Saturday Themeless by Doug Peterson
Master constructor Doug Peterson gave me a start when I came across two "I have no idea" names. However, they took care of themselves. I had a fun trip through Doug's lovely puzzle and earned my "got 'er done" reward in short order.
1. "You __!": WISH.
5. Video game portals: WARPS - A warp, also known as a portal or teleporter, is an element in video game design that allows a player character instant travel between two locations or levels. 🤷
10. Remote places: DENS - Mine usually hides in my recliner
14. Namesake of a Queens venue: ASHE - In the Burroughs of Queens in NYC
15. One-named singer whose surname is Adkins: ADELE - ADELE is frequenting crosswords as often as ASHE
16. Suit: EXEC.
17. Grappling style: GRECO-ROMAN - Husker Rulon Gardner stunned the wrestling world by upsetting Russian Alexander Karelin, who had not lost in 13 years, in GRECO-ROMAN wrestling in the 2000 Sydney Olympics
 |
| Bradley, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Arnold and Marshall |
20. Booted, say: SHOD.
21. Vial sought in some thrillers: ANTIDOTE.
23. First woman to win a Best Director Oscar: KATHRYN BIGELOW.
25. "Malcolm in the Middle" dad: HAL - A Brian Cranston role before Breaking Bad
 |
| Walter White HAL Wilkerson |
27. Strategic match game: NIM - You must take at least one match from a row and the winner is either the person who takes the last match or does not take the last match. It can also be played with piles of M&M's or coins or...
30. Michael's "Space Jam" teammate: BUGS.
33. Speak up (for): VOUCH.
37. "Time Quintet" novelist: MADELEINE L'ENGLE.
40. Touchscreen tappers: STYLI - This senior girl was using a STYLUS (sing.) recently in Arlington
41. Au naturel: NUDE.
42. Flowering succulent: ALOE.
43. Kids' hangout: LEA - 😀
45. Ortiz of 34-Down: ANA and 34. Former ABC series based on a telenovela: UGLY BETTY - ANA (left) played the sister of the title character America Ferrara
47. Runway letters: YSL.
48. Paper featured in "Spotlight": THE BOSTON GLOBE.
54. Unorganized, in a way: NON-UNION
55. Air: TUNE- An air (Italian: aria; also ayr, ayre in French) is a song-like vocal or instrumental composition.
56. Not bamboozled by: ONTO.
57. Field of operations?: ARITHMETIC.
61. Right-thinking Brit?: TORY - Like America (Dem/Rep), Britain (Labor/Tory) alternates between having right and left legislative majorities.
62. Button material: NACRE.
63. Above: ATOP and 38. Rest 63-Across: LIE ON.
64. "__ Tu": 1974 hit: ERES - Is it you? A beautiful air/TUNE where I knew this the beautiful tune but not the title.
65. Polish: SHEEN.
66. Tropical talker: MYNA.
66. Tropical talker: MYNA.
Down:
1. Wit: WAG.
2. Eilat's nat.: ISR - A beautiful resort town on the very south tip of ISRAEL
3. Tom Jones hit with the line "Always treat her with respect": SHE'S A LADY - Another air
4. 1968 Pulitzer-winning poet Anthony: HECHT - Yeah, I knew that 😁
5. Magical portal to Narnia: WARDROBE.
6. Spot of bother: ADO.
7. Staff again: REMAN.
8. Fallback option: PLAN B.
9. Deployed: SENT IN
10. Shakespearean woman who says, "A guiltless death I die": DESDEMONA.
11. Hail: EXTOL.
12. "Cool beans": NEATO - Swell!
13. Hardware item: SCREW.
18. Sounds of wonder: OOHS.
22. "Enough!": I GIVE.
23. Gold unit: KARAT.
12. "Cool beans": NEATO - Swell!
13. Hardware item: SCREW.
18. Sounds of wonder: OOHS.
22. "Enough!": I GIVE.
23. Gold unit: KARAT.
24. "Coming with?": YOU IN?
