Saturday Themeless by Annemarie Brethauer and Katie Hale.
A previous collaboration on a Saturday (7/1/23) themeless I blogged from Annemarie and Katie. I flew through the top of this puzzle with just a few missing cells and then the work began.
The two red cells show Naticks for me that appeared when simple fill, STEAM and SIRI, were replaced by obscure cluing.
Across:
1. Start of communications with NATO: ALFA
5. Building blocks: ABCS.
9. Seacrest vehicle, familiarly: IDOL.
13. Baby hippo: CALF.
14. Studio Ghibli's animated fuzz ball: SOOT SPRITE - Okay...
17. Rhyming song that's acted out: I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT - We've all done this one!
19. Fanning of "Coraline": DAKOTA.
20. Uber CEO Khosrowshahi: DARA - I got the first "A" in DARA out of nowhere without reasonable cluing for STEAM.
21. Article in a French periodical: LES - Yeah, I thought of La Monde first.
22. In: AMID.
24. Some shortcuts: MACROS - A set of keystrokes you define and use to do a bigger task
24. Some shortcuts: MACROS - A set of keystrokes you define and use to do a bigger task
26. "I'm late!": GOTTA RUN.
30. Overflow (with): TEEM.
31. "Ew, no": UGH.
32. Doner __: Turkish dish: KEBAB.
34. Gems formed by silica deposits: OPALS.
37. Get up: ARISE.
39. Valuable diamond, say: ACE 😀 Yes, I have heard of a diamond being called ICE, but...
37. Get up: ARISE.
39. Valuable diamond, say: ACE 😀 Yes, I have heard of a diamond being called ICE, but...
40. "Ask anyone else": NOT IT - I struggled with this and asked a few peeps including Irish Miss but I came back to my original idea. This fun clip seems to reenforce the idea of how every game of "Tag" I've ever played started.
41. Change: CENTS - I never seem to have any coins with me any more
42. Fuming: IRATE - The Detroit Lions coach after the referees disallowed a play that would have won the game.
42. Fuming: IRATE - The Detroit Lions coach after the referees disallowed a play that would have won the game.
44. Shiba __: INU - New to me but a beautiful looking dog
45. Meet face-to-face?: KISS. 😗
47. Magnified: ENHANCED - Sorry ENLARGED, not today
49. Pro who worked with Magic: KAREEM.
47. Magnified: ENHANCED - Sorry ENLARGED, not today
49. Pro who worked with Magic: KAREEM.
 |
| Magic Johnson KAREEM Abdul Jabar |
51. "Memories of the Future" author Hustvedt: SIRI crossing 33. Part of a full English breakfast: BEANS. Saturday cluing for common fill.
52. Cribbage piece: PEG - My dad and his brothers could never find the PEGS that went with their very old Cribbage board and so they used matchsticks.
53. Just so: NEAT - Major Frank Burns took great pride in using a string to line up the condiments on the mess hall tables.
53. Just so: NEAT - Major Frank Burns took great pride in using a string to line up the condiments on the mess hall tables.
55. Figure in a Clement Clarke Moore poem: ST NICK.
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be ST. NICK
59. First play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway: A RAISIN IN THE SUN.
62. Many a Gillian Flynn work: CRIME NOVEL.
63. Gladys Knight, for one: ALTO - I can't pick a favorite but Midnight Train To Georgia is right up there.
65. Used cars?: RODE - Used is a verb here.
66. With 57-Down, rom-com trope: MEET and 57. See 66-Across: CUTE - Name the wonderful 90-yr-old rom-com with this CUTE MEET: Runaway heiress is forced to share a bus seat with an unemployed journalist. (*answer below)
Down:
1. Rock type: ACID.
2. Dharma teacher: LAMA - What is Dharma?
3. Barrage of criticism: FLAK - If you want a barrage of FLAK, run for public office
4. Solvent: AFLOAT.
5. "Easter Parade" star: ASTAIRE - Fred and sister Adele's birth home in South Omaha.
6. Spam maker: BOT - They can fill up your computer in a hurry
7. Dispassionate: COLD.
8. Video game distribution platform: STEAM - There is common and even clever cluing for STEAM but this was "off the rails" obscure for me when I needed it for SOOT SPRITE and DARA.
