Saturday Themeless by Kate Chin Park
Kate is a custom furniture maker who is a proud non-whiz when it Originally from Spokane, she has lived in San Diego, Brooklyn, London, and Brooklyn again before settling down in Oakland. She began solving crosswords in 2019 and making them in 2021, and credits mentorship both formal and informal for her growth as a constructor. When not awash in words or sawdust, Kate loves to read, eat the food her partner cooks, snuggle with her hostile-to-everyone-else cat, and watch the Golden State Warriors. Here is her website
This puzzle was a fun exercise where I ended up where I started, the NE. Kate's grid is eye-catching with 108 open squares.
10. Best effort: A-GAME - I don't know about you but these Saturday puzzles take my A-GAME
15. Request for multifactor authentication?: ASK ANYONE 😀
16. Gurira who plays Okoye in the MCU: DANAI - 0 for 3. I did not know DANAI, Gurira or what MCU (Marvel Comic Universe) stood for. DANAI filled herself.
17. Collective noun?: PHILATELY 😀- Stamp collection finally hit me and then I stumbled through the spelling.
18. Choose to join: OPT IN - Philately is not a hobby to which I would OPT IN
19. Hook, in journalism lingo: LEDE - Don't bury the LEDE! 12/7/41 "Visibility will be very limited today as you look out over Pearl Harbor."
20. Quench: SATE.
22. Deadly septet: SINS.
23. Chicane shape, on some racetracks: ESS - A tight sequence of corners in alternate directions. Usually inserted into a circuit to slow the cars, often just before what had been a high-speed corner. We all know of chicanery but I was happy to learn this form of that root word.
24. "Well played": GOOD ONE.
27. Violent figure of Egyptian mythology: SET - Talk about yer Saturday cluing!
28. Explorer's code, hopefully: LEAVE NO TRACE.
30. Twisted: WRITHED.
32. Birthplace and subject of writer Vu Trong Phung: HANOI - This was pretty obvious after a letter or two
33. "Mais oui": BIEN SÛR: Granddaughter, who minored in French and just finished her first year of grad school in D.C., told me this means, OF COURSE.
34. Seneca Falls Convention figure: STANTON - Elizabeth Cady STANTON was a big part of this convention supporting women's suffrage.
36. Alpaca habitat: ANDES - Recently I told you of my former student who now lives in Colorado and makes hats of of the fleece of these animals that live mostly in the ANDES. This is Debbie's website: https://shoutoutcolorado.com/meet-deb-larsen-culig-from-design-marketing-advertising-executive-to-custom-hatter/
37. Tutsi or Hutu: RWANDAN - I once showed Hotel RWANDA as a substitute and I really learned of the barbarity between these two tribes.
38. Childish taunt: NEENER NEENER - Sheldon gets one from Stephen Hawking. Our lovely Lucina is polite enough to NOT send this to me in winter while I am freezing and she is luxuriating in the warmth of the desert.
41. Chats privately, briefly: DMS - Direct Message rather than a reply on social media.
42. Like some yoga socks: TOELESS.
43. FD employee: EMT - My friends son Grant, just became a fully certified EMT for the Bennington (NE) Fire Department, following in his dad's footsteps.
46. "Fortunately, the Milk" writer Gaiman: NEIL - Simon, deGrasse Tyson, Sedaka and the first man on the Moon did not make the Saturday cut.
48. Permafrost concern: MELT - Parts of the permafrost are melting under the AlCan highway which breaks up the roadway. Therefore some repair sections are getting insulation underneath to keep the ground colder and less susceptible to melting.
49. BBQ side: SLAW.
50. Scottish cattle: ANGUS - Some have made their way to this part of the world and fetch big money when sold at auction.
52. Immeasurable regions of the universe: DEEP SPACE - Voyager 1 left Earth in 1977 and it took 35 years for it to leave our solar system and enter interstellar space in 2012 even traveling at ~ten miles/second. Real time Voyager data after nearly 46 years in space.
55. Nosh: MUNCH.
56. Hall addition: ENSHRINEE and 21. Brian who said ambient music "must be as ignorable as it is interesting": ENO. Brian was an ENSHRINEE in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a part of Roxy Music in 2019.
57. Composition: ESSAY.
58. Waiting periods?: DOT DOT DOT ... - 8. Took off: UNLADED - We often see LADE as fill for filling up, so took off...
Down:
1. Tall, sappy type: MAPLE 😀
2. Clambake debris: ASHES.
3. Starts to slip: SKIDS.
4. Curly cruciferous commodity: KALE - Today I learned "chicane" and "cruciferous". The names have vanished already.
5. Garten of earthly delights: INA 😀 - Garten is chef INA's last name
6. "She Said" paper, briefly: NYT - The trailer for the movie based on two New York Times reporters who investigated Harvey Weinstein.
