Saturday Themeless by Emily Biegas and Sala Wanetick
I ran through this puzzle in very good time, finishing in the Northeast. As usual, the long fill was the key to the solve as they were all "gettable".Across:
1. Emmy-winning sitcom created by Susan Harris: SOAP - I'm going to assume you can all pick out the young Billy Crystal who is said to be the first openly gay character on a TV series.
5. Held in suspense: BATED.
10. Eats: GRUB.
14. Mercury Prize-winning singer-songwriter Parks: ARLO - This Saturday ARLO replaces Mr. Guthrie and lists herself as a Q in the LGBTQIA+ array.
14. Mercury Prize-winning singer-songwriter Parks: ARLO - This Saturday ARLO replaces Mr. Guthrie and lists herself as a Q in the LGBTQIA+ array.
15. "She-Hulk" actress Renée __ Goldsberry: ELISE.
16. Decor do-over, informally: RENO - Some tornado victims in this season's storms have to choose between a RENO or a DEMO
17. Prosaic: UNORIGINAL - Many teachers have very prosaic day-to-day lesson plans and have merely 19. Parroted: APED what they have done or seen done for years.
20. "My pleasure": DON'T MENTION IT.
22. Stresses, in a way: ITERATES.
23. "The quicksand of reason," per George Sand: VANITY - I admire this quote.
26. Coolers, for short: ACS - I grew up without any A/C at all. You?
27. Real mensch: GEM.
28. Lav: LOO - My sister is a hard core St. Louis Cardinal fan but told me their new uniform option makes her think of a toilet.
29. Piedmont product: ASTI - The region outlined in red is the Piedmont area of Italy. Can you find the city ASTI in this NW part of Italy? It is a 50 min drive ESE of Turin.
32. City in French Flanders: LILLE
35. Question of when: WHAT'S TODAY'S DATE - Uh, ASAP?
39. Peachy: AOK - I remember NASA making A-OK common parlance in the 60's starting with Alan Shepherd's initial space flight.
40. "Tell me you didn't": OH GOD đŸ˜€
41. Singles: ONES - Who's to say the bills under that hundred are just a bunch of ONES!
43. Prefix with diversity: BIO.
44. Compass rose dir.: SSW - Here you can find SSW at 202.5˚ on the Rose Compass
46. "Next week on ... " segment: TEASER - How about one from 70 years ago?
48. Most tidy: CLEANEST.
53. Crunchy snack: HARD SHELL TACO - Your choice
55. "Uh, no": AS IF.
57. March Madness stage: ELITE EIGHT - Omaha's Creighton Bluejays were in the ELITE EIGHT in last years men's NCAA basketball tournament.
58. Garden veggie: CUKE.
59. Gulf of Aden republic: YEMEN - YEMEN and Somalia make the Gulf Of Aden a dangerous place for shipping
60. Idea shared by many: MEME.
61. Prefix on many Chinese brand names: EVER - Ultimate Saturday cluing. Explanation
62. Swelling: EDEMA - Better get some ice on that bad boy!
63. Winged figure in Piccadilly Circus: EROS - Also known as the Shaftsbury Memorial Fountain in Piccadilly Circus
1. Riyadh resident: SAUDI - A great deal of water for the SAUDIS in Riyadh is piped in hundreds of miles from desalinization plants on the Arabian Gulf.
2. " ... unless you think otherwise": OR NOT.
3. Solo: ALONE - A very famous solo took place 97 years ago.
4. Hanging in a drawing room: PORTRAIT - Sir Winston hated his and had it destroyed in a bonfire.
5. Brings about: BEGETS - The book of Matthew chronicles a whole bunch of BEGETTING!
6. Dress shape: A-LINE.
7. Colors: TINTS.
8. Actor Morales: ESAI - Cwd fodder
9. Cole Porter biopic starring Kevin Kline: DELOVELY
Cary Grant took a turn as Porter in 1946 with another classic tune as a title.
10. Wood flooring feature: GRAIN.
11. Coldly calculating: REPTILIAN - Ebenezer Scrooge leapt to my mind.
12. "Ceci n'est pas __ pipe": UNE - The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture "This is a pipe", I'd have been lying!
— RenĂ© Magritte
13. Compact figure?: BOD - Not all are
18. Big Apple output: IMAC.
21. William and Mary: NAMES - René Magritte would love this clue! See two clues above.
24. Decadent cake: TORTE.
25. Joins the team?: YOKES đŸ˜€
27. Hefty alternative: GLAD - We use Hefty trash bags I'm told.
29. Keep an eye out for: AWAIT.
30. Haruki Murakami's "Kafka on the __": SHORE Quotes
31. "Beat it": TAKE A HIKE.