9. A Gershwin: IRA - 'S wonderful, 'S marvelous that IRA set wonderful lyrics to brother George's music. BTW, I can understand if you don't get the odd words in the previous sentence.😀
10. Strategically polite: DIPLOMATIC.
11. Chiwere speakers: OTOES.
12. "I'm down": LET'S.
15. Classic Fender, for short: STRAT - A Fender STRATocaster
16. Message on some holiday cards: PEACE ON EARTH.
18. "That tracks": IT MAKES SENSE.
23. Home of the Museum of the Future: DUBAI.
25. Default action, informally: REPO
26. Quick dip?: GUAC.
27. Princess Fiona, after sunset: OGRE.
28. "Nope": THINK AGAIN.
29. Mother-of-pearl: NACRE.
29. Mother-of-pearl: NACRE.
35. Stick figure's torso: LINE
38. Mix: STIR.
43. Symbol of Scotland: THISTLE.
46. Receive: SEE IN - Remember movie ushers?
48. Starting hr. for some: NINE AM - School always started before EIGHT AM and I was always there before 7 AM.
49. Gymnast Strug: KERRI - KERRI supplied one of the guttiest performances I have ever seen in the 1994 Olympics!
50. Estate: MANOR.
52. Accord: PACT.
54. Late show broadcaster?: TIVO - Before we had our own recorders.
56. "__ of Dogs": Wes Anderson film: ISLE.
58. Bedhead problem: KNOT - Yikes!
60. Cyberchats: IMS - Internet Messages - I like how they give you time to consider an answer.
61. Composer Rorem: NED - NED Flanders from The Simpsons gets the day off
*The classic movie with the rom-com CUTE MEET on the bus that I mentioned above
98% good -
ReplyDeleteBut I just couldn’t get “soot sprite” and “steam” for some reason. So FIW. I can’t say I’m happy about that, but I am happy I got as much as I did. Subgenius out!
By the way, what I didn’t mention was that Husker Gary seems to have had the same problem I did! What about the rest of you? Did you do better than Gary and I did?
ReplyDeleteFIW, missing with CaLm and SpEiM x SOapSPRITE and miRA.
ReplyDeleteToday is:
HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY (the “from the river to the sea” chanters favor another Holocaust)
NATIONAL SEED SWAP DAY (no, no, no. Not a mix-up at the sperm bank. Think gardening)
NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CAKE DAY (add “German” into the title, and I’ll take two)
VIETNAM PEACE DAY (I saw a tee shirt once that declared “Vietnam games – First Runner-up”)
NATIONAL FRUITCAKE TOSS DAY (what else would one do with them, except regift)
Yeah, I erased "enlarged" too. What - nobody else had to erase Pipp for ALTO?
H.Gary, I grew up thinking IRA's lyrics were It's delightful, it's delovely, it's DeSoto. DNK that (crossword-favorite) ELLA made the real lyrics famous.
TIVOs don't broadcast anything. They can capture broadcast TV and narrowcast it to your device. Unnecessary bad clue.
I tried to make a three-letter name for Hormel, maker of SPAM. Their NYSE symbol is HRL, but that wouldn't work. Then the BOT arrived.
Even though I almost got this Saturday Special, I didn't much enjoy my work. We should emulate the movies, and have a rating system. This one would be CG50 - people over 50 must have child guidance when working this puzzle.
Thanks to H.Gary for the fun review.
I think the TIVO clue idea is that, after recording, it’ll “broadcast” the show late-r…maybe?? ===> Darren
DeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteYay, d-o managed a Saturday pzl. That's become a rare occurence of late. Finished with, "Well STEAM is a word..." and came here for my comeuppance. Comforting to see that the confluence of SOOT SPRITE, STEAM, and DARA stymied others, too. Thanx, Anne Marie, Katie, and Husker.
My outcome was exactly the same as Subgenius. I ripped through this puzzle in record time, but I just couldn’t get 8 Down and 20 across. Only the use of red letters got me over the finish line.
ReplyDeleteGarland instead of Astaire as my first fill in made for a messy, but eventually successful, morning. Knew Pip only had two p’s and that Gladys wasn’t a Pip…😊
ReplyDeleteA very easy, until it wasn't, Saturday puzzle. It took two WAG letters to fill the SOOT SPRITE, STEAM, DARA area- no previous knowledge of any of those. Could have been A,E,I,O, or U for the vowel for DARA and SC, SL, SM, SN, SP, or ST for SOOT. No video games around my house or 'animated fuzz balls either. 100% perps and still don't know them.
