked one or two or more.
Am I the only solver who was confused with the plural on 28D??
@12:43 - having two Gen-Z kids and listening to their lingo, 28d didn't faze me.
Lucina - yes! always eat the mistakes :-)
Late-breaking: Who watched the Astros take it in Game 6 at home? Alvareze's 450' dinger was just Wow!!! Parade on Monday.
Cheers, -T
Alto flute, really?
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