32. Letterhead image, maybe: LOGO - Where I sub
36. Composed: SOBER.
37. Chakra that signifies the unconscious mind: THIRD EYE - Kids swear teachers have this gift. Chakra
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| Click to enlarge |
38. Quiet stretch: DOWN TIME.
44. Singer dubbed the "Tejano Madonna": SELENA.
45. Prime Day event: SALE.
47. More cautious: SAFER.
48. Ring: CHIME.
49. "Who cares what they do": LET 'EM.
50. More than ready: EAGER.
51. Poor sap: SCHMO.
52. "Uh, yeah": TOTES - Adult drivers in N.C. may have to ask their kids about this sign containing slang we are seeing quite often in Crosswordville!
54. __ dog: SLED.
55. Part of LGBTQIA+ or 10-J-Q-K-A: ACE - Saturday cluing for ACE. ACE is slang for asexual.
56. Tucson or Santa Fe: SUV - Both made by Hyundai.
36 comments:
Getting the grid-spanning answer “What’s today’s date?” helped me a lot in solving today’s challenging puzzle. And, actually, there seemed to be fewer proper name obscurities and misdirections than is usual in a Saturday puzzle. My autocorrect wanted to substitute “satisfying” for “Saturday” and actually I did find solving this particular puzzle very satisfying. FIR, so I’m happy,
Thought provoking ☑️, educational ☑️, foreign phrases and geography☑️, misdirection ☑️, obscure names☑️, difficult ☑️, IMHO everything a Saturday themeless should be, which may draw some whining and nit picking, but not from me. FIR w/o help in 25:08, a little better than my average time on Saturday. Haven’t used or heard the term RENO with a short E, (had to change the D to an N for my last fill.). On a Monday probably would have been clued “First female AG” or “Nevada city”. Perps got me DELOVELY. REPTILIAN is a cool word, and I now know what prosaic means. Thank you Emily and Sala for your fine piece of work! Thanks HG for your informative review, the Mark Twain quote is quite apropos In today’s world!
Anon SS ~ I thought I responded to your query the other day but saw that it didn’t post. No I haven’t been to Isle Royals National Park, but I know it’s one of the least visited of the National Parks due to its remote location in Lake Superior. Did you take the boat from Houghton or Copper Harbor? I live on the Lake and have a boat that could get me there, maybe someday…
Good morning!
Lately I've been starting the Saturday puzzles, and quickly throwing in the towel. Today's proved to be doable with few of those pesky proper nouns. Yay. Managed to put this one to bed in about 13. Thanx, Emily, Sala, and Husker. (Nope, no A/C when I was growing up. And nobody else had one, either.)
RENO: There's a No Demo Reno show on HGTV. Decor is updated, but no walls are moved.
FIR - on Saturday, no less. Did it online in the middle of the night, because the place next door was having a loud party. Final fixes were to ELISa and sANITY, finishing DELOVELY and evoking the TADA.
I don't really remember DELOVELY, but I sorta remember DeSoto cars, and their catchy TV commercial.
I wonder if there will be another copycat house flipping show named Reno RENO.
I loved the sitcom SOAP. Right up there with Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
Thanks to Emily and Sala for a Saturday challenge that even I was able to solve, albeit with a struggle. A great Saturday meta would have been "living room (Sp.)" for SALA. And thanks to H.Gary for the fun review.
FLN - Lucina, I think she might have been. Thank you.
FIR. I was so pleased when I threw down "don't mention it" without doubts that I thought I would breeze through today's puzzle. But that was not the case.
As I got further down in the solve, things literally went south. Last to fall was the SW. I still don't get ever as a Chinese brand name, even with an explanation. And I had no idea about ace? Still not sure I get it.
Oh well, it's Saturday, and I finished, so there's that.
This seemed more doable than most Saturdays with the unknowns 14A. Mercury Prize-winning singer-songwriter Parks: ARLO and 30D. Haruki Murakami's "Kafka on the __": SHORE being the most troublesome for me.
I also enjoyed both SOAP and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman .
The Lou? Sounds awful.
Stanley Cup coming to South Florida? Go Panthers. Thank you HG
Took 13:28 today.
Still not sure how to feel about this one. Turned off by the French (une & lille), Italian, and Chinese themed clues and, as the sage SubG said, "proper name obscurities."