ReplyDeleteLES Monde I knew; LES Echos- nope
KEBAB or KABAB or KABOB or KEBOB- you never know
Shiba I-NU (sounded I knew?). NO, I didn't know but the perps did
Ditto for SIRI Hustvedt
Never heard the term "That tracks" and IT MAKEs no SENSE to me
Did my income taxes last night and had to include the RMDs from IRAs. The IRS wants your money and they will eventually get it.
Gary, "I Heard IT Through The Grapevine" you will one of Gladys' new Pips on her next show. With his dance moves people will call him the STUD.
FIR, but only because of a WAG for steam and soot sprite. Still have no idea about either. What is steam, someone please tell me.
ReplyDeleteI really thought I had this puzzle knocked when I threw down the long answers at 17A and 59A. But then the struggle began. So many arcane clues and unknowns, it looked for a while like a hopeless cause.
It is pure luck that I finished it.
Steam is a lot like the App Store or Google Play for video games on PCs, mostly. This is one I should have gotten but didn't when I basically punted the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteTook 13:16 today, despite many, many unknowns.
ReplyDeleteMy comment yesterday was prophetic about uncommon foods being common in Saturday puzzles.
I eventually knew today's actress (Dakota).
"Gotta run"
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Soot Sprite/Dara/Steam/Strat area, I'll defer to one of the guidelines that Will Shortz, esteemed editor of The New York Times crossword puzzle, recommends:
"Difficult words are fine-especially for the harder daily puzzles that run late in the week-if the words are interesting bits of knowledge or useful additions to the vocabulary. However, never let two obscure words or names cross."
Gary, your review and photos were outstanding as usual. Unlike Winston Churchill's cynical, but probably truthful, definition of Diplomatic, my definition, as it applies to your reviews, is much more complimentary and admirable. BTW, my first encounter with the Meet Cute concept was in the movie, The Holiday, when Eli Wallach's character, a retired movie director, explained it to the Kate Winslet character, whom he "met cute" serendipitously.
Have a great day.
Anon @6:19, my speling prowess, or lack thereof, is my super power. But if she wasn't a PIP, then Paul Revere wasn't a Raider? (I'm pretty sure he wasn't a (crossword-favorite) Niner.) Gary Puckett wasn't a Union Gap, Janis Joplin wasn't a Holding Company, Frank Zappa wasn't invention's mom, Bruce Springsteen wasn't part of the e-street band, Eric Burdon wasn't an Animal, and Bob Marley wasn't a Wailer. I guess you're right. (I'm probably forgetting a few, and I'm sure there are some that younger Cornerites know that I won't.)
ReplyDeleteBig Easy, I had many long discussions with an old friend about RMDs. My point was that the good people of the USA have allowed this income to be sheltered from income tax for all these years, and it isn't unreasonable to ask you to pay taxes on it now. And ypu don't have to pay tax on the whole account - feel free to pay taxes on your IRA pro rata until the year the government expects you to die. We never resolved the issue, but remained friends until the day he died.
Big Easy, on the RMD topic. If you don't want to pay taxes on your RMD, you can donate it to charity via one or more QCDs (Qualified Charitable Distribution). I take advantage of that option every year. The portion of the RMD donated to charity isn't included as income on your 1040. It's like getting a charitable deduction even if you're unable to itemize.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning! Well, Google did the heavy lifting today, but I filled the rest of the blanks. 😁. Did we just have arcana recently…. Think I spotted some today.
ReplyDeleteSolvent: A float as in rootbeer??? Otherwise, I don’t get it…
Yes, Jinx, I went with enlarged before ENHANCED, and A Pip before ALTO
My cable co. uses TIVO for my DVR. I use it all the time to watch shows on my timetable, not there’s (and to bypass the commercials.)
Thanks, H.Gary, Kudos on your mastering the Saturday slot.
(Only because Husker Gary asked for thoughts...)
ReplyDeleteIt seems Saturday stumpers have caused my "aha" moments to be replaced by pressing a button. (Reveal)
But there was one word that I did not understand until I read the Blog, Stnick...
