Themeless Saturday by Matthew Stock
Our Gainesville, FL constructor who is a teacher that is now taking time to get a Masters gives us a puzzle that was very challenging for this humble solver. My delete key got a real workout in areas where I had confidently put down what turned out to be bad fills.
1. Hot: AFIRE.
6. III's nickname: TRE - TRE (tray) is a common nickname for someone who has III appended to their name.
9. Nintendo console with a GamePad: WIIU.
13. Waits: BIDES - My first thought was of Irish Miss and this wonderful song:
Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling,
It's you, it's you must go and I must BIDE.
14. Huevos __: RANCHEROS - You probably all know huevos is Spanish for eggs
17. Neural transmitters: AXONS.
18. "Both seem fine": EITHER ONE - Tuh MAY tow/Tuh MAH to
19. Lectures featured on NPR's "Radio Hour" podcast: TED TALKS.
21. Some WrestleMania venues: ARENAS - The wrestling is fake but the injuries are real. Google images at your leisure .
22. Afore: ERE.
23. Japanese stir-fried noodles: YAKISOBA.
25. "__ is life": SUCH or
27. Joins the chorus: SINGS.
28. Org. that might need to resolve wedge issues?: 😀 LPGA - Big clubs are important but wedges and putters determine championships.
32. Take turns before everyone else?: PLAYTEST - A new word for me that filled itself. Companies let gamers play new games and report bugs before the release.
34. Koteas of "Chicago P.D.": ELIAS - His IMDB, but I know this better as a middle name
35. Slots: SPACES.
36. Pore (over): OBSESS - Okay, I might do this on these write-ups... 😙
37. Cheers (up): PERKS - One look at our kitty does it for me
38. Some bunk mates: TWIN BEDS 😀
41. Bite one's nails, say: FRET.
42. Designer of Uma Thurman's iconic 1995 lavender chiffon Oscar gown: PRADA.
43. Bye line: TA TA.
45. "You could not be more right!": IT SURE IS and in modern slang: 38. "u right": TRU -Omitting the "E" is a shortcut? and 33. "Right on": YES - Slang of my college years unlike today's "u right".
48. Feature that may be opened with Ctrl+T: TAB - Last Saturday, we had 44. Paragraph opener: TAB.
49. Home of Venta Rapid, Europe's widest waterfall: LATVIA.
52. Mythical birds without feet that fly continuously from birth until death: MARTLETS - Yeah, I knew that. 😙
Heraldic brisure
54. Marketing group: E-MAIL LIST.
56. Eaglet home: AERIE.
57. Right hand: FIRST MATE - If you're a crossword devotee, you know Captain Hook's FIRST MATE
56. Eaglet home: AERIE.
57. Right hand: FIRST MATE - If you're a crossword devotee, you know Captain Hook's FIRST MATE
58. Magnate: BARON.
59. Crew: TEAM.
60. Short change?: MOD - MODify
61. In need of recharging: SPENT - My iPhone got to that status too fast and so I got a new battery two weeks ago.
Down:
1. Tapers off: ABATES.
2. Work in progress: FIXER UPPER.
3. "Well, paint me green and call me a pickle!": I DO DECLARE 😀 I love this!
4. Flat fee: RENT - An apartment in Britain that I'm sure comes with a loo and might have a lift to get to that floor.
5. Piece of one's mind?: ESSAY. 😀
6. "Live long and prosper" speaker, perhaps: TREKKIE - An homage to this character. MR SPOCK also fit.
7. Oatmeal topping, perhaps: RAISINS - Now if you want to talk cookies, Joann makes the very best oatmeal RAISIN variety.
8. Larynx-examining doc: ENT- He makes frequent house calls here
9. "Nothing more to do here": WE'RE ALL SET - Lady Mary and Countess Violet probably did not help much here.
10. Hotel room amenity: IRON - Recently this was clued as an original monopoly piece that has been eliminated.
11. Home of the NCAA's Gaels: IONA - A 22 minute drive NE of Yankee Stadium
15. __ theory: CHAOS - A famous explanation
16. Catnip, e.g.: HERB.
20. Stands the test of time: LASTS.
24. Mil. rank: SGT.
26. Computer-based civil disobedience: HACKTIVISM.
30. Place to get some air: GAS STATION 😀 It isn't always free.
31. Donkey: ASS.
34. Motion of the ocean: EBB.
35. Coverage plan abbr.: SPF.
36. For all to hear: ON AIR - ALOUD? Not so much.
39. Comes around on: WARMS TO - Our kitty will welcome you to pet her if she WARMS TO you.
40. Cooked up: IDEATED - A familiar cwd entry I have never heard/used.
42. Mass number: PSALM - CHANT? Not so much.
44. Neither here nor there: ABSENT.
46. Tip: TILT.
47. Wild guesses: STABS.
49. Not right?: LEFT.
50. Cognac confidante: AMIE - Cognac is a town in SW France.
51. Stanford basketball coach VanDerveer: TARA.
53. Logical omission: LEAP - Hasty vs timid
55. [Raises hand]: I AM - Who is eating lunch at school today?