25. Radio hobbyists: HAMS - One of the first scenes in the Jodi Foster movie Contact about SETI
31. Horned ungulate native to Africa: GNU.
32. Rental option: SEDAN - or...
35. Right around the corner: CLOSE - The last day of the 2022 - 2023 school year
36. Bread end: HEEL - I asked two teenage girls and they said they it was the "butt"
39. Stretch: LENGTHEN.
44. Most people: ASIANS.
46. Reunion attendee: ALUM.
48. Govt. bill: T-NOTE.
49. __ guard: HONOR - Watching this put a lump in my throat.
50. __ nous: ENTRE - ENTRE nous, j'adorerais faire la tournée de JSC avec Tony ! (Just between us, I'd love to tour JSC with Tony!) French.
51. Holy scroll: TORAH.
52. Chilling: ON ICE.
53. Day's first stroke: ONE AM - It comes after the last stroke of yesterday's midnight. DRIVE for my first golf stroke, not so much.
58. A quarter of dodici: TRE - Un quarto di dodici fa tre. (One fourth of twelve equals three). Italian
59. Cyclotron particle: ION - Google if you must. 😐
60. Pro with brackets: CPA.
42 comments:
I faintly remembered the name “Bigelow” as a director, “Kathryn” came through perps. As for Madeline L’Engle I had read and loved “A Wrinkle in Time” as a teenager. At the time, I knew she had written other books but through time came to forget this until a friend recently reminded me that she had written dozens of books. (He actually said “hundreds “ which was a bit of an exaggeration.) He recommended “A Quiet Place” to me and I am reading it currently. It is a lovely memoir, full of good will and interesting philosophical meditations. I love it! Anyway, I managed to FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Hooray, it's Saturday -- no theme, no reveal. Thought this one was going to get me, but it all came together, and in good time, too. We happened to watch a KATHRYN BIGELOW film last night -- K-19: The Widow-Maker -- definitely not a RomCom. Would've recognized Ben HECHT before Anthony. Wasn't familiar with BELL BUOYS, but it makes sense. Thanx, Doug and Husker.
The two long names were UNK for me too, Gary but I got the perps. SEDAN and BUGS finally popped. As did ASHE in NW. I dredged up a bunch of P&P fe GLOBE got me THE BOSTON, BETTY got me UGLY, I remembered Tom's hit, and ANTIDOTE was apparent
YSL refers to Yves Saint Laurent.
The GLOBE has a great Sports section. It had its own yacht writer(OK, he doubled on CREW*)
SHEEN/shine; WARDROBE popped and the B got me BUGS
My limited WillyS got me DESDEMONA
OBW strikes again. What's that gold vs diamond mnemonic again. I had C. FIW- Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!
Gary, ENTRE(nous) is French
WC
NACRE has a lustrous SHEEN,
Oyster spit to make it gleem.
The oyster's palace
Becomes a chalice
For those who slurp the nacre clean!
Sagittarius, the celestial centaur,
No horseshoes for this avatar.
He does not lack
In the zodiac --
Each foot is SHOD with a shining STAR!
{B+, A-.}
* CREW was yesterday. SunmbG and D-Otto actually knew those authors
My favorite part of the thriller “Bound” was the closing credits that rolled to the tune of Tom Jones’ “She’s A Lady.” An excellent end to a very good movie.
Not bad for a Saturday, more midweek level. Thumbed out the puzzle on my phone waiting at the airport gate. The NW was last to tumble. I forgot "Eilat's nat" from prior puzzles but only ASHE would perpwork.
"Spot" of bother? (Like a "spot" of tea?). KARAT or CARAT?..don't "bother" I won't remember 🙄. I guessed the first, looks better with KATHRYN. Saw the film "Spotlight" so the long answer was easy. NONUNION: when a fracture doesn't heal. "Wit" was a WAG (wild 🐴 guess)
Didn't know Martin SHEEN and his boys were "Polish"...😃
Liked "Pro with brackets" [timely clue]. Didn't know (nor have I ever seen) our old friend ALOE in flower. ADELE says the correct pronunciation of her name, is "Uh-Dale" not "Ah-dell"
NIM? (UNO wouldn't work). I unfortunately never heard of those 2 ladies but they fortunately perped. ("The Hurt Locker" excellent... the film version of "A Wrinkle in Time" meh)
Perjury: ___ the stand....LIEON
Why she divorced him____ EXTOL
Ore extractor in Jersey....MYNA
Paddled water transport....GNU
Back to the frozen, no actually thawing, North.
