Themeless Saturday by Christopher Bolduc and Matthew Sewell
We have constructors here who have occupations that reflect every walk of life. Today we add that of an opera singer, Christopher Bolduc who is now based in Germany. He has performed at the Met and here is a sample of Christopher's incredible voice from a crossword favorite: Cosí Fan Tutte.
Matt wrote of himself: I am a native of New York and a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the Purchase College Conservatory of Music.
I have blogged six of Matt's previous Saturday themeless puzzles. Matt said: You can describe my job as being a professor of film and literature at Mankato State University. I've been doing administrative stuff in the dean's office for the last few years, but I'm resuming teaching in the fall.Christopher said of Matt: Matt is a brilliant guy; always thinking outside the box. He's also patient and kind. It was a pleasure to work with him on this one!
1. Focus of a Stockholm museum whose slogan is "Walk In. Dance Out.": ABBA - One feature is to become the fifth member of the group and sing karaoke with ABBA images moving in the background.
5. Kindles: WHETS - Bakery aromas kindle a keen desire for goods to be 41. Taken in: EATEN.
10. Stock expert?: CHEF - 😀 Yes, a chef would prepare stock for a dish
14. Do the honors, so to speak: POUR - If you have an expensive vintage, it is probably an honor to POUR it
15. Luau performances: HULAS - It's always great to get a gimme.
16. It may wind up on a fire truck: HOSE - 😀 I love the "wind up" part of the clue
17. Porch pirate deterrent, hopefully: RING CAMERA.
19. Foot part: ARCH.
20. "So I'm out of the running?": IS THAT A NO?
23. Grammy: NANA.
24. Lose interest in: TIRE OF.
26. USN officer: CDR - The ENS and ADM stayed below deck
27. Phanerozoic __: EON - Yeah, I'm the only one who first put ERA.😏
28. R-V hookup?: STU - 😀 R S T U V
29. Question of motive: WHY EVEN BOTHER. 33. Iterative testing method: TRIAL AND ERROR.
34. Buy time?: SHOPPING SPREE 😀 A very fun use of the word "buy"
35. Egg layer: HEN.
36. Anatomical foot: PES.
37. "Succession" family name: ROY - The ROY family tree
38. Overwhelm: ENGULF.
40. Vibe: FEEL.
45. Impromptu screwdriver: DIME - Been there, used that
46. Summit result, maybe: PEACE PLAN - A very famous one in 1945
48. Best Picture of 2021: CODA - Reviews
49. Very loud, in music: FORTISSIMO - A nice long gimme for me
50. Gender-neutral possessive: ONE'S.
51. Wide-ly read works?: TOMES - 😀 Fun cluing for an old crossword standard
52. Tub: SCOW - I associate this vessel with NYC garbage transporters
53. Some read-athon fundraising gps.: PTAS.
54. Bellyache: WHINE.
Down:
1. New Beer's Eve month: APRIL - April 7th is designated as National Beer Day so... I had no idea but a five-letter month starting with an "A" was pretty obvious.
2. Snake River tributary: BOISE.
3. Some sacrifices: BUNTS - The bunter gives herself up as she is usually thrown out to move a runner to the next base
5. "Whew!": WHAT A RELIEF - Do you remember?
6. Like Peter Quill of the Guardians of the Galaxy, in part: HUMAN - He is said to be the progeny of a human and a "celestial" 🤔