31 comments:
A typical Saturday toughie, with lots of misdirection and obscurities. “Martlets,” for example, was pure ESP and I don’t know where I pulled “pied-a-terre” from. Anyway, through P&P (and lots of it) I managed to FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Got 'er done, but it took 20+ minutes -- longer than my patience normally lasts. Those horizontal stacked nines and vertical stacked tens were impressive. YAKISOBA? Really? Thanx, Matthew and Husker. (Hand up for that ALOUD trap.)
EITHER ONE: Dw's progression chez d-otto goes "Whatever," followed immediately by "Not that one!"
It took 56 minutes and 48 seconds, periodic use of red letters and one alphabet run, but I ultimately got it done.
Took 11:33 today.
Lots of unknowns. The bird, the crash pad, the proper names, etc. Somehow, it all came together.
Got to run.
This was s real toughie and I could not completed this puzzle without a lot of help …;-(
Thank you Matthew S for a very challenging puzzle and Thank you Husked Gary for the rational explanations and your alternates on your blog commentary.
Shouldn’t Pied A Terre. Have some indication that it is in a foreign or French language ??
Have a great rest of the weekend all you folks …;-)
Good Morning:
Hats off to those who finished, especially in DO's and SS's times. I did something I've never done before today: I threw in the towel when I was about 80-85 percent finished. I was too frustrated and too tired to continue the struggle and the P and P reservoir was empty. In all honesty, I think I have a mental block when I see Matthew's name because I haven't enjoyed his last several puzzles. I find his cluing either overly cutesy or deliberately more difficult than necessary. Apparently, this is my own personal failing, based on other's solving success.
Thanks, HG, for the usual sparkling, snazzy photos and commentary and for thinking of me with the beautifully poignant Danny Boy lyrics. ☘️
Have a great day.
DNF. SW did me in. Had to look up Tara, and once that fell into place all the rest there did as well. When I saw first mate, I did a head slap.
This was a toughie, and in the end had me beat.
I agree with everyone on the toughness of today's puzzle- It was nice to have a few areas here and there to help open up some sections like PIED A TERRE.
TARA VanDerveer was a gimme for me, as she has been head women's basketball coach at Stanford since 1985 and is the winningest coach in all of women's basketball and one of only 10 coaches (men or women's basketball) in NCAA Div 1 basketball to have over 1000 wins. Her story of what she had to do to break into basketball at the collegiate level as a high school/college player and then as a coach is interesting if you have the time to read her wiki article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_VanDerveer
Thanks Gary for the fun blog and to Matthew for the challenging puzzle!
Nope. Another CW just too tough for me. I did manage to get the upper half filled before I quit. I have never heard anyone say “mod” as a shortcut to “modify”. “PIEDATERRE” was right on the tip of my tongue (LOL). “MARTLETS” another total unknown. Then I filled ALOUD for 36D and it stayed there to totally thwart that whole area. Nope, and, um, nope. Thanx HG for explaining this for me totally impossible CW.
Have to agree this was ridiculously hard. Can't believe even young people would find this easy. I finished it in 35:37 only because I could red-letter about half of it at least for beginnings. I have trouble with the "sayings" that no one really says.
Wow! I was able to finish this wicked, wicked CW puzzle. Oops! I just looked again and saw that t of TREKKIE is missing. I could not figure out what III was. Was it Illinois abbreviated, but no since no period, so was it ILL. In retrospect It was abcious as a 3 but it still wouldn’t have helped.
Anyway, I loved this puzzle for some reason.
HG’s recap proved quite helpful.
Nothing easy about this one! Once I committed to PRADA in the mid-south, I was able to FIR. MARTLETS are new to me, and will likely be forgotten!
