Saturday Themeless by John Guzzetta
I blogged John's first LA Times Themeless a year ago and now he is back. He has had eleven other weekday LA puzzles. In his puzzle from last year, he told me he was a minister in the Tampa Bay area. This one tried my patience but worked itself out. My only real issue was a correct spin of the vowel wheel at MIR_/M_DDER.
1. With 40-Across, juice choice: SOLAR 40. See 1-Across: POWER.😀. Ah, electric juice! This solar farm is a quarter mile south of our house and you can see our coal-burning "juice" plant in the upper left.
6. Tesla, for one: SERB - A statue of Nikola Tesla in front of this birthplace in Smiljan, Serbia.
10. Bands on the radio: AM/FM - We also have XM
14. Shady spot for a stroll: WOODED AREA.
16. Disney Junior's "Royal Detective": MIRA - I suppose former NFL quarterback George MIRA was out of the question.
17. Tenochtitlan, e.g.: AZTEC RUINS.
18. Mocha option: ICED.
19. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" band: YES - Here ya go
20. Yang counterpart: YIN - and you are...
21. Got to the point?: TAPERED 😀
23. Verses versus verses: MC BATTLE - MC Battle rap is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults and wordplay. Battle rap is often performed or freestyled spontaneously in live battles, "where MCs will perform on the same stage to see who has the better verses". Very big in Japan. Yeah, I knew that 😗
25. "Set __ the doors O soul": Whitman: OPE - From Walt's The Imprisoned Soul
At the last, tenderly,
From the walls of the powerful, fortress'd house,
From the clasp of the knitted locks--from the keep of the well-closed
doors,
Let me be wafted.
Let me glide noiselessly forth;
With the key of softness unlock the locks--with a whisper
Set OPE the doors, O soul!
26. Void: ANNUL.
29. Rooftop amenity for some travelers: HOTEL BAR.
31. Almost ready for the tooth fairy: LOOSE 😀
32. Does well: PROSPERS.
33. Colosseum feature: ARCH - I think the shades that could be unfurled were very nice for spectators
34. Quarrel: ROW.
37. Netflix series whose fifth season concludes with the election of Tony Blair: THE CROWN - I got hooked on this look into the quirkiness of this institution.
41. "None of this looks familiar": WHERE AM I - "We're not in Kansas anymore!"
42. Charlotte __: RUSSE.
43. Alternative introduction: AKA.
44. Unimpressive ride, in '70s slang: ECONOBOX.
47. "Can you talk?": GOT A SEC?
49. Gibberish: ROT.
50. "Yes?": AND.
53. Lindros in the Hockey Hall of Fame: ERIC.
54. One with artistic training?: BONSAI TREE 😀 Mr. Miagi is teaching Daniel how to train his tree
57. Philosopher Descartes: RENE - We math teachers remember him for the Cartesian plane
58. Really hard to mess up: IDIOT PROOF.
59. Sinks: SAGS.
60. Feijoada morsel: BEAN - Saturday cluing! Brazilian black bean stew.
61. Like a south-facing room, perhaps: SUNNY.
Down:
1. Rock and roll: SWAY - "Earthquake-proof" building SWAY much less
2. Primordial stuff: OOZE or soup
3. Plenty: LOTS.
4. Lemon finish: ADE.
5. Use color-coded bins, say: RECYCLE.
6. Box at the gym?: SAUNA - A noun not a verb 😀
7. Airport north of PIT: ERI - Pittsburgh, PA International to Erie, PA International
8. Option for some tenants: RENT TO OWN.
9. Stones that make up Northern Ireland's Giant's Causeway, e.g.: BASALTS - Hexagonal columns formed by cooling lava
10. Nice friend: AMIE - The French city doesn't trap good solvers
11. Many kombuchas: MICROBREWS.
12. Radio station prizes, often: FREE PASSES.
13. Rose in a King title: MADDER - A signed, first edition for $1,250
15. Little bit: DRIB.
22. Chirp: PEEP.
23. Iditarod figure: MUSHER.
24. Bonus: THROW IN.
26. Based on: ALA.
27. Birth country of "The Girl With Seven Names" memoirist Hyeonseo Lee: NORTH KOREA.
28. "Let's keep it clean!": NO CHEATING - If you're a fan of Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, you know how this scene ends.
30. "The Phantom of the Opera" author: LEROUX - Andrew Lloyd WEBBER based his stage play on this novel.
32. Characters that take off online?: PROMO CODE 😀 - If you enter a PROMO CODE with an online order, the characters you enter usually allow you a modest amount you can take off.