7. Novelist Ferrante: ELENA - Elena uses a pseudonym for her novels and remains an anonymous Italian writer.
8. Oceanic staple: TARO - Mash these roots with steamed water and you have Hawaiian poi.
9. U.S. ID issuer: SSA - Grace D. Owen of Concord, NH got the first card from the SSA: 001-01-0001 in 1936.
10. Orchestra position: CHAIR - It's a coveted honor to be first CHAIR.
11. Classroom setup that facilitates group discussions: HORSESHOE.
12. Micromobility option: E-SCOOTER - In Lincoln, NE
13. Dismissive syllable: FEH - Not MEH it turns out
18. Red shade: CANDY APPLE - My dream car.
21. Spare parts?: MINOR ROLES - In honor of our dearly missed Boomer, I put MISSED PINS.
24. Exact words?: TO BE PRECISE - Well, what did you mean?
25. Faux __: FUR - Sure, I put PAS first
26. Unwanted crack in crackleware: CHIP - Ceramic ware with definite cracks in the glaze
27. Fades to black: ENDS - As the hero rides off into the sunset
29. Delusion: WRONG IDEA - Dr. Bailey had the WRONG IDEA about this crossword solve (a fun 2:21 video):
30. Triple Crown of Surfing sponsor: VANS.
31. Class that may be lit: ENG A list of possible books for this course
32. Small club, maybe: TREY.
33. "Fine, be lazy": THEN DON'T.
34. __ shed: SHE - Here's 26 examples
39. Sch. near Emily Dickinson's home: UMASS.
40. Physics Nobelist of 1938: FERMI - He and his team made the first self-sustaining atomic nuclear fission reaction which made the construction of the atomic bomb possible.
42. "The __ Network": Kate Quinn novel about women spies: ALICE.
43. Island nation whose flag features the Southern Cross: SAMOA - Bonus: The Southern Cross by CSN, a favorite of mine.
44. Is hip to: KNOWS.
46. Bear with a "Thotful Spot": POOH.
47. "C'mere!": PSST.
48. "Blue Bloods" extra: COP.
49. Celebratory initialism: FTW - If you knew the Alka Seltzer tag line, you probably know, "I'll take Barbara Eden FOR THE WIN."
36 comments:
April and ALICE from BOISE
Discussed how boys were so noisy.
They came to conclusion
It was just an illusion,
Because their brains rattled round like a BB!
WHAT A RELIEF when the dice
Say your roleplaying hero hit twice!
But your sword went awry --
So say the die --
Twas the damsel you hit, TO BE PRECISE!
{B+, A.}
Another Saturday toughie. I guess that’s “par for the course.” And, yes, I eventually solved this puzzle. However, at the end I didn’t get the “turn-over” that meant success. I couldn’t find my error, and I gave into the temptation to turn on the “red letters.” In doing that, I discovered a phrase that didn’t make sense. When I corrected it, suddenly I had “CODA” instead of “Cora” and the puzzle finally fell into place. So I managed to FIR at the end, but not without help. So I’m happy, but humbled if that makes sense. Sorry for the long-windiness, but I felt I should explain my process. Blessings!
Good morning!
It was the short answers that ruined my day. Yes, d-o fell into the ERA and PAS traps. Tried OURS before ONES. My china had a FLAW. My screwdriver was a COIN. My small club was a TREE. Got FTW, but couldn't remember what it meant. The fatal stumble was the CH__ stock expert. Guessed the E, but couldn't see the F. FEH? What? I say FIE on that. Bzzzzzt. This turned into a real workout, but I can't say it was fun. Thanx, Christopher, Matthew, and Husker.
Nope. Couldn’t even cheat my way to a fill. For instance, I Googled “Best Picture of 2021” and Google told me it was “Nomadland”. Well, how’s that gonna fit in four cells? And so it went for this CW. My guesses were all wrong. “Gender neutral possessive” = OURS, right? Nope. “Phanerozoic _” = ERA, right? Nope. And so it went. A total failure for me today. Forget it.
DNF. Actually, it was closer to a DNS. Filled 20 entries, 18 correctly. At least I didn't linger.
The Southern Cross is one of my favorite CSN tunes. It supposedly was the sad story of the reset sailing trip Stills took following his divorce from the love of his life. It also gave us some potential odd fill: A-DYING and A-FLYING". (Jimmy Buffett does a fine cover of this tune, too.)