#3??? Duh, hard G. Love your Italic idiocies
Good Morning:
I enjoyed this solve and found it on the easier side for a Saturday, no doubt due to the long fill that provided many footholds. While it’s technically a themeless, She’s A Lady is a great lead-in to the female centric fill of Adele, Kathryn, Madeleine, Ana, Desdemona, and Betty! My only w/o was Shea/Ashe and only a few unknowns today, including Bugs, Nim, and Hecht. The fill was fresh and lively with no dreck which resulted in a very pleasant solve.
Thanks, Doug, for another enjoyable solving experience and thanks, HG, for the sparkling and illuminating review. Ditto on knowing Eres Tu melody but not the title. I knew all of the 5 Star Generals except for Arnold. I never saw The Hurt Locker but Spotlight was an outstanding movie.
FLN
Bill G, good to hear from you. Please drop by more often, you’re greatly missed.
Have a great day.
FIR, despite not knowing the proper names in the two long answers. Started off on the right foot when I threw down wish at 1A, and from there on it just sort of came together, and still there were a ton of unknowns for me.
Had Nin instead on Nim. Doh!
FIR Saturday. Better watch out today, pigs must be flying. Erased cho for SOO, lilt for TUNE, over for ATOP, shine for SHEEN, and nit for ADO.
I only came here today to see Gary's link to the NUDE fill. Bother.
REMAN to us gearheads means a car part that was rebuilt from somebody's dud (core) part. Guess it will be REPERSON or RETHEM by this time next year.
CSO to me and a few other Cornerites at HAMS.
Can you really get a SEDAN rental these days? Even cops have given them up.
Gotta go out to the RV and get ready to leave tomorrow. Brief visit to Myrtle Beach (sans golf), returning Saturday. If Verizon data is available I'll be checking in, but that area is pretty iffy, and has been for years.
Thanks to Gary for the fun explanation of the many fills I didn't know.
I had more than two "I have no idea" names and almost got them all, only missing out by spelling CARAT instead of KARAT. KATHRYN BIGELOW and MADELEINE LENGLE- two of those unknown names with different spellings.
Catherine, Katherine, Kathleen, Cathryn, Kathryn- too many Kathys.
Madeline, Madelyn, and now Madeleine. Too many Maddies or is it Maddys. I'm glad there's only one English way to spell George. Georges, Giorg, Jorge, Giorgio- other languages.
HAL, SOO, NIM, HECHT, & ANA were a few more.
I knew it would be a FIW or DNF today because it was so easy in the beginning with gimmes- SHE'S A LADY, ASHE, a WAG of WAG for "Wit", ADELE, ANTIDOTE, & GRECO ROMAN wrestling. I'd never heard of "Spotlight" but enough perps were in place to fill THE BOSTON GLOBE. Ditto for UGLY BETTY.
A time WARP portal crossing a WARDROBE portal today.
Took 10:51 to finish this proper noun fest.
Didn't know Desdemona, nor Madeleinelengle or Nim, so had to take wild guesses there.
I also didn't know the 60's poet, today's actress (Ortiz), Hal, or bell buoys.
That Rulon Gardner upset of Karelin is considered one of the greatest upsets in sports. A new rule change helped Gardner, but Karelin was as formidable and intimidating as Mike Tyson was in his prime.
Came to a screeching halt in the NE corner for a big Saturday DNF. Could not get my brain around it this morning. Maybe should have increased my caffeine intake, as Huskers review was a big D'Oh! Of course! moment. Enjoyed the challenge, though. Some really clever clues, and a Saturday grid should be a workout IMHO.
Hola!
Thank you, Doug Peterson for a doable Saturday puzzle which I finished in under an hour and without coffee! That's almost miraculous for a Saturday. And not because it was easy.
I knew all the names so that was a big help. And well do I remember SPOTLIGHT. It shed the light on a pernicious scandal.
WARDROBE came easily as I read The Chronicles of Narnia to my class every year.
LENGTHEN is not something I ever have to worry about.