9. "Doogie Kamealoha, M.D." star __ Elizabeth Lee: PEYTON films on 25. Island with a state capital: OAHU. Peyton Manning and Peyton Place? Not so much on Saturday
10. Stir: ADO.
11. Breaks: GAPS - The famous Watergate tapes had an 18-minute GAP
12. Evil Christmas figure such as Krampus: ANTI-SANTA - I guess...
13. State cat in New England: MAINE COON.
14. "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" author: EINSTEIN - Oh, I see 😳
24. Prepares: GETS SET.
26. Some fracking byproducts: ETHANES - I suppose...
28. Summer material: LINEN.
29. Chilling episode?: R AND R - Rest and Relaxation
30. Vintage collections: WINE MENUS 😀
31. Logo overhauls, e.g.: REDESIGNS.
33. Label for some musicians?: 😀 BAND NAME.
34. Most satisfying, as a victory: SWEETEST - The Huskers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes last year after losing to them 7 games in a row. They were still 4 - 8 but still...
35. They may be fake: TANS - Yeah, I know...
37. Chile __: stuffed dish: RELLENO.
39. Bucharest's nat.: ROM - Irishman Bram Stoker based his Dracula character on ROMANIAN prince Vlad the Impaler
40. Cried out for: NEEDED.
43. Runner in ancient African cave art: ELAND - It's just a week after Mother's Day, so...
44. Funk saxophonist Parker: MACEO - My grandson Parker is named after jazz great Charlie "The Birdman" Parker not this gentleman.
45. Chirp: TWEET.
47. 2021 Pixar film that premiered at the Aquarium of Genoa: LUCA.
49. Rotisserie part: SPIT.
51. Protected by an icy exterior, perhaps: SHY.
53. Degree of difficulty?: 😀 PHD.
54. B'way sign: SRO.
56 comments:
Chuck Goodyear, in eighteen-thirty-nine
Discovered vulcanization just fine.
He called it a GOOD ONE,
With the GOO DONE,
Made tires his primary product line!
To the KALE said the MAPLE tree,
"If I drip some sap on thee
You'll be SWEET
For people to eat!"
Said the kale, "Don't you syrup me!"
{B, B.}
Good morning!
This one seemed to take forever, but it was actually only 20 minutes to the finish line. It finally came down to an alphabet run to get that M at the EMT/MACEO crossing. (FD must mean Fire Department. D'oh.) Thanx, Kate and Husker. (D-o doesn't understand "108 open squares"?)
"Cruciferous" : Sheldon had a noisy encounter with cruciferous vegetables.
PHILATELY: "Some have a hobby like tennis or PHILATELY. I've got a hobby, rereading Lady Chatterley. Tom Lehrer.
DNF, only looking at 4 across and 14 downs before deciding this one isn't for me. Next time I'll score a DNS, because I put Katie on my short "don't bother" constructors list.
d-o @5:49: An "open square" is a cell that doesn't border a black square, not even diagonally. EMT/MACEO perplexed me as well.
Funny how this puzzle features what I think is a GREAT 2-word "?" clue ("waiting periods?", best clue today by far) and a HORRIBLE one ("collective noun?"). You immediately understand that the answer has SOMETHING to do with SOME KIND of collection, and the cleverness of the "?" wordplay is completely gone. All you're left with is an INSANELY vague clue. The DOTDOTDOT clue actually gave me the "aha" moment that a clue like that is supposed to. You get that "periods" is in the punctuation sense and BAM, the clue suddenly makes sense AND pinpoints the answer perfectly.
And finally, the MAPLE clue was just a groaner. I think if you're going to use "type" to clue that, even on a Saturday, you should add a "?". "Tall, sappy one" would be just fine without the "?". Unless it's completely fair to refer to non-people as "types" in a Saturday clue and I just don't remember seeing it used that way.
TL;DR: If you want to go for a 2-word "?" clue, make sure the second word isn't "noun".
Welp, that’s 57 minutes and two seconds I’ll never get back…
Interesting challenge today - thank goodness for the verticals as the horizontals were a sea of white after my first run through
We have a lot of ANGUS beef cattle that are raised around here in Missouri
"She Said" the movie was well done and with one of my favorite actresses Carey Mulligan. Similar to "Bombshell" it highlights the brave women who spoke up through their trauma to bring Harvey Weinstein down.
