Saturday Themeless by Hoang-Kim Vu
A global health and international development professional with twelve years’ experience in directing complex global public health programs, with specific expertise in malaria and behavior change communication. Deep expertise in project management especially for USAID, leading field programs to improve activity implementation, operations, and client service.WOW! The triple stack of grid spanners at the top and bottom with one in the middle for good measure were very eye-catching! The top set went very easily but the bottom, especially on the left hand side, of this puzzle had beaucoup issues for me. I'll try to make a case for my struggles in the write-up.
1. "Not my first choice, but it's fine": I GUESS THAT WORKS.
16. Dating milestones: MONTHIVERSARIES - Two days ago was the MONTHIVERSARY of my surgical procedure.
17. Fare for some Catholics on Lenten Fridays: PESCATARIAN DIET - Not a word I've ever used but pretty easy to suss out.
18. GPS heading: SSE.
19. Comedian Foxx: REDD - Redd did 23. Talk dirty: SWEAR on his LP's of sixty years ago but it all seems so tame now.
20. Dubious ability: ESP.
21. Cranks (up): AMPS.
27. Warts and all: AS IS is what is implied when you 28. Select: OPT to buy something at a garage sale
29. Peach: GEM.
32. Smooch in a lift, say: SNOG.
33. Sportswear portmanteau: ATHLEISURE.
37. "Been there": I KNOW THE FEELING.
39. Color choices for bandages, e.g.: FLESHTONES.
40. Sister who brings the snowman Olaf to life: ELSA.
41. "Chopped" host Allen: TED.
42. Post-WWII alliance: OAS.
43. Soften up: MELT.
44. Knife block insert: PARER - PARE is a common verb here
46. __-Rooter: ROTO.
47. Gibbon, for one: APE.
49. Squeezed (out): EKED.
51. "CrazySexyCool" trio: TLC.
54. The Marshall Project cause: PRISON ABOLITION - I had trouble coming to terms with this social construct. Therefore it was not much help with some tough down fills. More info
59. Lacrosse strategy: ONE ON ONE DEFENSE - Man-to-man is much more common term. Saying person-to-person for girls has never really caught on.
60. Quality inspection?: PERSONALITY TEST - Want to take one?
Down:
1. Rascals: IMPS.
2. Says: GOES - I go, "Where do want to go eat?" She GOES, "Any place is fine." I go, "How about The Hacienda on 22nd St?" She GOES, "No, I don't want to go there!" I go, "😧".
3. Lacking flavor or experience: UNSEASONED - UNSEASONED players can be a liability in a championship game
4. More succinctly?: ETC. 😀
5. Medical waste collected in red containers: SHARPS - My grandson, the "phleb" goes through dozens of SHARPS in a day.
6. Spots: SITES - Our school district has just spent big dollars to get SITES for new grade schools to replace 70-year-old buildings we now have
7. Spot: TV AD - Not a problem with Netflix
8. Steers steers: HERDS 😀
9. Graynor of "The Disaster Artist": ARI - The woman in this pictorial collage
10. Gp. known for screenings: TSA.
11. Haggard, perhaps: WAN - This word has stuck with me since H.S. English
12. Sequence: ORDER - Currency in my billfold has to all be in ORDER and facing the same direction.
13. Social reformer Jacob: RIIS.
14. Last: KEEP - Honey is one food that will KEEP forever I'm told
15. Retired boomer: SST.
22. "Bad and Boujee" hip-hop group: MIGOS - Google if you must for lyrics I can't post
24. Fictional detective who was born in Montenegro: WOLFE
25. Pentathlon equipment: EPEES.
26. End in __: A TIE.
27. Tattoo joint?: ANKLE.
29. French Revolution device: GUILLOTINE - As soon as I saw this word I thought of our lovely Madame DeFarge (Janice) who is definitely not as callous as the one in Tale Of Two Cities!
30. "The Elephant Celebes" painter Max: ERNST - What's it all about?
33. Perfume oil: ATTAR - A frequent crossword scent
34. "All __ in favor ... ": THOSE.
36. Nasty fall: SLEET.
38. "Mind. Blown.": WHOA - How 'bout changing the light at the top of the Empire State Building.
44. Mexican cheese?: PESOS - It is not queso, it's just slang for money.
45. "Jojo Rabbit" actress Wilson: REBEL - Bottom left in this picture
46. Fill a flat again: RELET - REAIR is the red herring here. Of course a flat is a British apartment where there might some snogging going on.