36. Italy's __ Cime di Lavaredo: TRE - Three Peaks of Lavaredo. The most familiar group of peaks in the Italian alps.
38. Soccer center?: CEES - A meta reference - soCCer
39. Marathoner's wear: RACE BIB - Katherine Switzer ran in the 1967 Boston Marathon when no women were allowed. Below you can see a race official trying to pull her off the course. She broke away and finished the race to make a point. She became a cause célèbre and her BIB #261 has been retired to honor her.
40. Life hacks from experts: PRO TIPS - I kept fighting DIY TIPS
41. Stakes: WAGERS.
45. Welles who narrates "The Magnificent Ambersons": ORSON - He also wrote, produced and directed this 1942 movie.
46. Launch, e.g.: BOAT.
48. Unbeatable services: ACES - A very unusual one
50. __ Ha-qodesh: Hebrew for "holy ark": ARON - The cabinet that holds the sacred scrolls of the Torah
51. Focus of an art museum in Las Vegas: NEON.
52. Buck: DEFY - I did buck the system several times and it was not worth it
55. Actress Long: NIA - In a movie with another crossword favorite
56. Play about Capote: TRU.
38 comments:
Wow! What a slog! This puzzle starts off with misdirection (“juice “ as energy rather than a drink) and just gets tougher from there! “Rent-to-own” took a long time coming as did the “ruins” after “Aztec.” And I didn’t remember “ERI” or know the author of “The Phantom of the Opera.” How many times did the perps save my (behind)? Many, many times! Anyway, I persevered and, after all that, managed to FIR, so I’m happy.
Thank you, John Guzzetta, and thank you, Husker Gary.
That was a challenge. Some really great clues that yielded more than the usual number of AHA moments.
One error. I'd entered DRIp for "Little bit" and never reconsidered MC pATTLE. BATTLE makes more sense. Never heard of an MC BATTLE before.
My '70s ECONOBOX was a well-used, high mileage circa 72 Toyota Corolla 2 door station wagon rustbucket rattletrap. I had it for the winters of 79 and 80 when I couldn't ride my Yamaharley. I added luan plywood and some old shag carpet to the floorboards to keep my feet dry. It was cheap to keep and served my basic needs at the time.
Husker Gary, I liked your solar farm pic. Good for your city. I did some digging: How did a small Nebraska town sell out of 1.55 MW of community solar in 7 weeks?. Neat.
Good morning (and Ufda)!
Anyone else try PANEL before POWER forced its way in? The upper midwest remained snow-covered until the very end. SLAV/SERB and PATH/LANE/AREA kept me guessing for a long time. Didn't realize that Charlotte RUSSE was a store. Last time we saw it, it was a cake of some sort. Had to walk away for a few minutes, and when I returned, it all came together. Thanx for the exercise, John, and for the expo, Husker. Good start to the day.
Got about 50% of the grid filled and then hit the proverbial brick wall. Finished only with the aid of red slash throughs. All in all though, a fun challenging puzzle.
Took 22:42 for me to guess wrong at the intersection of Russe/Tre, neither of which I knew. But, I guessed correctly at the intersection of Mira/Madder (neither of which I knew), so that counts for ... something, maybe.
Too many proper names for me, and too many foreign names makes it even less enjoyable.
I thought of our Dear Uncle Fred at Solar Power.
Weird seeing "Yes" as a clue and an answer in the same puzzle.
I dislike the clue "Birth country of" anyone/anything, but today's took it to a new level.
Good Morning:
On the positive side, I finished w/o help.
On the negative side, it took a grueling 1:11:20 to do so.
I thought some of the cluing was really clever but some was too clever by half. There is such a thing as playful misdirection and, conversely, there is a “gotcha” misdirection. IMO, there were too many “gotchas.” Saturdays are supposed to be difficult but also pleasantly challenging. Today’s lacked the pleasant factor, for me.
Thanks, John, and thanks, HG, for your usual dazzling visuals and cheerful and informative commentary.
Have a great day.
Huzzah, FIR ie Every last box.
MADDER/MIRA was a Natick for me, too
Tesla was not an Ecar
Ah, Kathy Switzer. The official was Jock ? and the runners with her held him off
This was a grind. I took the gloves off ⅓ thru and bit off a CBD gummy. Phil gave me POWER(that V8 can hurts)
WC
? Whitney I think
Nope, it was Jock Semple Switzer is the second story
WC
It took some time to sort out the final few crossings (no idea that a dog sled driver is called a MUSHER, for instance). LEROUX could've been LEROIX for all I knew. And every time I see a normal word that becomes part of a potential Natick due to a proper name-type clue, I get a little bit... MADDER.