Didn't mean to be Anonymous at 11:12! -- NaomiZ
This one was way too tough for me today. After several cups of coffee, the SW was still a sea of white. Not even within reach of my wheelhouse, and finally TITT. Irish Miss perfectly summed up my take on this one, so I'll Echo her post. I have heard "MARTLET" before; It's what the British Navy called the Grumman F4F fighters they used during WWII.
I was going to just say “Thumper” and leave it at that. But Irish Miss’s comments so perfectly describe my feelings about this puzzle that I’m echoing her words instead.
We made a valiant group effort today, but Jack and I finally TITT in frustration, hitting the wall in the SW. In the future, we’ll probably give this constructor a pass.
Husker, thanks for the excellent tour. You saved this outing from being a total bust.
Got the solve, and without any good clues!
Because there weren’t many, and yet another sample of an author showing us how smart they are. As if.
PLAYTEST? He uses a word no one has seen AND makes it a “?” clue? Ugly.
Is this a horribly clued and edited crossword?
45A.
Hola!
So, I'm not alone in my frustration with this puzzle. I did about 75% then resorted to Google. I had PRADA in my mind for Uma's gown but LIU to make sure. The entire eastern side and most of the south were done but the NW was a bust mostly because I was tired and having to watch the Lightning Bug left me distracted.
Huevos RANCHEROS was, of course, my first fill. No one can make them like my mother did.
I have only recently started watching Chicago Fire so ELIAS Koteas is unknown to me.
LATVIA was on my bucket list but I never got there and likely never will.
Later.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
FIW, missing the Natick PIEDATaRRE x MARTLaTS. Lots of erasures, including aloud and USGA, twin boys for TWIN BEDS, hmo for SPF, hint for TILT, and hymnn (UNTIE!) for PSALM. Worked on this one in three sessions: 1) when Zoё woke me up at 0230, B) when I got up for good, and iii) after taking the car for my complimentary oil change at Honda, going to the RV to work on a couple of things, and making waffles for brunch after finding out our go-to brunch place was closed due to a plumbing problem.
Today is
NATIONAL SWEETEST DAY (nee National Candy Day)
NATIONAL PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE DAY (I’ll (crossword favorite) pass)
NATIONAL WITCH HAZEL DAY (I used to put this stuff on the tires of my slot cars to make them sticky and the car corner better)
NATIONAL WHOLE HOG BARBECUE DAY (I make mine by pulling Boston butt or pork tenderloin)
NATIONAL APPLE DAY (sorry, there isn’t any left for you - #lardbuttjinx)
NATIONAL REPTILE AWARENESS DAY (famous reptile Joran van der Sloot is back in the news)
I remember my buddy telling of being in Mexico and asking for Huevos RANCHERO and getting a blank look. "Ranch eggs, senor?" Whenever I stay in Mexico, I pick a hotel that has "presidente" in its name, which I think means "caters to Americans" in Spanish.
I remember ELIAS Koteas from the haunting, dark film Crash.
It's funny, but Uma doesn't LOOK like the devil, even when she wears PRADA.
OK, so the University of Kentucky taught Pitino how to coach championship college teams. But it's not the same as coaching an NBA team, so he failed at that. Then he came back to Kentucky, but at U. of Louisville this time. Won an NCAA championship there as well, becoming the first coach to win March Madness with two programs in the same state. Except not so fast - on further review, under his tenure players were paid cash bribes to play for him. Bzzzt - Forfeit the National Championship. Guess IONA doesn't mind a little corruption as long as the coach knows how to win.
I like a Saturday puzzle when I can finish more than half the fills before TITT. I filled it all today with only one guess, so I gotta love it even though I missed that guess.
Thanks to Matthew for allowing me to play today, and to H. Gary for the fun review.
OOPS! It's National Apple Day, but I read National Apple Pie Day. There are plenty of apples left for anyone who wants them. (But when it comes to apple pie, I can be rotten to the core.)
Jinx @ 2:37 ~ I believe Rick Pitino is now the coach at St. John's University in Queens.
Husker G brings us a Stock PZL.
The idea of the MARTLET gives us plenty to ponder. Whoever dreamt of such a critter was working overtime.
We must wonder how they reproduce, no?
But that thought makes us ponder in turn why we suppose feet are needed for mating...?
Just a lot of coordinated flapping, I suppose.
~ OMK
____________
DR: No diags. 8x8 = Black.
Thanks Matthew a Saturday challenge. I had to walk away from it FIR at least three times, but I finally got'er done. The cluing in this was very clever and I had to IDEATE quite a bit to untangle it all.
And thank you Husker for another elegant review. I was so relieved that your grid matched mine!