On a lighter note, if any of you get Amazon Prime(or can do a pay per view), the movie "Air" with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Viola Davis about Nike landing a contract with Michael Jordan for a signature basketball shoe is a lot of fun to watch.
Thanks HG for the fun blog and Kate for the challenging puzzle
Not a fair puzzle.
Took 25:57 today. 10 minutes of that were in the top-left corner.
Fun in parts, not fun in others.
Got to run.
DNF. Philately, dms, enshrinee, and relleno,among my stumbling blocks. This was a brutal Saturday puzzle, hardest I've seen in a long time.
Not a fan!
Too many ______
Too much ______
Agree!!
Not a fan of this constructor. Some of the clues I felt were way out there.
Wow! What a toughie! I have to confess I did something that I haven’t done in a long time: I turned on the “red letters.” I kept trying to put “philatery* “ and that made “unladed*” impossible to get. So, no talk of “happiness “ today I’m afraid! More “chagrin “ than anything else! Subgenius out!
I was surprised I got as far as I did,
The Nw corner did me in...
SubG@9:36AM I am either you and the majority of the rest of our "collective" today. This was a tough puzzle!! NEENERNEENER???
Even after several lookups and verifications this onefailed to yield to logic. BANDNAME escaped me so I had iMS and lUNCH which with the other across made no sense.
I could continue this rant but that's enough. Even Gary had a tough time with the solution.
Gave myself an hour...too much stuff to do packed into a Saturday as usual...didn't do too bad...Lotsa lucky WAGS but DNF with 4 blank spaces in the SE.
Inkovers: snack/MUNCH (chronic error)
"Gurira who plays Okoye in the MCU" "Parker","Doogie" girl" "Chicane"? Are there more than one kyna ETHANE(s)? (A collective noun). I knew that AND (R AND R) "chilling episode" needed surrounding single letters but got stuck on "cold" or "scary" for a while. A SHY guy is "icy"? ENSHRINEE?? Yikes!! Plus a course in French 101 peut-être?
Liked the "tall sappy" MAPLE.
I keep forgetting it's MAINECOON not Mancoon. I've only seen one, sitting on a shop counter and it was enormous. You can now be refused service for MASKING UP. Part of my first practice we provided imaging for Seneca Falls Hospital in the mid 80's, like many small town facilities it closed years ago. Never had time to tour the Women's Rights Museum just a couple blocks away.
I have a PHILATELY limited collection of Italian colony stamps (African)...only issued during the colonial period of the second world War (now just where are they?)
What is "best effort" Ah-gah-meh? (Greek?) Oh A‐GAME!! 😄...sorry
"LUCA" a cute cartoon film about a Mediterranean boy sea monster.
Pay attention to symptoms.....READESIGNS
Too heavy to drag...TOELESS
You were helpful to singer Collins once but what have you done for _____ PHILATELY?
When Mom's sister dresses up on Christmas Eve...ANTISANTA
Off to the garden..those begonias aren't gonna plant themselves..🙄
Sorry, i am with you not "either".
WOS. A toughie. Where I could not guess a name, I gave myself permission to Google the individual. I’m just not up to date on new shows and movies. I did know STANTON, EINSTEIN, and NEIL.
For me too the NW was the last to fall. I left UNLADED, not knowing what it meant. At first I had bAcKING UP.
I don’t quite understand LEAVE NO TRACE for explorer’s code.
Lots of clever clues like WINE MENU, DOT DOT DOT.
That MAINE COON is a handful. Thanks for the photos HG. I was pleased with myself that I knew that answer.
Nope. Not even close. Poor clues, obscure answers, and a total fun sponge for me. I'm with Jinx on this one. Me 'at off to those of you who were able to persevere to an FIR on this hot mess!
I think I agree with many of the above comments. Not fun at all. DNF.
Enjoy the rest of the day even if you didn't enjoy the puzzle.
I've got to get back to baking bread. The dough has risen and it's time to go into the oven.
Thank you Kate for a Saturday challenge, to which I was not UP. The first thing I noticed was the Antarctic DESERT OF WHITE when I opened the grid. Anticipating a typical Saturday slog, I hadn't waited for today's Sun, instead printing off a copy of C.C.'s weekly gift and starting early. Despite my head start, after several hours I eventually had to TITT. That said, I REALLY liked this puzzle. It did have some P&P, but had I navigated all of the clever puns I might have at least gotten a DNF. This puzzle was definitely 52D worthy.