47. "Rule, Britannia" composer: ARNE - His tomb is in St. Paul's Courtyard in London
48. Docking station: PIER.
50. "The Power of the Dog" Oscar nominee Smit-McPhee: KODI - KODI, Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirstin Dunst attend a screening in NYC.
52. "Your __": LOSS.
53. Tech news dot-com: C-NET - Their website
54. Grammy category: POP - How many of these 2022 nominated songs do you know?
55. Half an iconic 1981 Rolling Stone cover: ONO.
56. Start to sense?: NON
58. Holiday celebrated with bánh chu'ng: TET - Vietnamese, square, sticky rice cake
When I first looked at the grid, and saw the three top and bottom spanners, I thought “this could be nearly impossible!” But, somehow, through P&P, I got through it. FIR, so I’m not only happy, I’m relieved!
ReplyDeleteSome really bad ones in this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteDNF. Completed 50 fills, 48 correctly. I had "lip" for Rolling Stone(s) cover, thinking of the Sticky Fingers album from my past. I also had "ess" as "start to sense". I could have worked on this one until the cows came home and still not bring it to completion, but I got stuff to do. Amazing how chores pile up, even when we've been away from home for 16 weeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Gary for the fun review. Instead of "classics radio" I tend to listen to "classic rock radio." Throw in a little country and, when I can find it, Bluegrass.
Confused the Marshall Project with the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild western Europe after WWII.
ReplyDeleteRe. "UNSEASONED players"... Have you ever seen so many missed layups in these first round games?
ReplyDeleteI foundered on coaLITION/ABOLITION. Down perps were all UNK but I changed pyrex/PARER thanks to WHOA
There was a reason for bills facing same direction. In rapid counting one places bills between fingers and flips through. If not facing correctly a folded bill could count as two
Nobody counts that way anymore
NERO's daughter shows up in one 50s novella and his Montenegrin history is recounted later in The Black Mountain
Not the car rental Hertz. But among LHF there were 10 gift squares from GUILLOTINE
Like BobB is was thinking PLAN
A near FIR, REBEL would have saved me. Saturday is tough enough without obscure pop-cul. fe. On Gary's list I'm only familiar with ADELE from xwords but none of the songs .
Breakfast Station plays modern POP sometimes but it's just noise to me
Like Phil's Japanese POP
WC
WC - Try WIND-FM (95.5 in Ocala and 92.5 in Gainesville.)
ReplyDeleteGary, my ex used to insist that whenever she played Monopoly, everyone had to have their money in neat stacks and arranged facing one way. She would quit the game if someone refused, which came in handy some times. Also, my first job was at a McDonalds. Before long I became the night manager, and had to make the night's deposit. The bank required the bills to be banded and in order, so I got adept in counting the bills while quickly twisting and turning my wrists to make sure all the bills lined up properly. One or two of the counter women would line them up correctly, even though they were never asked to do so. Must have had good upbringing. They could ALL count back change, a lost art today.
Like everyone else - the grid-spanners were a little daunting, but I ended up focusing on all the downs and then the long answers fell into place.
ReplyDeleteVisiting my mom- so last night we went as per our tradition went to the Catholic parish a block away for a lenten fish fry. I always chuckle that in comparison to our small city where it is all fried catfish and cod with the accompanying cole slaw and fries - at mom's upscale suburb you can have salmon and shrimp and wild rice and spinach salad with vinaigrette dressing as options. But I thought of lots of possibilities trying to fill the answer before PESCATARIAN DIET!
I got TLC - but thought it might be one of the K-POP groups instead of a girls rap group!
I thought of FLESH TONES for not just the adhesive bandages like band-aids, but also for ACE bandages to wrap a sprain.
I found "JoJo Rabbit" to be a very interesting film - after REBEL Wilson's big comedy/musicals in the "Pitch Perfect" trilogy - a much more serious part in this.
Thanks Gary for the fun blog and Hoang-Kim for the challenging puzzle!
Our family has a very low-key March Madness bracket competition every year - any of you who participate - does everyone have a decimated bracket with the wins by Princeton, Farleigh-Dickinson, Furman?
Hand up for a DNF today, having to check with Husker Gary's review to see what the fill was in the SW area. Even the perps didn't help the fill below APE and EKED much. I waffled between NON and ess, and put PESOS without understanding why. I too thought of the Marshall Plan instead of Project.
ReplyDeleteBut I surprised myself at how much I managed to get right since only the middle section went smoothly. Eventually I tumbled into what was needed at the top and filled it. Thanks for a huge challenge today, Hoang-Kim Vu. I did better than expected at first glance.
Husker Gary, thanks for explaining the slang and pop culture. It also helps my ego that you had problems in the same area today.