Which made me think, "what the heck is a stnick?"
(So my aha moments have now been replaced by long "ohs.")
Which made me think, "why can't you have periods in crossword puzzle?"
Which made me think, hmm, has the ever been a crossword with some form of periods. Perhaps the word "period" Perping the themers in just the right place? Hmm, no, xword rules do not allow repeated words... (so "dot" would not work for the same reason.)
Which made me think, what if the perping period word was replaced by an actual period in history? Hmm,,,
I am not a constructor, (for obvious reasons) but if anyone out there wants to take a crack at it, I want 30 percent credit...
(Which, after you sell it to syndicate, would be zero, because these days they don't print the constructors name.)
Sorry, but you did ask for my thoughts...
Another one for the record books. These esoteric clues wear on the fun of solving the puzzle. Filled some nonsense in for SOOTSPRITE which got me nowhere, humph. A few of the long answers filled in but several lookups were necessary.
ReplyDeleteNo paper today so did the puzzle online. Was about almost finished when I entered an answer that turned up red . Didn’t realize the red letter feature was on 🙄 revealing a couple other mistakes as well soooo….quit at that point.
ReplyDelete“I’m a little” etc. and a WAG based on a couple perps (“A raisin” etc) proved to be both early long helpful fills. If you wanna get teknickel “Fiona” was an OGREss. “Not a creature was STIRing not even Ina Gartner”. For “short cut” started to fill afrOS but both the hair cut and the answer were too big. Seem to recall from previous CWs a car (“Seacrest vehicle”) called IROC ….which ….was …wrong. 😑
SOOT SPRITE??? ALFA or ALPHA like in the list shown?? …PEG (Margaret 🌼 Daisy). MEET CUTE? UGH! 😝
Inkovers: enlarged/ENHANCED, ice/ACE, calm/COLD.
Home of “The Museum of the Future” how can you answer that? It’s doesn’t exist yet ☺️. Me thinks IM = instant, not internet message 🤔
“Gladys Knight for one”… one of Pips? Wouldn’t work😆
EDY’s makes ice ……. KAREEM.
TSA’s odd query: “Have you ___ your own bags?” ……. PACT.
Source of sight sense…. ARISE,
What should be the symbol of Scotland? ____ do. THISTLE,
Last weekend the north country was teeming with snowmobiles and skiers while I had lunch at packed diner. Not this weekend, all the snow is …. gone. 40+ degrees.
Thank you to Katie and Anne for their effort in producing this delight and to Gary for reviewing it.
ReplyDeleteCan't we all befriends? UH, nope.
Zounds
Thank you Annemarie and Katie for a rare Saturday FIR, which I stuck to and managed in one session. There were a lot of Naticks that luckily I swagged correctly.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you Husker for a another fine review. Yer spoilin' us Bro!
A few favs:
21A LES. Don't know my French periodicals, but the pronoun "LES" was bound to appear in it somewhere.
24A MACROS. I call MACROS Excel assembly language, languages which are notoriously difficult to follow. They enable laypeople to create extremely complicated systems and when they leave an organization those systems invariably die.
26A GOTTA RUN. Not today. My SIL who lives next door is hosting a baby shower for her daughter and I'm going to binge old Dr. Who episodes.
32A KEBAB. DNK DONER, but KEBAB emerged from the perps.
39A ACE. Hand up for ICE first.
41A IRATE. I suspect we'll see a lot of this behavior during tomorrow's Ravens vs Chiefs game.
59A A RAISIN IN THE SUN. This and I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT provide valuable anchors to perp out from.
63A ALTO. Couldn't figure out how to get PIPS in there.
10D DIPLOMATIC. Favorite bling!
25D REPO. SOP was too short.
Cheers,
Bill
When I first perused this puzzle my heart sank. So many names, so little knowledge. But I tackled it and astounded myself. I tamed the beast. well almost, I could not get never heard of SOOT SPRITE and STEAM.
ReplyDeleteThanks to HG’s excellent recap, I’m informed.
RosE, if you're SOLVENT you're AFLOAT, as opposed to financially under water.
ReplyDeleteThis was a typical Saturday challenge - though quicker than some. I think this was a nice smattering of younger and older geared clues. Jinx was talking about needing guidance if you were over 50 but I think the under 50 would need help with Fred ASTAIRE and A RAISIN IN THE SUN and Gladys Knight.