CSO to Yellowrocks at KATHRYN.
Have a superb Saturday, everyone!
NW corner was the last fill for me and only came around after sudsing out “Greco Roman”. For years I called that song in the bottom SW “Eddie’s Two”
Hand up did not enjoy crossed proper names. Hand up had to WAG K or C for KARAT. FIR.
Learning moment about SPOTLIGHT. Investigative journalism is essential for democracy and it is dying.
I had the privilege of seeing KATHRYN BIGELOW speak at the premiere of the Hurt Locker at our Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2010. The film opens with a quote from war correspondent Chris Hedges: "War is a force that gives us meaning." His point being that war has little to do with ideology or even nationalism. It becomes a way for young men to find meaning in their lives. If we ever want a peaceful world, we need to find better sources of meaning.
BIGELOW affirmed this meaning in her interview here. So, I was utterly appalled when she received her BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR and she told a completely different story. Such a wasted opportunity.
Here is my photo of KATHRYN BIGELOW speaking at our Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
I do recommend the film. But only if you view it as intended by Chris Hedges. Watch for the scene near the end where the hero is standing in the cereal aisle in the supermarket back home. That is what the film is really all about.
PS: Happy Earth Day
I was so pleased to put myself in the FIR column for a Saturday - then realized I had put “C” instead of “K” for Bigelow and gold, so I’m back to “almost”. Some long unknowns to be sure, but perps were very helpful.
Entre Nous was to be the name of our next sailboat, but then we moved to Arizona for several years, so…. By the time we moved back to So. Cal, Boat ownership costs had become impossibly high, so no boat.
Thanks, Doug, for a nice challenge.
Tough but fun Saturday puzzle, many thanks, Doug. And always enjoy your commentary, Gary, thanks for that too.
Well, of course ADELE would be considered a STAR, an HONOR she certainly deserves. Interesting question--does she belong to a union or is she NON-UNION? Was she ever featured in THE BOSTON GLOBE? Bet she has a lovely WARDROBE and jewelry with plenty of KARATs. Well, I think we'd all agree that SHE'S A LADY, and in no way, ever, an UGLY BETTY.
Have a good weekend, everybody.
Picard
That is wonderful you saw and heard KATHRYN BIGELOW. I started to watch the Hurt Locker but just could not continue. I don't like war pictures to begin with and tried to watch that one because it had so much acclaim. Couldn't do it. The title is an apt one.
Lucina Thank you for the kind words. I also do not like watching violent movies. But I stuck with it for the deeper meaning it conveyed about war: The excitement. The sense of camaraderie. The sense of being part of something bigger than yourself. And the feeling of loss when it ends.
I had already heard Chris Hedges speak about this. So, I was primed for KATHERINE BIGELOW talking about it here in Santa Barbara.
But she completely negated the point of it all when she accepted the BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR and made it about the heroism of the troops. And, just minutes later, she accepted the BEST Picture OSCAR and had a once in a lifetime chance to get it right. She deliberately refused. Such a waste. Without that clear message, it is just another war movie.
Hooyoo calling an Italic Idiot?
Knot gneiss!
😄
Wendybird, I did a lot of sailboat racing in Arizona, mainly on Lake Pleasant. I got transferred from LA, where I raced out of Windjammers YC, and took the boat with me. (Arizona Yacht Club is an affiliate of the Southern California Yachting Association.) A big cruiser would probably have to be on Roosevelt, not exactly a hop, skip and a jump.
My next boat was going to be "Another Line," so my secretary could honestly say "sorry, he's on another line" whenever I would sneak out early for Wednesday evening racing at California YC. (There is already a "Branch Office" and a "Library" in Marina del Rey. "Restroom" would have worked too.)
Not you. The clever posts IN italics
I just remembered: "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"
I started it but give me Tolkien
Welcome to the One
Box world, Wendy
How about if it's from the Klondike it's K(gold); from coal(diamonds) it's C
WC
Back on the FIR track today, though it was slow starting off. Perps were essential for names, and I had some surprises as they filled. Several names I actually knew already but the cluing fooled me! Thanks, Doug, for an appropriately challenging Saturday puzzle!