And thank you Husker for filling in all the blanks and showing me the ERROR of my ways.
Gotta go. It's time for my afternoon GAP!
Cheers,
Bill
p.s. to Husker. Happened to be out of town in Ohio last week and saw Huskers Baseball beat Penn State 5 - 2 on TV over lunch at Bennigans. Just re-checked the score and it looks like they swept the series.
Waseeley, there's still a Bennigans restaurant? I thought they had all closed. I used to enjoy their Eggs Bennigan brunch.
Hey it’s Saturday…that means a horribly clued puzzle that is a waste of time and effort.
I was going to list all those who agree, but that’s just about everyone.
I wish I could be a puzzle editor, no accountability while you run the grid into the ground.
Tante Nique @ 10:30 AM
Re: LEAVE NO TRACE
See Gary'ssign picture:
"Take nothing but pictures, Leave nothing but footprints"
IOW.. Don't alter what you've explored
I liked it. Guess I’m in the minority.
Liked it, too.
But couldn't do it w/o tons o' cheats.
~ OMK
____________
DR: 8x8.
Elizabeth Cady (not Lady) Stanton
I am delighted by the EINSTEIN clue, which was a gimme for this physics guy. I love telling people that title. Do people know what that short paper was about?
In two dozen pages it revolutionized our entire understanding of reality. Most of it can be read with just basic high school algebra. It is EINSTEIN's Special Theory of Relativity. It is a work of literature and art how he anticipated all of the impacts it would have on our world.
Most important: It is a warning that revolutionary ideas and information can come with a title that seems obscure and irrelevant to everyday life.
When we were in Paris in September, I visited the Pantheon.
Here you can see where VOLTAIRE is an ENSHRINEE
There are other notable ENSHRINEEs there.
From Yesterday:
Wilbur Charles Thanks for looking at my MUD People photo. It was such a memorable scene that it is now ENSHRINEd as a mural.
Ray-O @ 11:47. Of course. In fact I really liked that sign when I first read HG’s recap, but failed to associate it with the explorer clue. My mind said tourist. Thank you.
@jinx Her name is Kate.
Tough Saturday puzzle, but still fun--many thanks, Kate. And always enjoy your commentary, Gary, thanks for that too.
Well, ASK ANYONE, and they would probably tell you that MASKING UP when you play certain GAMEs is important. But I'm not sure I'd want to OPT IN.
Always nice to get food in a puzzle, and this one gave us a WINE MENU to go with our KALE and our SLAW.
But I bet for breakfast we had pancakes with MAPLE syrup, and other snacks to MUNCH, and hopefully the SWEETEST dessert.
Nice to see EINSTEIN in a puzzle.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Re Air: I am watching tonight. I went to high school (Kecoughtan High School, Hampton, VA) when “Howie” White led the b/ball team and 53 years on I remember what a great player he was.
Agree but got more than I expected after the run through.
Puzzling thoughts:
Too many cheats needed
43:00+ minutes needed (along with too many cheats)
Vintage collections = WINE MENU = my favorite clue/solve despite not getting it without a hint
NEIL and PEYTON as clued ... maybe, just maybe, the constructor/editor would allow a clue that includes the names from multiple generations
PGA Round Three and The Preakness Stakes will consume my sports-on-TV "fix" for today. I know that I was able to provide a "tip" for the Derby; the Preakness field is both too small and devoid of multiple horses who can win the race DOT DOT DOT but just watch; a longshot will probably prevail DOT DOT DOT so long as it's not Baffert's horse, I am fine
Aaarrrggghhh!!!! When PHILATELY got the stamp of approval I thought I FIR. But after correcting swahili I had ?WANDAN. I was so preoccupied with hopeless NW I never came back to fill the RW. I did grok the R and R* for the "Chilling" but the Chile was UNK
MAPLE was a beaut
Excuse! CBD smart pill took the full 10 hours of sleep to kick in. Ironically , I thought I could do without but NW said no
I thought of NHI*** for colkective when lanky seemed possible but YSS didn't work
I knew SET given the S(as in SIN)
BIEN SUR: Literally "Well said"
Duh, seeFire Department for FD(EMT). I see I left the M blank
And Manning didn't make the cut for PEYTON(as Gary noted)
Even the Turks were aghast at Vlad's mass impaling
So LUCA is not a Godfather prequel, eh
Both W's in my book, Buddy
TBBT: It might have been the Brussels sprouts
My son's friends ask "What's up with Phil lately?" Hi RayO
I coulda,shoulda,might
FIR after filling NW but failed to proofread what I'd filled "pre-CBD"
For me, a challenge but doable
WC
* Mine was spent in Sydney
BTW, Phillip turned 34 today
D-O @11:34 AM In Stuebenville, OH next to Franciscan University. We were there for my granddaughter's graduation. We had the Shrimp with Sriracha sauce for lunch.