ReplyDeleteIM - I had the same thought as you - I had just re-watched "The Holiday" recently and loved the MEET CUTE conversation with Kate Winslet and Eli Wallach
When I helped lead a high school group (when I was in college), if the kids weren't very enthusiastic about singing then they had to get up and sing "I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT" with actions and that would get everyone laughing - we even made T-shirts at some point with a picture of the Little Teapots on it.
Thanks HG for a fun blog and Ann-Marie and Katie for the puzzle!
By some almost miracle, perps, a few WAGS, and some corrections I managed a FIR w/out help in just under 36 minutes. A definite challenge typical of a Saturday. WEES about the STEAM area. Thank you for the collaboration Anne and Katie.
ReplyDeleteAnother superb recap HG, I liked the Winston Churchill quote! Also, I always thought that IM’S were Instant Messages, guess it can be Internet also 🤷♂️
YooperPhil, there is no evidence that Churchill ever said that.
ReplyDeleted-o I think a lot of quotes have been falsely attributed, but who ever came up with that one, it’s good! I think Churchill did say something to the effect that “Democracy is a terrible form of government, but all others are worse”.
ReplyDeleteA lot of Cornerites complain about proper names they consider unknowns, but I know a lot of stuff that gives me toeholds in some of the most difficult puzzles. Today’s knowns launched me in the right directions, and it took me about a half-hour to FIR.
ReplyDelete“A RAISIN IN THE SUN” got me going in the South, along with KERRI Strug, whose gritty vaulting feat at the 1996 (not 1994) Olympics inspired my headline-writing grabber “Win-Wince Situation.” The K gave me KAREEM. I knew NED Rorem and that Gladys Knight is an ALTO, which helped make the Southeast fall into place, as did the perps helping me remember THISTLE. I also knew MEET CUTE (not cute meet). Then I proceeded up-top. I knew ALFA (which NATO spells like the car instead of the Greek letter), DAKOTA, and STRAT, and for some reason I’M A LITTLE TEAPOT was the first acted-out song that occurred to me. And my niece has a Shiba INU, which is sort of a miniature Akita.
But then there were unknowns. ASTAIRE wasn’t one of those, but the clue didn’t help me, and neither did my initial misspelling of KEBAB (Big Easy is correct: Pick one style, Patti!), so SOOT SPRITE was one of the biggest hurdles in the puzzle. Also didn’t know SIRI as clued, the Uber CEO (I do know swimmer DARA Torres, but Cornerites complained when she appeared recently), or that STEAM is a platform. The “quick dip” clue for GUAC was not clever. And as usual, the clues in quotation marks were impossible to parse without perps – especially NOT IT (what the ----?) and “nope” for THINK AGAIN.
BEANS AND NACRE should have occurred to me more readily, but those solves were satisfying. I imagine those two were not unknowns to most solvers, and that these knowns helped you along.
YP @11:07 AM A couple of people have mentioned this about IMS. They do not use the Internet for transmission, but rather the telephone system. They don't have the LAGS typical of the Internet and are thus "instant" messages. OTOH the clue says "Cyberchats", which just means "chats via machine". I think the operative word is "chat", in that they are typically more conversational (realtime) than email, although the latter Internet-based system can be conversational as well.
ReplyDeleteNope. Done in by today's hefty helping of ARCANA. When I was stationed at Ft. Carson, I was in ALPHA company. Said so in great big letters on the HQ building. Not a lot of enjoyment to be had in this one.
ReplyDeleteLearning moment: Soot Sprites
ReplyDelete(Actually, a relearning moment...)
These (cute) thingies are actually characters in the "surreal" animated movie, "Spirited away."
Well worth watching, and it is available in English, here is a clip for your reference...
And, if your are wondering what she is feeding them...
Ray-O,
You made my day, with the best complaint I ever heard on this blog about a crossword.
Home of “The Museum of the Future” how can you answer that? It’s doesn’t exist yet ☺️
(LOL!)
Aw nuts, I meant to say, "the best complaint of all time."