YooperPhil, yes, I went last year to Isle Royale N.P. On that trip, we had first visited Voyageurs NP in Northern Minnesota, spent a night in Duluth, then drove to Houghton. We took the plane to and from the island, which was a fortuitous move because the waves were so high while we were there that the boats were canceled/delayed. It is indeed one of the least visited National Parks, as it tough to get to and closed for many months of the year. We had a great time despite our fishing charter getting canceled too. The restaurant on the island is surprisingly nice. You should go.
Good Morning:
This was a wonderfully challenging, yet doable Saturday. First pass yielded very little, but once the longer answers filled in, the solve went smoothly, with the exception of the SW corner grouping of Ace/Ever/SUV, which was eventually conquered. DO, I envy your completion time! I thought the cluing was outstanding and the overall fill was fresh and lively. It was not quite Silkiesque, but pretty darn close.
Thanks, Emily and Sala, and thanks, HG, for the usual informative and entertaining review, especially the eye-pleasing visuals. BTW, I think that photo is of Selena Gomez with Madonna, not the Mexican singer, Selena, who was murdered by an unhinged fan. Hand up for no A/C. Don't know how we survived!
FLN
Jinx, I'm so sad and sorry for the heartbreak you're going through. We're here if we can help in any way.
Have a great day.
Anon SS @8:49 a.m.
"Aw schucks, SS. You are too kind.
At first I despaired. No way I can solve this, but not only did I solve it, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, I agree “satisfying “ is a good way to describe it.
I too loved SOAP. Lots of fun.
I’m so pleased to see one of my all time favorite authors Haruki Murakami in this puzzle and “Kafka on the SHORE” one of my favorite novels by him.
I did get discombobulated by that alphabet run. I entered ACE not knowing what I was doing.
We’re going to gain weight if we keep getting TORTEs with out CWs.
Tehachapi Ken
Thank you, Emily and Sala, for proving that a Saturday puzzle can be challenging, but at the same time be fun and doable. Yes, it took me awhile, but as I think others would attest, didn't have us screaming and tearing our hair out and saying naughty things.
You had an appropriate collection of misdirections, many of which involved parts of speech; e.g., 4D "hanging in a drawing room," which I took to be a gerund. Nope. "Hanging" is a noun. It is something that is in a room. Or 36D "Composed," which could be the past tense of what Mahler did. Nope.
You did have a couple proper names--which to me are invariably obscure and evil--but here they were almost surrounded by lovely perps.
Patti, many thanks for whatever contributions and helpful advice you gave today's constructors. This to me is a model Saturday puzzle.
Jinx, I am sorry to hear about what you are going through at present. We are all beset by certain major life changes, which rank at the top on the stress level chart. Do you have friends and family you can talk to? And who can provide muscle power with the room changes, etc.?!
I marvel at your ability to get through this--as evidenced here in the Corner--with aplomb and a sense of humor.
I forgot to thank HG for that great recap. Reading the reviews is an integral part of the CW solving experience and I appreciate the work that goes into writing them.
Most of my WAGs came through, and I sailed through most of the puzzle, although the CUKE/EVER answers in the SW corner threw me for a while. DON’T MENTION IT, TAKE A HIKE, and WHAT’S TODAY’S DATE gave me a lot of traction, and my favorite clue turned out to be the “stage” of March Madness known as the ELITE EIGHT.
HARD-SHELL TACO came more slowly. Why does the LAT puzzle always label tacos a “snack?” Do people eat them only between meals? There also were a few odious examples of what Jayce aptly calls “paraphrases,” dialogue clues in quotes, including the undelightful “uh, yes” and “uh, no” combo – which are not any better as snacks.
Names I knew readily included SOAP, DE LOVELY, and SELENA. I’d never heard of her until she was murdered, but it turned out we had lived about a mile from her family, the Quintanillas, in Corpus Christi when she was a little girl and I was working at the Caller-Times. Corpus Christi also produced Farrah Fawcett and Eva Longoria, by the way.
I also liked the clue for YOKED, and I wasn’t thrown too badly by the Chakra clue for THIRD EYE, a concept Firesign Theatre mentioned frequently, as did comedian Bill Hicks, who claimed he tried to “squeegee” his third eye for optimum clarity.
Tough, but it IS Saturday! Almost gave up about a dozen times, but kept returning, and managed to finally FIR. Whew! Some clever misdirection, but the "paraphrases" were irritating as usual. At least the perps were fair. A/C? We went to the Alcyon Theater for the Saturday matinee. Newsreel, cartoon, latest Serial chapter, and a double feature movie. Admission: 50 cents, small popcorn: 15 cents, small coke: 10 cents! Or, if we were broke, there was always the freezer section at the local A&P grocery to wander around.