Re. Fwanche: How about "Well sure(ly)" for Bien sur
Wilber Charles @3:18 *Both of mine (tour 1 & tour 2) were in Sydney. !!!!
GOOD ONE, Katie. Thank you! After a lot of work, I ended up with a 4-square FIW DOT DOT DOT which was better than I expected!
I sometimes watch the 9D TV show but had no idea what her real name is.
Last Sunday, 6D had NEENER NEENER in the clue. Coincidence??
I always appreciate your Saturday write-ups, H-Gary! So glad you are there to fill in the GAPS!
Hola!
Even for a Saturday this was too tough. I solved about 90& but could not come up with ASK ANYONE or PEYTON. I am unfamiliar with that show.
I really like the word WRITHED.
Of all the NEILs ........
I don't know how I could forget LUCA which was watched dozens of times by one of my granddaughters. But not by me!
RELLENO was my first fill. Yum, yum, yummy!
In all the years of doing yoga, never have I seen anyone wearing TOELESS socks!
Though I did not recognize the title EINSTEIN came to me immediately.
E-THANES must be digital Shakespearean characters.
LEAVE NO TRACE refers to tourists and others to clean up after themselves.
This was a fun Saturday puzzle but took me too long because I was watching cooking shows on PBS.
I hope your Saturday has been fun and enjoyable!
Owen
I really liked your poetry today!
This was, to be sure, a difficult puzzle. Much of it I could noodle out, but had to look up "Doogie Kamealoha, M.D." to find out who the heck __ Elizabeth Lee is and "Fortunately, the Milk" to find out who the heck that Gaiman person is. I didn't know DANAI, ANTI-SANTA (Krampus who???), LUCA, or MACEO but they filled in by themselves.
Like Ray-O, I have to ask, is there more than one kind of ETHANE? How can there be ETHANES?
A very tough, barely doable, puzzle.
Good reading you all.
Ha ha, Lucina, E-THANES! Good one!
I checked out Kate's website and noticed everything in her store is sold out.
8 down, UNLADED, still nags at me. Once a ship has been offloaded or unloaded it is UNLADEN. Husker...thoughts?
I agree 100% Charlie. But the N wouldn't fit so the horrible UNLADED it was. I had ran through the alphabet and rejected it but the 3 long across forced it
Charlie
Dictionary.com - LADE verb ARCHAIC - load (a ship or other vessel).
We've seen this use of LADE before and so UNLADE seemed okay when it struck me.
Jayce
Thank you. I wasn't sure anyone would even see that much less get it.
Lucina
-I saw your E-Thanes (e.g. of Cawdor) but I think you missed my compliment of you in my write-up for NEENER NEENER :-)
HGary
What a nice thing to say! I'm sorry I didn't comment earlier and no, I won't comment on our 80 degree weather when it is freezing in the northern parts.
Hi All:
Very late to the party 'cuz I took DW to the airport this morning and left my puzzle in the car. Didn't matter -- I was never going to finish Kate's mind-bender anyway.
Thanks HG for the learning day (yeah, what's a cruciferous? :-))
DNF but at least I got EMT, and DMS ;-)
Ray-O: I had 'snack' too. And it's still ink'd there :-(
I used to understand EINSTEINE's papers but I've lost the knack somewhere in the last 15 years.
Nice snap of the Voltaire statue, Picard.
Eldest & I went to They Might Be Giants' show tonight. It was great! Not only was the band fun but everyone around (and there was a mix of all walks of life #NerdCentral) where nice.
I met a lawyer with his son, a woman that's a HS Physics teacher, and a couple who met at a show back in college.
Oh, and the Merch (that's what the kids call SWAG) table had socks! -- I just had to.
Cheers, -T
Tough one, but finished correctly after several break periods.
Yes, this was one of the more challenging Saturday puzzles, which is exactly the way I like them. Only one cheat: NYT. But I had to take a long time to solve the rest. Thank you, Kate! Please send more!!
I got everything but ENSHRINEE :P
@Husker — of COURSE the NEIL clue wouldn’t be Simon/ Armstrong, et al; it’s a bleepin’ Saturday puzzle 🤣 And I kept wondering what th’ heck was a RAN DR…even after the fills took care of it. Duh!
====> Darren in L.A.
Post a Comment