I had no idea that BONSAI TREEs can be "trained" so I needed to come here to understand that clue. PROMOCODE is one of those cases in which I can't decide if a clue is actually awesome or just trying too hard to be clever.
FIW. Once again the crossing of proper names did me in; Russe and Leroux. This CW was a struggle for me as I found myself staring at a lot of white on the right side. A lot of WAG's and I was wrong just once with an I instead of a U.
SHEESH! I didn't get anywhere near this one. After an hour and a half, over half of it was still an ocean of white. But thanks John (and Patti?) for a lot of very clever cluing. And thanks for filling in the blanks Gary!
A fav:
2D OOZE. April 25th was the 70th anniversary of the publication in Nature of Watson & Cricks' seminal article on the structure of DNA, the stuff that defines the order of the amino acids in the proteins that make up our body and control our metabolism. Proteins and their mutations are (part of) the grist that drives the Darwinian evolution mill, although both amino acids and proteins were unknown at the time that his Origin of Species" was publish in 1859. I just finished a fascinating book about this discovery called The Secret of Life by Howard Markel. It turns out that there were lots of other people who made important contributions to this discovery, most especially X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin. I can best sum up the book with the Samuel Clemens' quote, "Anyone who likes sausage and respects the law, should never see either one of them being made!".
Not so fav:
11D MICROBREWS. I take my blood pressure every day. A year or so ago I started adding 2 tbsps of Kombucha powder to my 2 qt smoothy mix. Within a day my BP rose to above normal. I stopped adding the powder and my BP dropped to normal. My life hacks PRO TIPPER Teri did some research on the Internet and discovered that these teas do in fact elevate BP.
Cheers,
Bill
LEROUX brings back memories of Buddy who was a trainer for the Celtics and Redsox then maneuvered his way into ⅓ ownership with a 3rd string catch, Heywood Sullivan. Then they let Carlton Fisk go, then majority owner Mrs Yawkey let the two of them go
WC
Ps, it looks like this will be deemed a DIFFICULT Xword
All Saturdays seem to be that way. CBD saved me
Nope. I'm with you Waseeley on this one. Too many unknown names. Had to look up several. Did knowYES, and OOZE came quick since I knew Tenochtitian was AZTEC and DRIB added RUINS. The SW was fairly straightforward and the SW fell once RACEBIB filled.
Great puzzle, John. Thanks to Gary for the synopsis.
This was a challenge but ultimately do-able. I didn't at first parse the MCBATTLE with the MC for Masters of Ceremony in the rap world like MC Hammer - I thought it might be some McDonald's thing like McJob or McRib.
When I think of MIRA I think of the Oscar winning actress Sorvino
My husband has a whole collection of RACE BIBs from the marathons he has run- he keeps saying he is going to stop running marathons and just run half marathons- but then a friend will ask him to do one he hasn't done before for a special cause...... Next fall he's going to do the Marine Corps marathon in DC with our son.
Thanks HG - have you been enjoying parts of the NFL draft in KC on TV like I have?
Thanks for the challenge John!
I wonder if college football and bball will institute a draft. NFL could get by without it but colleges have no salary caps
Now THAT is a Saturday puzzle! Finally had to admit defeat and TITT. MCBATTLE, RUSSE, ERI, KOMBUCHA, TRE and more were not only not on my radar, but not even on the same planet! A real brain workout. Congrats to those who pulled it off! ECONOBOX: Back in the day we referred to 'em as P.
O.S.
A doable Saturday! (Something I never used to say)
Of course I had the red letters on, and beside a few whack a vowel places, I had a very enjoyable sussfest...
The Katherine Switzer picture piqued my curiosity. How did she get a registered numbered bib if women were not allowed?
see wiki entry under 1967 Boston marathon.
Very interesting...
Apologies to Wilbur Charles, I only saw your link after I had looked it up. Thought I would add the cleaner wiki entry link because the ads on my iPad from runner click pro were way too distracting.
Once again I agree with what IM wrote about “gotcha” misdirections. In addition sometimes CWs, as this one did, go out of their way to obfuscate with obscure, or rarely used, proper names and foreign phrases.
That said, this puzzle also has some clever clues such as HOTEL BAR or the Tesla reference.
I know Charlotte RUSSE as a dessert. Never heard of the store by that name.
Saturday toughie, but still fun--so, thanks, John. And always enjoy your helpful commentary, Gary, thanks for that too.