The NE and SW did me in today. I went with RENu and BuD instead of RENO and BOD. N ot sure why BOD is a compact shape. BuD surely is a compact shape of a flower.
I wanted SAnER for more cautious and kalE for garden veggie and mAKEAHolE instead of TAKEAHIKE. So along with SUV gave ire for 55D and rUlE and iron for 55A and 58A. Didn't fit the clues. Oh, well.
Never in America.
Bluebird.
A little clarification: Selena, the "Tejano Madonna" as clued, was born in Texas as a third generation American. While she had Mexican ancestry on her father's side, she grew up speaking English, and didn't learn Spanish until later. "Tejano" refers to Texans with Mexican heritage, also sometimes called "Tex-Mex."
Hand up this seemed impossible. Until bit by bit it was solved. The long answers were easier than the short ones.
Can someone explain COMPACT BOD? Mr Google has no idea.
TAKE A HIKE is something positive for Merlie and me. Here we were as I led a HIKE at Lizard's Mouth.
Do you see the mouth of the lizard straight up from me?
From Yesterday:
Lucina Thank you for the kind words about my GREENLAND photo. As I said, I also have many photos from the GREEN LAND of EIRE. But nothing as visually spectacular as GREENLAND.
Picard, BOD is a shortened (compact) version of body.
desper-otto Thank you for trying to explain, but I am still not getting it. What is a COMPACT BODY? It is not something I have ever heard of. Has anyone heard this term? Sorry for being dense.
Anonymous @ 12:44 ~ Thank you for the clarification. I made a hasty, incorrect assumption.
Anon SS ~ out reference to Isle Royale earlier, there is currently a Great Lakes freighter, the “Michipicoten”, that had an underground collision with something between Isle Royale and the Minnesota coast and is taking on water. It’s limping toward a shipyard in Thunder Bay Ontario under its own power, escorted by the Coast Guard. Most of the crew has been evacuated.
Almost nailed a Saturday but got tripped up in the NE corner. A BUD is a compact figure, a compact flower at least. Cross that with RENU, a trending spelling of renew and all seemed well...
Agree with Copy Editor that tacos are more than snacks, although I see often them clued that way.
Picard @ 1:03
The clue/answer is Compact Figure = BOD
Compact =Smaller
Figure = Body
Smaller Body = Bod
Hope this helps.
Hola!
Thank you, Emily and Sala, for the Saturday challenge which surprisingly, I finished. Often I don't even try to finish Saturday puzzles if the cluing is too obscure. This one, though tough, was doable.
How I remember SOAP! It was vastly entertaining.
The problem with HARD SHELL TACOS is that they break apart so easily. I make mine somewhat medium hard, that is, not too soft. I like the crunchiness.
SCHMO always reminds me of Al Capp who created characters called SCHMOS.
The book I'm currently reading has a character named SELENA but with no relation to the slain singer.
I've never called cucumbers CUKEs though I use them daily in salad.
it's too bad that 9A, DELOVELY couldn't be paired with 43A, BIO.
My doorbell has a very pleasant CHIME. Growing up, we had swamp coolers. I did not experience A/C until well into adulthood.
Picard, in my opinion, a person with a COMPACT BODY is said to be pleasing to the eye, lean and with no excess fat.
Have a lovely day, everyone! It's already excessively hot here, 99 degrees at the moment.
That Anonymous 10:18 message was me. I hit the wrong button.
Hands up for looking forward to the NHL playoffs. I get it if hardly any hands shot up; I'm not a hockey fan either. But the fact remains that the playoffs begin tonight.
In one corner we have the Edmonton Oilers, a Canadian team. Which is as it should be. And in the other corner, we have the Florida Panthers, which is preposterous. Where do they practice, on the Fort Lauderdale beach?
I mean, ice hockey players should have names like Desharnais, and Bouchard, and Draisaitl, and they should have beards which are encrusted with good old Canadlan ice.
Anybody ever heard of the American Hockey league? Me neither, until I moved to Tehachapi. Turns out the AHL serves as a sort of farm league for the NHL, and we have an AHL team down the mountain, the Bakersfield Condors.
The Condors' general manager is Keith Gretzky, and if the name Gretzky rings a bell, yes, he is Wayne's brother.
What's this got to do with the playoffs? Well, the Edmonton team has ten players who used to play for Bakersfield. TEN!
I'll be joining Canadian Eh in rooting for the Oilers tonight--although for you folks in the East, it may be a bit late!