It took quite some time to find a foothold, but I finally found one with Trial and Error. That led to more and more correct answers. But eventually I hit the inevitable, proverbial Saturday brick wall, and I had to resort to red slashes to finish.
GRR, I thought mEH was solid and left CHEM for the stock expert. I also blew "small club" never thinking of poker and the family name could have been ROe. Yes, tree is a very big club
So I'm two box Wilbur today(again). Oops, there's another one: PEd/PES; I guess the surfer co. Is VANS
I had coin/DIME;mine/OurS/ONES;pas/FUR;dims/ENDS;emt/COP
Two of the GA xword clues:ANDES, MARS we just had recently(unless it was the other xword)
I can't believe I needed ESP for Emily's UMASS(but I knew FERMI)
I struggled like y'all but got the corners before going to the CBD smart pill(not quite smart enough to FIR)
WC
This was a slow and steady solve- WEES about easy answers that were wrong and needed to be changed.
CC is a big fan of MISO
I really enjoyed CODA about a teen who loves music but is a Child Of Deaf Adults - she loves music and her parents don't understand it
I would recommend "The Alice Network" for the readers and history buffs in the group
Thanks HG - loved the link to CSN's "Southern Cross" CSN +/- Y is the music of my life.
Thanks to Christopher & Matthew for the puzzle
I was surprised to see Feh! That word was used by my great grandmother who spoke Yiddish.
FIW. Had meh instead of feh, which made no sense with chem. I never would use FTW so that was an unknown, but guessed tomes.
And the clue for 48A being best picture of 2021 is just wrong. It was Nomadland. What gives? Do we now just make stuff up to create fill?
When 1a & 5a + all their associated perps were incomprehensible (to me) I chickened out, thinking "this is way above my pay grade..."
But I still had fun reading the review, so I will leave you with,
52 tub:scow. Ghe Enterprise? A garbage Scow? revisited...
Petrichor!
oh wait,! There's more!
KS, CODA was on March 27,2022 awarded the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2021, so the clue was correct. It opened at Sundance in January 2021 and was released by Netflix that August.
Sorry, theaters and Apple TV+, not Netflix
DNF. I was missing the extreme NE. I had meh, couldn’t imagine FEH, and wrote in a SCOOTER.
Yea, got trapped by era and pas, but the FUR surfaced pretty quickly.
I long had WHY EVEr BOTHER.
All in all I liked this CW. It gave me a work out but that’s to be expected for Saturday.
HG cleared up some total unknowns like FTW and VANS.
Good Morning:
I managed to finish w/o help but it took just shy of an hour and every ounce of P and P that I possess. My feelings upon completion were a mixture of relief and mental exhaustion. On the positive side, there were many outstanding clues and fresh, lively fill but, overall, IMO, there were too many unknowns and several ambiguous clues which delayed gaining any meaningful toeholds to ease the solve, to wit, those for Feh, Fur, and Eon, to name a few. I know, expect and relish difficult Saturday puzzles but sometimes cleverness of the constructor overshadows fairness to the solver.
Thanks, Christopher and Matthew, and thanks, HG, for your always fair, upbeat review and sparkling eye candy visuals. Loved the “Read The Room” comic! 🤣
Have a great day.
FLN Sumdaze.
I watched BB when it first aired, then BCS afterwards. I liked that order, which of course was not my choice since BCS was not even made when I watched BB, because as I watched BCS I could detect episodes and characters that were minor in BB but featured in BCS, like the “Chicken Man” and especially Mike Ehrmantraut.
BCS is a tragedy in the Greek sense. Jimmy is such a flawed character yet we can’t help but want to root for him.
DNF. Southeast remained a sea of white. Could get no traction there. Clues today were definitely not on the same wavelength as I was. Had to wait for HGs explanations for a LOT of 'em. Can't say that I enjoyed this puzzle, but thanks, HG, for the taste of CSNY. I'm going to head back down that rabbit hole now!