I hardly had to ask "WHERE AM I?" with this puzzle, since the place had a SAUNA and a HOTEL BAR where we could drink ICED TEA or LEMON-ADE, and had a chance to sit under a BONSAI TREE and REST, and listen to an AMFAM radio and place some WAGERS on bets. Hard to imagine a nicer weekend on a SUNNY day like this.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Not at all on or anywhere near the wavelength of this CW. After 30 minutes I was still looking at 3/4 empty cells. Gave up and starting Googling stuff I didn’t know…..which was most of this CW. Huge red swollen place on my forehead from the V-8 can hitting me after it took all perps to get SOLARPOWER, which even after it filled I had to think of the OTHER kind of juice before the V-8 can finally smashed into my forehead. Me, with the solar panels on my roof….. Oy. Far too many DNKs to list. Almost gave up, but persevered in the hopes maybe I would learn something via Google searches. Quite the challenge, JG. And Husker, thanx for the spectacular write-up. Now I’m gonna research Giant’s Causeway: looks interesting. My latest book, “What a Bee Knows”, about the lives of various kinds of bees, is also very interesting. I recommend it.
Typical Saturday disaster (definitely not IDIOT PROOF for this idiot)..Only got the SW half completed and gave up.
What kind of fruit "juice" finishes SOLA_ ?..Tesla was a SERB, oh. MIR_ ..., BASALTS..etc etc etc..
And.. never heard of MCBATTLE rap. Like the 2002 Eminem movie "8 Mile" ? (Wow that was over 20 years ago!!). Was looking for a car "roof top amenity for travelers".
Charlotte Rae? (too short) Brontë? (too long). RUSSE? Who?...."Airport north of PIT", 3 letters, that really narrows it down.... Ah, so that's why WEBBER wouldn't fit.
"Feijoada" what? DRIB?.. Had ECONOcar.
You'd think I'd learn the trick clue "Soccer center" by now, had CE_ D a long time b 4 the head slap...
Do a bike race again..RECYCLE
RENÉ Descartes, "I think therefore I'm a sweet potato"....YAM
"Rose, you seem more ired than usual, what's the ____?"... MADDER
Montezuma love songs....AZTECRUINS.
As I watched the first episode of "Citadel" last night with a posh elegant train speeding through the Italian Alps (TRE Cime) I was thinking, where were trains like that 40 years ago when I used to take that trip but then as a student I probably couldn't afford it anyway. Plus the old slower trains gave more time to appreciate the spectacular scenery 😀.
Musings
-That forbidding of the woman to run in Boston is reminiscent of times not that long ago.
-Lee, there doesn’t seem to be a bigger overblown event than the NFL Draft. Some high picks do very well but others bomb out with a big check in their pocket while late rounders do very well.
-I'll check up on the Chiefs' choices later today. Nine players got drafted before Patrick Mahomes.
Got the solve without having any fun at all.
Getting super tired of crossword authors/editors showing us how smart they are. Pathetic.
It was a slow struggle with revisits during the morning, but ultimately ending with a FIW. Six wrong squares. They included WAGs gone awry (MaRA, baSi instead of REST) and not catching that panel should be POWER. Good for you, Husker Gary, to avoid that trap! A challenging puzzle, John, but such satisfaction when writing in the right word! Wow!
Husker Gary, you explained my unknowns very well in your review. Thanks. I also knew Charlotte's RUSSE as a dessert. And I had a lucky WAG with MUSHER. SERB finally filled when enough perps insisted it couldn't be auto. So it went....
Hope everyone is enjoying your Saturday. We plan to take advantage of improving weather by taking a walk now.
DNF, Saturday par for me. Filled 36, all but ecar-->SERB correct (hi WC.)
TTP - My death trap car was a $100 Chevy Impala 4-door. It ran ok, but there wasn't a body panel that wasn't dented. Didn't look like one big accident, but a bunch of ouchies. All four headlights hung out of the grille by their wiring, but they all worked, making it legal (if unsafe) to drive at night. Then some spoil-sport decided an annual safety inspection would be a good idea.
To me, Owner of a Lonely Heart sounds more like Starship than Yes, although I like both groups. One of the best concerts I've ever been to was the Yes promotion tour for Tales from Topographic Oceans.
FLN: WC, I remember Post but not Jablowski. Also remember Johnny Edwards, Bob Purkey, Frank Robinson and Vada Pinson. My eldest sister's college roommate wanted to be called "Vada," because she was a big Reds fan, and Vada was her favorite player. I don't think ballot-stuffing is specific to the Reds - the last time I was in a ball park during all-star balloting season, the Dodgers encouraged fans to vote as many times as they could, with stacks of ballots available near every concession stand. I think the league loves it because the more ballots cast the bigger the sport seems.