Congratulations Subgenius and inanehiker for your FIRs today!
Hope everyone has an enjoyable day after puzzle time!
Just the way a Saturday puzzle should be ~ a rather daunting task requiring lots of thought and perp help. I agree that seeing the the triple stacks of spanners was a little intimidating, at the same time showcasing the talent of Hoang-Kim to construct such a grid. Managed a FIR in 41:21 w/out help, but unlike HG I found the top NW to be the most difficult, found my foothold in the middle, then south and north was last to fall. Thanks Mr.Vu for the challenge!
ReplyDeleteHusker G ~ another fine illustrative synopsis, always a pleasure to read your work on Saturdays. My dad had a collection of Redd Foxx’s comedy records, 45’s, pretty risqué for the times I’m sure…I remember one called “The Woodpecker Song”, I won’t go into detail on that one 😂
Inanehiker ~ yea my one bracket took a hit on those three teams you mentioned, and the upsets I did pick, none panned out. I’m at 63%, or in 6,000,000th place among the participants.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteI finished w/o help in a tad less than normal Saturday time but with more of a sense of relief than satisfaction. There were too many unknown pop culture references and not knowing so many tends to become annoying and frustrating, thereby lessening the enjoyment of solving. The craftsmanship is quite admirable, though, so props for that and some very fresh and sparkling fill.
Thanks, Hoang-Kim, and thanks, HG, for soothing my angst with the puzzle by entertaining and enlightening me with your top-notch review. Will take the personality test later when I’m more fully bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! 🤣
Had a lot of fun last night with the gang at my sister’s. Irish music, Irish Jigs, good food and family, and every shade of green under the sun! ☘️
Have a great day.
DNF. Top section was daunting and remained mostly white. Even after I got 1A the next two were a mystery. Pescatarian? Monthiversaries?
ReplyDeleteHad a few white squares at the bottom caused by too many proper names, all in one place; Ana, Rebel, and Kodi. On a positive, the center of the CW went in smoothly.
Got my butt kicked today in 33:04.
ReplyDeleteI love a good challenge, but this was something a bit beyond that, as I submit:
Ana (or her group), Ari (or her work), Arne, Attar, Kodi, Ernst, Riis, Migos, Wolfe, Ted, TLC, "etc."
I had "lip" for the Rolling Stone(s) too.
I enjoy lacrosse, but don't consider one on one defense appropriate, as there are, by rule, a minimum of three offensive players on one half of the field at all times.
Just a DNF today. Too many unknowns in the North to finish. I'd never heard of either NONTHIVERSARIES or PESCATARIAN DIET. I managed to get 1A- I GUESS THAT WORDK. Lenten Fish Fries are held at all the churches around here on Fridays. I managed to somehow get everything below it without many unknowns.
ReplyDeleteANA, KODI, TED, TLC, Marshall Project, ARI, MIGOS, REBEL- new for me.
PRISON ABOLITION- let those convicts move in next door to The Marshall Project people and see how they change their tune. As per yesterday's puzzle, all the convicts will tell you they were framed.
The north was smoother than the south, a whole bunch of names down there. Getting PERSONALITYTEST confirmed NON instead of ESS, but I still had RAP before POP.
ReplyDeleteSure, we've got ANA and KODI so let's clue REBEL as another proper name. Just...why?
Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you! The bear done got me a big DNF today. Had to TITT on the bottom three grid spanners, as the down perps were even further off my radar than usual. I know Saturdays should be tough, but this one was just no fun.
ReplyDeleteAfter much work, guessing at so………. many proper names, I still DNF. MONTHIVERSARIES, never came to me, and I missed SHARPS, and misspelled PESCATARIAN.
ReplyDeleteThis was a doable CW but my usual pet peeve of many proper names kept it from being enjoyable.
I saw JOJO RABBIT and really liked it.
This was a beating consisting of obscure proper names and oh-too-cute cluing.
ReplyDeletePretentious, joyless, awful word play and the people trivia is getting exhausting.
Really tough Saturday puzzle, Hoang, but still, thanks for the challenge. And your commentary was a great help, Gary--even more thanks for that.
ReplyDeleteHad to laugh when I saw GUESS THAT WORKS for the first across item. Nope, didn't work very well for me. Tried to find some familiar topics. Well, there was HERDS right at the top--maybe animals? Not too many--just a HEN and an APE--not enough to give us much of a zoo. Wish I could have added WOLFE, but that's a different kind of wolf, unfortunately. I also hoped UNSEASONED would give us a great food experience, but we only ended up with cooking, not food, SIFT and MELT, and not even any real soda POP. But hey, it's a Saturday puzzle--that's how they go sometime. And let's hope for a rich and tasty Sunday puzzle tomorrow.