No WHINE from me today. And don't get the WRONG IDEA, it was a FIR but in two sessions. The NW and SE filled in a normal Saturday time but the SW, NE, and center was all white except for CANDY APPLE, SHE Shed, and a guess of TREY. So I went to the gym. Then my brain went into gear and changed some thoughts. ADM to CDR, COIN to DIME, POD to PED to finally PES, OURS to ONES, and STU to FUR.
Then there were the unknowns- CODA, ROY, Crackware and CHIP, HUMAN, ELENA, VANS, ALICE network, and the dumbest fill I've ever seen-FEH. Other than the Irish pro golfer David Feherty, what is a word that has 'feh' as a syllable? I can't think of one.
Anon@8:06- I don't speak Yiddish.
APRIL & ABBA were just guesses for 1D & 1A- as was LES
FTW- 'for the win'? I've heard and seen others but not that one and they end in "The World".
EON- knew it wasn't ERA; only four named eras- PreCambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic.
PEACE PLAN- Churchill and FDR wanted peace but Stalin had other ideas. He also had their rooms bugged in Yalta.
Saturday toughie, but still, many thanks, Christopher and Matthew. And always enjoy your helpful commentary, Gary, thanks for that too.
Well, this puzzle began by warning us that we'd be facing some TRIAL AND ERROR moments and were in danger of often having the WRONG IDEA, making us feel like WHY EVEN BOTHER?
But after a while we started to get some MINOR ROLES for answers and a PEACE PLAN began to appear, and soon we stopped our WHINE were panting WHAT A RELIEF!
No time to go on a SHOPPING SPREE and too early to get some snacks from a CHEF, so had to scout around for some MISO stuff and some TEAS--not the best breakfast ever but, hey, we survived.
Have a great Sunday tomorrow.
There were clues? I thought clues were supposed to help you solve.
Getting real tired of authors and editors showing me how smart they are.
If you’re playing on Saturday, you’re smart too. Be patient. Someone reminded us once that this is only a game. And a chance to learn (although I agree that today’s puzzle was more frustration than usual). Good luck!
Maybe I have just gotten crabbier during this past year or so. Maybe more jaded. Maybe my whole attitude toward the LA Times crossword puzzle has fundamentally changed. I don't know what it is, but something (in myself?) is different from what I recall things being like a year ago. Perhaps a year ago I would have said I liked this puzzle and that it was well-constructed and fair, albeit difficult. Today I simply cannot dredge up that level of enthusiasm. Meh, I say. And Feh!?!?! Too much of a slog and not enough "well that was cool" retrospect after completing it. FTW???? Not a "W" when I have to resort to Google for 50% or more of the answers.
I'll rearrange FTW into WTF, since that is what I thought multiple times while reading the clues in this puzzle. "WTF are they talking about?" Examples include:
"So I'm out of the running?"
Question of motive
"Try me"
Summit result, maybe
Some read-athon fundraising gps.
Some sacrifices
"Whew!"
Oceanic staple
Micromobility option
Unwanted crack in crackleware
Triple Crown of Surfing sponsor
"Fine, be lazy"
"C'mere!"
Celebratory initialism.
HUSKER GARY guides us today, as we test ourselves on a Bolduc/Sewell XWD.
This started off well at 1A. Surely, any XWD clue that includes "Stockholm" (or Sweden) must lead to either ABBA or IKEA.
Bang! We're on board!
The NW was relatively EZ. Moving into the top center was also pretty breezy. After that, things grew spotty. Good fortune here and there, but momentum was lost.
Still, a pleasurable PZL, well clued, very likable...
~ OMK
___________
DR: Four diagonals, three on the far side.
But it is the near side single diagonal that gives us the anagram (11 of 15) for today.
This phrase seems to befit a sermon by the preacher at the start of Moby Dick (played in the movie by Orson Welles), regarding how his congregants should handle their moral transgressions.