I liked seeing NACRE for button material, and when have we seen VOUCH in a puzzle before? Nice. I waffled a bit before putting a K in KARAT and KATHRYN, but it felt better than a C. I like your method, WC, to keep them straight but I will remember the 14K written inside my wedding band in the future. Why didn't I think of that before?
Thanks, Husker Gary, for reviewing the puzzle and clearing up questions. I hastily put Aunt/ALUM and T bOnd/T NOTE. Those corrections led the way to filling the bottom section. ERES TU returns and now I know I know the song! Thanks for including it, HG.
FLN, So happy to see your post, Bill G. Come by more often! I think Nancy Mason from Maine was before I started following the blog. Magnus, I'm not sure of. I think there was a Swenglish Mom who posted every now and then, but not recently. It's a changing community.
Hope everyone is having a sunny day!
A quick walk through this puzzle left few traces. I despaired but went back over it more carefully and surprised myself and FIR even though some fills were WAGs, like NIM, HECHT, WARDROBE as clued. I happened to know the ladies at the heart of this CW, and guessed at the BOSTON GLOBE. All in all a satisfying solve.
Husker Gary leads us through today's Peterson PZL...
It has been a while since I found a do-able Saturday XWD, but I am pleased to say This was It!
The Middle East sector was the first to be filled by me, followed by the mid-West.
"First woman..." Oscar-winning director? I am ashamed that I needed perps to recall KATHRYN BIGELOW. I knew it was for directing The Hurt Locker, but I had Jane Campion's name stuck in my brain (her Oscar came last year).
~ OMK
___________
DR: Four diagonals today, three on the near side.
The near main line gives us an anagram (12 of 15) of a battle cry, possibly shouted by Allies in the 20th century This was more likely to be heard during WWI than WWII, but it might have been appropriate in either.
This cry is for a...
"HUN SHOOTDOWN"!
--Or,
the remaining letters allow for a variation, if a marksman feels threatened by some vicious chickens.
This would be a...
"HEN SHOOTDOWN!
FLN,
I am re-posting my last message from yesterday--for the sake of anyone who does not know that my CENSORED posting was restored in full.
======Original Post on 4/21 Page=======>
Thank you!
Good to see that my complaint (@6:09 PM) was met by a positive response & action. My earlier posting (@1:38 PM), which had been CENSORED, was restored in full.
It must have been OBVIOUS that, although it contained a glancing reference to the Presidency by informal title ("PREZ"), it was not a political message.
I appreciate the restoration, although I am sorry it came so late in the day that it had to be missed by most afternoon readers.
~ OMK
Hi All!
Thank you, Doug, for the pummeling puzzle. Copious cheats were needed to finish.
Thanks, HG, for the delightful expo & fixing my errors (and other cheats). It's been a while since I've been to JSC, but come on down. If you like sushi, I know where to get some of the best.
WOs: HAL (Lindon - Barny) ->SOO, T-bOnd-> T-NOTE. HAL (not Barney Miller) showed up later.
Errs: Shine, eerie -> ON ICE
Cheats: 17a (I kept thinking grappling hook), 23a, 10d, 37a's last name
Fav: ARITHMATIC's clue was cute
{B+, A}
#2 is funnier, OMK.
SHE'S A LADY was my first fill. There used to be a computer-themed radio show (maybe still is) called Kim Komando (it was on the same AM station as Astros games and the radio in the garage was always on) that used it as their theme song.
WARDROBE would have been a fast second fill but the paper's font made it look like Namia.
FLN - Wonderful to see you BillG! How about a nice ARITHMETIC puzzle?
Jinx - I love the boat names. Just off OU's campus is a pub called "The Library;" kids could honestly tell their parents they were at The Library all night ;-)
Y'all have a lovely Saturday afternoon!
Cheers, -T
Thanks for your puzzle, Doug! A rare Sat. FIR for me. Cue the OOHS.
Several FAVs: General symbol, Booted, say, ARITHMETIC, Chilling, Most people, and Suit.
Thanks for your write-up, H-Gary. "Bell Boys". Haha! Good one!
OMK @ 3:21 ~ I would guess that your post yesterday was censored for the non-financial reference to IRA. Just a guess, mind you.