So glad you had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day, Irish Miss.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
You’ve got to be kidding. My wife and I finished it with one or two lookups, but way too many obscure names. Lacrosse strategy obfuscated a pretty common defense in many sports. Had to lug ourselves through this one. We usually help each other here and there on Sats, but this one was ridiculous. JJB
ReplyDeleteDNF. In my opinion, this puzzle was full of obscure clues and answered.....made more annoying by the full span horizontal. Really a downer for Sat puzzle.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletePossibly the worst clued puzzle of the year, obviously clued by someone showing us how smart they are.
A lot to do today so gave myself 30 minutes...but each time I was ready to throw in the pen a letter popped into my head and advanced the puzzle...tons of alphabet runs. Finally gave up with at least the upper 2/3 filled in. Inkovers: prods/HERDS. Took me a while to correct annIVERSARIES. was thinking "dating milestones", first second and third base 🤭 🙊
ReplyDeleteMy daily experience red containers
for medical waste SHARPS (used needles, blades, scalpels etc.) ...Plus "Innards" didn't work 😆..
Was thinking the postwar Marshall "Plan" like BobB
Hip hop groups? Scissor Sisters? Forget it....I've seen "Power of the Dog", "The Disaster Artist" and "Jojo Rabbit" (btw, like Tante Nique agree excellent flick, highly recommended) but no memory of the cast
Lacrosse strategy: Shoot the ball in the goal?
PESCATARIAN (Ital, pescare: "to fish", pesce: "fish", Pesci: "Joe" 😁)
Mega suffix....HERDS
Puerto Rican capital, San ___....WAN
Wear flats around...____ SHARPS
A successful marriage to some big APE requires ____ take...GIBBON
Snow's a meltin' but more a comin'
🙄
Hoang-Kim Vu offers today's toughie, curated for the Corner by Husker G...
ReplyDeleteThe middle was easier for me than either the top or bottom, but I'm sure others found their own favorite parts.
Easiest fill? REDD
Next? ONO
First long fill to fall: I KNOW THE FEELING
Last to give: PESCATARIAN DIET
~ OMK
___________
DR: One diagonal, far side.
An abundance of vowels limits anagram possibilities, but one of them (11 of 15) suggests a product that ought to be on the market, if it is not already.
Parents of irritated infants know they can make use of ...
"ALOE (infused) NAPPIES"!
Doin' fine until I hit an iceberg in Antarctica.
ReplyDeletePuzzling thoughts:
ReplyDeleteNot sure what to say ...
One of the funnier mistakes I made was in 17-across ... I had PASTATARIAN ;^)
NCAA "March Madness" has eliminated my entire left side of the brackets. I had DUKE and AZ going to the Final Four
I took the personality test, Gary ... hadn't done one since I retired ... maybe I am becoming more balanced as I enter the final 1/4 of my existence ...
WHOA! Those stacks of 15-ers sure got my attention! I came pretty close. Only fail was OpEn zONE DEFENSE instead of ONE ON ONE DEFENSE. Considering the difficulty level, it feels like a win!
ReplyDeleteHand up for thinking Marshall Plan
FAV: More succinctly?
Thanks, H-Gary for your outstanding write-up. You are a SEASONED pro!
I looked at this CW and thought, “Three grid-spanner stack on top, and another at the bottom? Nope. I’ll never do this.” But I tried….and tried….and got much more done than I thought I would. In fact, everything except the three grid spanners on top. Never heard of monthiversaries. And had FRIEDFISH confidently in place for the second half of 17A. GOES never occurred to be for 2D. That woulda helped. Anyway, HUGE expenditure of time, almost an hour, before I gave up. I did know SHARPS, but that wasn’t enough. Ya got me, HKV. Thanks for the outstanding write-up, HG, it was the high point of this experience.
ReplyDeleteOh, forgot to mention how much time I wasted by confusing “The Marshall Project cause” with “The Marshall Plan cause” and trying to fit in something about WWII. DOH!!!
ReplyDeleteFor a Saturday, I was impressed by the grid layout. I was thinking, oh man, killer acrosses. But those downs had let's do this all over them! Went in with red letters on... (hey, I'm an amateur. You wanna talk Pro, how much you wanna pay me,..)
ReplyDeleteAnywho, it was a sussfest. My favorite kind of puzzle. But, in the end, DNF. The very clever "fill a flat again," plus one other I cannot find right now, made me TITT...