"'Twould be a wise thing, shipmates," he might say, "to...
"HARPOON SINS"!
Jayce, FWIW...
I never could do the Saturday puzzles... always to hard for me...
(So, for me, at least I have company...)
Do what I do,
Go to the blog and post silly things...
exhibit A
WHEW! Saturday struggle. DNF in Texas. I had "care" for the bear. Finally TITT.
Thanks to Christopher & Matt for stretching my brain. FAV: Some sacrifices
I still do not understand 28A. Anybody???
Tante Nique @ 10:52. Agreed!
Thank you for showing us the way today, H-Gary! Every Saturday you make it seem so obvious.
sumdaze, the letters STU "hook up" or connect the letters R and V.
l,m,n,o,p,q,R,S,T,U,V,w,x,y,z.
CED, I loved that "exhibit A" cartoon. Thanks.
Thanks Jayce@5:08PM! D'OH!
Hola!
I worked on this while watching David Attenborough's WONDERFUL series on nature! I love his work! So of course, it took me several hours of not concentrating. But little by little, letter by letter I inched my way to the END. It was definitely TRIAL AND ERROR as witnessed by the glowing wite-out throughout the grid.
E SCOOTER? Why? Flying through the air?
Yes, count me in for faux PAS. Finally I had to look up and discover all my errors!
However, I loved the clue, class that may be lit, ENG.
I have no idea what the triple crown of surfing is but had the clue been, favorite footwear of teenagers, I would have immediately known VANS attested to by the many trips to the VANS store I've made to purchase those!
TRIAL AND ERROR came to me as soon as I had TRIAL.
SHE shed I know thanks to that ubiquitous commercial.
Most humorous clue? impromptu screwdriver: DIME
Thank ;you, Christopher and Matthew!
I hope you are all enjoying your day. Happy FATHER'S Day tomorrow!
DNF today thanks to shooting myself in the foot. Like others I put faux PAS but I never reconsidered it or thought of FUR. I put WHY EVEN dO THat and thought it was solid fill. I put RaY and left it in spite of being totally ignorant of the series and characters.
I did choose EON over Era, and figured out STU could be the tricky fill for R-V hookup but it didn't work with PAS so that was a problem. Other than that troublesome section, I did manage to muddle through the rest. I count that as a partial success on such a puzzling puzzle.
Thanks Christopher, Matthew, and Husker Gary for a challenging morning and the helpful review. Learning moment for me was PHANEROZOIC, a word I don't remember encountering in college geology. And my favorite fill was ABBA, which surprised me. I had thought of IKEA but perps said no.
Busy afternoon on a SHOPPING SPREE during which I had more success than with this puzzle. Onto Sunday and a Father's Day lunch with family after some early work on the puzzle.
I believe Christopher Bolduc is a better opera singer than a crossword constructor. His aria from Cosi von Tutte is superb!
For some reason the sound is off on my computer. I'll have to wait until my granddaughter can look at it.
Manny's acquisition by Dan Duquette was seen as a poison pill by new ownership.
Thus, despite leading the Sox to two WS wins they hounded him out of town. Then Luchino hired a recovering addict onto the nightly Sports Talk show with the proviso that he bash Manny every hour on the hour
At first I mixed up MITTY with Bartleby the Scrivener(Melville). 100 years apart
The ASS is a revered creature in the bible. Jesus road one on Palm Sunday(as YR pointed out) and of course Balaam's gave him faithful service but was whipped as he/she was warning about dire peril ahead
LeBron, no but Michael was cut from JVs(late growth spurt I presume)
FIR and -T as blog master caught new by surprise though I suspected it wasn't CC
And, per usual I was late obtaining the Sunday TBTimes but at least the xword went quickly(FIR)
WC
I had to leave and come back to this one. I was able to finish but fell victim to Meh and missed the Y in Roy as I had never seen the show.
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