ReplyDeleteGlad to see I wasn't the only one to crash at the intersection of SOOt SPRITE and StEAM! Earlier this morning, I tripped and had to "meet face-to-face" with the corner of the house, so although I'm bloodied and bruised, I know my brain is still functional. Thanks, HG and Cornerites, all.
ReplyDeleteHad no idea about "soot sprite" or "dara", but I turned the read letters on and finished in 32 min. It took me a while to remember Fred Astaire's name. I thought of Garland first but saw that was wrong. All in all it was OK for me.
ReplyDeleteHola!
ReplyDeleteSaturday puzzles are always a slog and this one was no different except that I actually almost finished it. That's closer than usual. I did not recall Fred ASTAIRE in Easter Parade and SOOT SPRITE means nothing to me.
However, A RAISIN IN THE SUN filled instantly as did CRIME NOVEL. I'm a big fan of Gillian Flynn and have several of her books.
LENO went out and TIVO went in. ENHANCED replaced ENLARGED.
Learning moment that the THISTLE is the symbol of Scotland. Does that make them prickly?
Had no idea about SHIBA but INU emerged, thankfully.
I really don't like the abbreviation GUAC.
Before the big remodeling took place there was a FENDER guitar shop in one of the strip malls but now it's gone. So is my favorite cleaners. Sigh. That's progress, I guess.
I hope you are having a super Saturday, everyone!
For some reason I now have to go to my cell phone for a code before my post is printed. When did that start and does everyone have to do that?
ReplyDelete17:11 to (39A) ACE it. No help needed.
ReplyDeleteI flew through most of it, but a couple of educated guesses were needed here and there.
The T in SOOT and A in DARA were most likely. Those two gave me the unknown STEAM. Again, likely.
Lots of gimmes today. Most of the long answers came easily.
Sometimes it helps to forget the clue, and look at the arrangement of letters that have already perped in. What probable words could fit? That's how I got the answer IT MAKES SENSE.
Hand up for having enlarged before ENHANCED.
Also guessed CRIME drama before perps made it NOVEL.
Had MEET where CUTE belonged, and vice versa. Perps resolved that.
If it's likely to be one of the KEBAB spellings, and Doner is in the clue, its going to be KEBAB.
IM is Instant Messaging. Instant messaging exploded in popularity when AOL released its instant messenger product (AIM) to its large user base in the late 90s. Competing products were quickly developed, but AIM held on to its IM dominance for years. AOL users may remember adding AOL screen names to their AIM "Buddy List."
Oh, and then remember when Nextel created the push-to-talk phones? Jinx could probably explain it better, but I thought of it as walkie-talkies... over cellular service. For a period of time, it seemed that everyone I knew was getting a Nextel phone, so they too, could push to talk.
I never felt the need to be connected 24x7. Work responsibilities were already leaving me drained. I craved alone time to decompress.
RosE - AFLOAT as in financially solvent. Generally, a one word overall assessment of the financial stability of a business. More specifically, the ability to pay both current debt and long term obligations, such as pension plans.
Copy Editor - Sometimes I think that some people just like to complain. Other times I think it's the Dunning-Kreuger effect. For most of us, it's only an avocation, and practicing a lot helps a lot. Like you, I'll take any foothold I can get when the going gets tough.
NaomiZ, sorry to hear of your trip and fall, but your good spirits about and humor about it will help you heal. As will time.
Gotta run.
Naomi, hope your wounds are superficial and clear up quickly.
ReplyDeleteOK, TTP. Since you asked me the time, I'll tell you how to build a watch. Nextel's walkie-talkie had two desirable attributes. One was kind of like a super speed calling, with select contacts on a side button. The second was that the minutes didn't count against the plan's allocation. GTE Wireless (now part of Verizon) came up with a "me too" offering, with speed calling and a "friends and family" type list that was more used for work colleagues. So calling was easy, you got two-way communications, and the minutes didn't count against the plan. (Remember that package minutes were fairly expensive way back then.) Our offering never really took off. IIRC, Nextel actually patented the PTT technology, so we couldn't produce an exact copy. But Verizon eventually offered the actual PTT feature to compete, and got sued for their trouble. They settled the suit, and Verizon eventually exited that market. T-Moble (which swallowed Nextel after a couple of mergers) still offers a version of the service, but I suspect that voice-to- text messaging and unlimited minutes have limited the market for that feature.
WEES.