CED @11:08 AM Thanks for the Switzer link. Very interesting. Despite my DNF I did learn a lot from this puzzle.
Misty @12:04 PM Loved your MADLIBS. They were a salve to my injured pride. 😂
Hi Y'all! Groan! No fun! Filled thanks to red-letters.
Thanks, Husker!
My KCK niece is fascinated by the NFL draft procedure. I am wondering what becomes of the monstrosity they build onto lovely Union Station after the draft is over. Looks like a big waste of money to me.
There was no way I could solve this puzzle without a lot of Googling. My reaction to many of the clues/answers after I finally unearthed them was, "Oh, um, well, okay then." As with Irish Miss, this puzzle lacked the pleasure factor.
Saturday Slog. Thanks for the exercise, John and HuskerG.
I had a sea of white in the NE and had to resort to Google. Finding BASALT, the L in LEROUX, the R in MADDER helped me to finish.
Hand up for ECAR before SERB, and not understanding MCBATTLE when it filled. (Like inanehiker, I thought of McRibs.)
ARON perped, but my Hebrew is lacking. Was that a clue from the Rev. John or from Patti? “Middle name of Elvis Presley” I would have ACEd.
I noted ERIC and ERI. (We didn’t cross the border for that airport or it might have been YYZ.)
ERIC had his career shortened by concussions.
61A is a J word today.
Wishing you all a great day.
Thanks, John, for your puzzling puzzle! The light bulb turned off and on many times today. FAV: RECYCLE and the other type of "juice".
In the end, I had a FIW with ECONOrOd...like in 'hot rod'. I did guess correctly at MIRA/MADDER. I only got one FREE PASS.
K. Switzer's achievement is even more impressive when you take into consideration they did not make women-specific running clothes or shoes back then. The chafing after 26.2 miles is no small thing.
Thank you, H-Gary for another impressive write-up!
FIW on so many levels
Unlike unclefred, I just hit the "reveal word" on the Across Lite menu - did this so often that the puzzle grid looks like it has the measles
Not gonna lie; this one had me totally bamboozled
Thanks to Husker Gary for clarifying today's Guzzetta PZL.
DNF, until I ventured four or more cheats. I felt a mismatch between clues and fills throughout.
~ OMK
____________
DR: One diagonal, far side.
Its anagram (12 of 15) seems to express the wishful dream of all the Malvolios--the anti-love (indeed, the anti-lust)--or Puritanical societies in our religious and cultural history.
I speak of those who would wish to see Cupid stripped of his very flesh and bone, those who would...
"EMACIATE EROS"!
Jinx, if you google for images of 1972 Toyota Corolla 2 door station wagon, you will see some pretty decent pictures of the ECONOBOX that I drove. It looks like an econobox. Mine was in pretty bad shape body wise, but the drive train, heater and radio worked fine. America wasn't quite ready and as accepting for those in the early 70's - until the gas shortage changed everything. I think I bought it for something like three or four hundred in 79. Much more expensive than your jalopy :>). Hey, whatever worked back then!
C.Moe, I saw the offer to sign up for YouTube Sunday NFL Ticket. I'm all in on that. I'm signing up early to get the deal for $349. Are you aware of it? I am so glad DirectTv is no longer required.
Re. NFL.. As patriots malingered and Brady came to Tampa I tried to root for both.
I've gradually lost interest in NFL. Golf and NBA are my new favorite.
Gambling has taken over NFL to the extent that they fire non football employees if they find them betting
BTW, you can bet on big gamer tournaments
WC
Charlie Echo @ 10:47 --
"Congrats to those who pulled it off! ECONOBOX: Back in the day we referred to 'em as P.O.S."
You mean Papa Oscar Sierra, right?
Michael @5:52
Affirmative!......as in "piece of s...."
Hi All!
Thanks John for the Saturday challenge but no dice. I got about half-filled before checking my grid and 1/4 was wrong. Oh, well - another "learning Saturday."
Thank you HG for the fine review and filling me in where I was hopeless.
Fav: YES - I own 90125 (that's the album name) on CD. Fav song at that album was Leave It.
//I was thrown by "Yes?" as the clue for AND.
I recall our 7th-grade teacher calling ECONOBOX's "rice burners." I think it was meant as a derogatory. Yet, he drove one.
MC / RAP Battles were big in the '80s. If you can put up with some language and want funny - Google Key & Peele Epic Rap Battles.
Glad to commiserate w/ y'all today.
Cheers, -T
I highly recommend visiting the Giant's Causeway on the Northern Ireland coast. As awe-inspiring as Stonehange and free to investigate. On the beautiful road to Belfast.
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