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR in just under 24 minutes (on-line; slow, methodical, and painfully inaccurate typist)
Had to check on where Riyadh is (my mind went to Iraq or Iran, at first), but other than that I had a pretty clean grid - surprising for me on Saturday
ICON/LOGO and NAKED EYE/THIRD EYE (not up on my chakras)
Ditto what Irish Miss said about today's offering
Here is a Moe-ku (using a pun on one of today's words):
Fisherman’s wife’s in
Labor. First child is nigh. He
Waits, with BAITED breath
DON’T MIND IF I DO fit nicely in 20A, but clearly a little askew as a paraphrase of “My pleasure.” So I changed it.
I was surprised my the so-so ratings for DELOVELY in HG’s graphic. I really liked it.
Picard@ 1:03PM, I would say you’re more likely compact, not dense.
Really tired of the LGBTQA clues. This is a small section of the population. It’s unfair to think that others would know that ace refers to asexual. I’m sure that many people don’t enjoy having a woke agenda forced into the daily crossword. This is the last time I do the LA times crossword.
LUCINA: I can see why SCHMO conjures the Lil Abner characters, but they were Shmoos (so the vowel sound is like the u in usted), not schmos
I was able to solve this puzzle without looking anything up, but I did do the "Check grid" once to reveal that CAR was wrong (SUV quickly went in) and that ECO diversity was also wrong.
I can generally remember BATED (as opposed to baited) because of the word ABATE.
RENO replaced RENU, so BOD had to replace BUD. Or maybe it was vice-versa.
My wife ITERATES a lot. She does it many times, too.
Yep, I grew up without any A/C at all.
I much prefer soft tacos.
I think many older people, especially men, must wear compression stockings because of lymphEDEMA.
As Husker Gary said, Sir Winston hated his PORTRAIT. From what I have read in the news, His Majesty King Charles III likes his. (Have you seen it?)
Good reading you all.
Horserace update:
This is what I posted yesterday regarding the Belmont Stakes (@Saratoga):
Have a great weekend, all. To those who enjoy Thoroughbred Horseracing, tomorrow is the running of the Belmont Stakes. This race is normally 1-1/2 miles in length, but due to renovations at Belmont Park Racetrack, the event will be held at Saratoga Springs, NY and run at 1-1/4 miles. My choices: Dornoch, The Wine Steward, and Sierra Leone
The results: DORNOCH won! Sierra Leone finished 3rd! Mindfram finished 2nd, so I missed the Exacta and Trifecta. The winner paid $37.40 to win for a $2 bet
Copy Editor
Thank you for that correction. It has been many, many years since I last saw an Al Capp cartoon but as you say, SHMO conjured up the reference and now when I looked it up I see what the SCHMOO looked like. I had forgotten that.
Jinx
Your wife's travails remind me of the last days of my best friend who died a few years ago. She was transformed from a brilliant, entertaining, talented person to almost a zombie with a blank expression, unable to speak or take care of herself. I only hope for the best outcome for your wife.
T.Ken, AHL is the hockey equivalent of MLB's AAA league - just one step away from the big time. We have East Coast Hockey League's Norfolk Admirals here, which is more like an AA league. It's a cool sport (and yes, I know that's a dad joke punch line.) I'm a fairly new hockey fan, after MLB FUBARed itself. Like any sport, the more you learn about it the more interesting it is.
For instance, I used to wonder why teams seemed to just give up the puck by hitting it down by the opposing goalie when there weren't any of their teammates around. (Not while killing a penalty - that one is obvious.) These guys expend so much energy that they need to get off the ice and recover after playing for a minute or so. Dumping the puck into the opposite end is one way to facilitate the change.
Understanding the rules can be helpful. Here's a site that I like for that.
Lucina, that's much like what I'm going through. Her whole family was very outgoing, the ilk that never met a stranger. She had a thing for remembering names, and was great at small talk, a real talent in the business environment. She got into business development, and at one point had offices in Dallas, Coral Gables and Sao Paulo. She now can't put together more than a handful of understandable phrases, and can't remember people or places. Thank you so much for caring.
I'm surprised nobody has pointed out that the winged figure on the fountain in Picadilly Circus is Anteros, not Eros. See, for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anteros
On the other hand, while the statue was intended to represent The Angel of Christian Charity (i.e., Anteros) it has been mistaken for Eros so often that even the fountain's entry in the National Heritage List for England uses the name Shaftsbury Memorial Fountain Eros https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1265625?section=official-list-entry
Perhaps the clue should have been "wrong love in Piccadilly Circle "
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