ReplyDeleteTTP, Thanks! 😉 I couldn't let go of the chemistry side of it. And, CWs never let on if the fill is one word or two. Solvent sounds like a good thing to be. 👍
ReplyDeleteJinx & D-otto--for my RMDs, Every January I just have them transferred to my Money Market accounts at Morgan Stanley and Vanguard. I get a 1099R the next January and pay the taxes. NY taxes have always been simple. I've never borrowed money, don't itemize, and take the Standard Deduction.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Nextel had two big problems. Their phones had to use the NEXTEL towers and were unusable in between major cities. Could not make a phone call. But their bigger problem was people started sending texts and not talking. They still don't talk, just Snap, FB messenger, WhatsApp and a multitude of other instant systems. The police dept. that my son worked for provided Nextel phones for all the policemen, due to all the crooks who used police scanners.
Thanks to Annemarie and Katie and H-Gary, too!
ReplyDeleteI had a massive fail in the NE. Since I only get a FIR on about 10% of the Saturday puzzles, ones like this help me to appreciate the ones I do solve correctly.
Jinx @5:18 AM I'll add one to your list -- it's WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART'S BIRTHDAY. He was born in 1756, 6 years after the death of JOHANN SEBATIAN BACH. He would be 268 this year.
ReplyDeleteThanks, A.& K. for a groaner, but which I finished in 27 minutes to my astonishment, 5 minutes less than yesterday. Lots of unknowns.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gary, for giving more fun than the puzzle.
Who knew Gladys was an alto? I thought that designation was only used for parts in choral music. I learned she wasn't "solo" or a pipp when the red-letters flashed.
I tried SOfT for the sprite. I don't do those games.
NaomiZ: oh ouch! Hope you have no lasting damage.
Saturday Solve(nt). Thanks for the fun, Anne Marie and Katie, and HuskerG.
ReplyDeleteI worked on this CW in my newspaper while travelling this morning. (Don’t worry- DH was driving!)
No internet, no data to Google anything. After my first pass, I despaired of finishing, but I persisted and actually FIRed. Yes, my last fill was that ugly cross of SOOT SPRITE and STEAM (after I changed Dora to DARA).
Woohoo, as Misty would say.
I don’t always have time to finish a Saturday Stumper - had to come here even if late in the day to boast.
(I will give DH credit for KAREEM,)
Wishing you all a good night.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteI got about 60% right. MEET CUTE were in the wrong directions :-(
Thanks Annemarie & Katie for a nice grid to play over breakfast, lunch, errands, dinner...
Thanks HG for putting a bow on this thing.
So I didn't get a Saturday win. What else is new. However!, I did know STREAM, NOT IT and other under-50 stuff (It's good to have Gen-Y on my office-team).
Hand up for ENLARGED. And, as a guy that knows computers' capabilities, ENHANCED made me think of all the silly in shows.
Also hand up for PIPS -> PIPP (Hi Jinx!)
DAKOTA Johnson hosted SNL tonight.
NaomiZ - oof... That's awful. Hope you really are OK.
LOL Museum of the Future doesn't exist yet Ray-O.
CED - I did a Doug Peterson SWA magazine puzzle that used a check mark for the word check. "✓ out-line", "✓ book" and the like.
Waseeley - a buddy-to-be was in accounting at a firm I consulted for. He was always walking around chatting-up folks drinking his coffee. When I asked, "Dude, don't you have a job?" He responded, "I wrote a bunch of MACROs that do that in about 20 minutes." We hired him within a year.
59a was only THE COLOUR PURPLE if I was Canadian ;-) (and if the perps agreed, which my feeble ones didn't)
Good Show on the solve, C, Eh! Musta been a long drive :-)
Cheers, -T
WAG for the win today — like KS and SubGenius, I had everything filled but that miserable cross of S-EAM and SOO-SPRITE, so just to get out of the misery threw in a T — and voila, success!
ReplyDeleteApplause to Annemarie and Kate for some awesome clues (1D, 4D, 26A and 45A) and the amusing longies…but boos for all those effing obscure proper names and the spellfail on ALFA — Husker’s NATO chart shows it correctly.
And thanks, Gary, not only for your as-usual enjoyable review, but also for that great Churchill maybe-quote; I gotta remember that one! 😎👍🏽
====> Darren / L.A.