Thank you Master constructor Doug. This was quite a struggle that I had to walk away from 4 or 5 times to let my subconscious percolate some of the clues, but I did finish. However Google autocorrected one of the CLUs ("confirmatory lookups") I did to spell check one of the proper names at 23A, and thus this was a 1 letter FIW.
Thanks for the review Husker. I got a lot of these on perps, but about several, e.g. WARPS, BUGS, SOO and ANA I hadn't a clue and needed explanations.
Not my favorite:
48A THE BOSTON GLOBE. Substitute BALTIMORE SUN and the same story has been going on in my home town for the past several months (years actually). These terrible betrayals of trust have destroyed many lives and the scandal threatens to destroy our Church.
Favorites:
5A WARPS and 5D WARDROBE. The first is a portal into a video fantasy and the second is a portal into the fantasy world of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the WARDROBE, the first volume of his trilogy The Chronicles of Narnia. Here's a trailer for the film version of the first story.
64A ERES TU. This title reminds me of the aria Eri Tu from a Verdi TRAGEDY called Un Ballo In Mascara ("A Masked Ball"). But ERES TU is one of those TUNES that is so beautiful that it could as easily be a HYMN of praise as a LOVE song. It reminds me of the LOVE of DESDEMONA (from the Greek "ill-fated, unfortunate"), who in Gary's quote, at the end of her life, is trying to deflect the blame from OTHELLO. Both of them have been destroyed by the HATRED of IAGO.
65A SHEEN. Martin SHEEN and his son Emilio Estevez star in a movie called The Way, about their pilgrimage along the 500 mile El Camino de Santiago in Spain. My oldest granddaughter graduates from college this May and will then head to Spain to walk it.
Cheers,
Bill
WC @1:14 PM C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia was intended for children and they're great bedtime stories. LOTR operates at many levels and is suitable for reading to children, but you have to be adult to really understand them. I've read them to my son twice and he has read them to his children. But he won't let the youngins' see the movies. They're much too scary.
Wilbur, your idea for a mnemonic is great! Let me put it into verse:
Kayaking the Klondike, a freezing land,
With Karats of gold on every hand.
Crystalline Compressed Carbon jewels
Come in Carats, as a rule.
in researching this, I found that in many countries, including the UK, carats are used for both gold and gems. But in the US and crosswordland, they are distinct.
Great. I love alliteration
Not to quibble but wouldn't the first stroke of the day be the first of the twelve that mark twelve am not the one that happens sixty minutes after the day started?
Old Man Keith, I looked at your yesterday's comment that was deleted and that was later approved. Probably because you used the word escorting.
Can't be certain though. Blogger doesn't tell us. Sometimes it's obvious. Pure spam. Like one that's in there now, "best samsung mobile service center in bangalore"
Some times it can be determined. For instance, HG's May 30,2016 comment was filtered. A site he linked back then has now been determined to likely be hosting malware. My browser warns: "The site ahead may contain harmful programs" so it's likely a legit filter.
Other times, no clue. There's a Jan 2015 comment in there from Abejo. It's one word. "Testing". No links. Why ? Who knows. Another in there is a rather lengthy comment from Dash T. Seven paragraphs. No links. But he used WTF, so maybe that's it.
Maybe what we need is our own AI that can be here 24 7 and monitor Blogger's AI actions...
As a reminder to all, if your comment gets published and then disappears almost as quickly, there's some content in it that Blogger doesn't like. So reviewing and rewording would be appropriate.
This isn't a paid gig for me, and I'm not asking to be paid. I'm here on strictly a volunteer basis, and I'm not here 24 7, so don't wait for me.
My granddaughter was in a play based on The Chronicles of Narnia when she was in junior high. The adult director chose it because she and her younger children loved the stories. The kids in the play hated it. They didn't understand what was supposed to be going on and found the dialogues hard to speak. It was the worst kids play I ever attended, partly because you could tell the kids wished they weren't in it altho I wasn't told they didn't like it before we went.
Wait…a wall-to-wall proper name (a bit of an obscure one at that)? And dead center to boot?!? 😝
Niiice…(not) ====> Darren
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