VERY ENJOYABLE PAIN IN MY BUTT...
(& you can't say that about a ...)
(Hmm, come to think of it, you can't say that at all...)
Charlie Echo @ 10:56 et alii et socii: So we all agree: ptui!
ReplyDelete(I died on 7D , T_AD. kept thinking TOAD which ≠ TVAD. I know better, but sometimes the initial response locks us into deadends.)
Michael @ 6:09 PM Keep thinking TOAD. It might come in handy some day.
DeleteWhat D-Otto said.
ReplyDeleteAnnoying and frustrating. After ten minutes I said, "Fun sponge, why bother? I'm outta here."
ReplyDeleteConsidering the group opinion on difficulty I'm even more depressed about missing the FIR. I should have gone online and played around with Jojo. It's just that Gen Y and Z have such odd names, de rigueur that REoEL wasn't crazy even though it is
ReplyDeleteTV AD and PARER were deft clues.
OMK you forgot GUILLOTINE among WOLFE, TET, REDD and ERNST for relatively easy P&P
WC
Despite my DNF however I should thank Hoang-Kim for a fine puzzle and Gary for another excellent review. Posting late after seeing a grandson defend his HS senior thesis. Good job Ray!
ReplyDeleteHi All!
ReplyDeleteWHOA - Hoang-Kim posted on Twitter this morning that even Erik Agard said "holy sh**" about this grid. I'm sure Erik at least finished it.
Thanks for the grid @dcwdkim [Hoang-Kim's Twitter handle]. It was fun to noodle and get a few aha!s but ultimately above my paygrade.
Thanks HG for filling in my empty squares even after a few Googles to keep at it. DNF!
//I wonder what you have to circle in the PERSONALITY TEST to qualify to change that light-bulb!
WOs: needle -> SHARPS, honER -> PARER, EKEs -> EKED
Cheats: ARNE, REnee -> REBEL (hand-up: I highly recommend JoJo Rabbit), KODI
HG Grid Cribs: REair -> RELET, RAP -> POP, it's not MONTHaVERSARY
DNF: PESCATARp_DIET, much in the deep-south
Fav: REDD Foxx - Sanford & Sons comes on at midnight. To DW's chagrin, "You Big Dummy has buried itself in my vernacular.
More Succinctly == ETC was cute but didn't hold me up much. Unlike....
ONO. That threw me, like, forever (Hi Jinx!) as I thought of the cover of Stone's '81's album Tattoo You - 'you' fit. OR, if the clue meant 'cover' as in their (Mick's) remake of Marvin Gaye's Dancing in the Streets w/ Bowie (was that on that album? - ILU, it's not). Paying closer attention - there's no S on Stone in the clue.
OMK - at dinner tonight, DW & I witnessed one baby that needed an ALOE NAPPIES :-)
HG re SHARPS: I was surprised (until I learned about HKV's background) that he'd use SHARPS as that's we phlebotomists in the Army called 'em too.
BobB - I had that same confusion re: Marshal and kept trying to think of other words for reconstruction.
C, Moe - Clam linguine for the PASTA-TARIAN? :-)
LOL - Joe Fish, Ray-O.
I gotsta get Youngest at HOU from her DCA flight (delayed 1.5h!) @12:50p so I better get a nap.
//Youngest went to VA to visit Eldest at GMU during Spring Break - I'd rather they were both here but DW & I had some fun kidless time so, there's that.
//BTW - Drunk Shakespeare was a hoot. A little sophomoric but the cast are almost ready for Second City or Not Ready for Prime Time players' troupe.
Cheers, -T
Dash T @ 8:19 --> Clam linguine works perfectly fine for me!! One of my favorites ;^)
ReplyDeleteerrata - flight lands at 00:50 (that's AM, not p)
ReplyDeleteC. Moe - dang straight especially if they boil the noodles in the clam water. I had anchovy pasta in Venice, amazing!
I forgot to thank The Cornerites for all their fun comments today (and commiserating in the FIW). Y'all are a fun bunch.
C, -T
First reaction at seeing seven wall-to-walls: holy $#!t you can’t be serious!?!
ReplyDeleteHuang-Kim…master of obfuscatory clues and way too many obscure pop-culture names. I thought these were supposed to be fun? 😖
Hi Y'all! To be truthful, I hope Hoang-Kim Vu sticks to his important and useful day job and never constructs another sadistic crossword like this again. I hope Patti quits being cruel to solvers. I filled it only using the most red-letter runs ever. This wasn't clever or fun.
ReplyDelete