Some favs:
9A WII U. Knew WII, but not U, but USES clinched it. I think you have the same Swiss Army knife I do. I never leave home without mine, but next week we're planning to visit some museums and I'll have to leave it in the car. Most museums these days have metal detectors - you never know when you're going to come across a ROTHKO that drives you to HACKTIVISM!
27A SINGS. I sit up front in our Church and I sing real LOUD. The choir director has asked me to join the chorus, which sound like a bunch of pros to me. I'd have them all singing off key before the end of the first HYMN.
32A PLAY TEST. Computer games are just programs and everybody knows that programs have bugs.
52A MARTLETS. ESP. Very interesting etymology.
58A BARON. ROBBER didn't fit.
8D ENT. I thought they lived in Fanghorn Forest.
42D PSALM. The third number to be exact, following the COLLECT and the First Reading.
Cheers,
Bill
OMK !3:17 PM Snakes and dolphins don't need feet to do it.
IM, I could have sworn that just this spring, Pitino was saying how happy he was at Iona. At least he didn't have to move when he went to work for the Johnnies. (He lives on the famous Winged Foot golf course.)
I don't follow sports of any kind so I'm sure you all heard the loud sound of those clues/fill as they sailed right out to nowhere land.
Whew! The Lightning Bug finally lay down for a nap. I'm sure he is exhausted after tromping around all morning.
While watching QVC just for fun I saw some earrings similar to some I bought in Spain many years ago. Theirs claim to be 10K gold for several hundred dollars more than I paid for mine which are 18K gold.
When my jewelry was stolen many years ago by a relative she only took the diamonds and not the gold of which I'm sure she did not realize the value. I have since regretted that I kept my rings in a drawer for "safe keeping" instead of wearing them!
Jinx
Reptile awareness day? I wonder why since I am sure we all know about them. Of course, here in the desert the main reptiles we should be aware of and must avoid are the rattlesnakes! In the spring and summer they come out of hibernation as many hikers have discovered.
Too hard for me. My mind automatically whispered "Too cutesy" at several of the clues.
I took a break from this one 3 times before I finally filled the grid but still no 'YES' screen so I made a few tweaks and got 'er done. I don't consider that a FIR for me but it felt pretty good on such a difficult puzzle. Thanks, Matthew!
FAVs: Flat fee and clue for MOD
I did know today's foods but did not know PIED-A-TERRE nor MARTLETS. I see I am in good company with those.
Thank you to H-Gary for explaining things. I AM [Raises hand] happy to help out with any oatmeal RAISIN cookies Joann might have left-over.
FLN. Good to hear from you -T! Enjoy your trip!
Saturday Stumper. Thanks for the fun, Matthew and HuskerG.
I needed several Google helps to get an opening in some of my seas of white. The North filled fairly well, but the whole central area from sea to sea has inkblots.
Here’s another hand up for Aloud.
I’ve never heard of MARTLETS.
I had Hint for Tip; EMAIL LIST gave me Hilt, and I never corrected to TILT. (I left Oh SURE IS instead of IT.)
PSALM perped. I was thinking of atomic Mass.
This Canadian was so busy thinking of your HMOs and ACA that I have learned here, that I did not even try to figure our SPF when it perped. HuskerG’s sunscreen explanation left me shaking my head and laughing.
DH love Oatmeal Raisin cookies. Could I have Joann’s recipe please? Mine is not quite making the A list.
Wishing you all a good evening.
Lucina, I remember having to be extra careful of rattlers on golf courses when I lived in Phx. Many courses there have what they call "target" layouts, with large sections that aren't irrigated that often include snake warning signs at the edges. The intent of the reptile day is to promotes education, conservation, and appreciation for reptiles.
MARTLETS?? I thought they meant VARLETS.....
Proof of multidimensional life in crosswords:
1. Oscar attendees ever.
2. Ditto, for 1995.
3. Dress designers, ever.
4. Ditto for 1995.
5. Dress colors, ever.
6. Dress colors 1995.
7. Crossing with TRU and IDEATED.
So that is at least SEVEN different conceptual universes required to answer 42A. No wonder V-8 cans don't work transdimensionally!
The clue "Well, paint me green and call me a pickle!": I DO DECLARE was a particular highlight for me – it definitely brought a chuckle.
Hardest one ever, given the long fills, difficult clues, foreign words, proper names. I eventually resorted to all iPad allowed help for this one: errors in red, stopping the clock, haptic word select and internet look up — as supper got cold.
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