Thursday Themeless by Ricky Sirois
This is my second Ricky Sirois Saturday themeless (first one was 1/14/23) and I gotta tell you, it was a breezy 20-minute exercise that was a lot of fun. My fav had to be the Brady Bunch misdirection! 😀Across:
1. Part of the healing process: SCAB.
5. Hiss source: LEAK - If you spray the tire with water, bubbles will tell you the source of the LEAK
15. French pronoun: ELLE - ELLE est belle (She is beautiful)
16. Number two: AIDE - Ulysses S. Grant and his AIDE-de-camp, Orville Babcock.
17. Lingo: ARGOT and 50. Raise: HOIST - The STS-79 orbiter being HOISTED from the ET/SRB stack on the MLP in KSC's VAB - NASA ARGOT
18. Animal in the creation myth of the Achomawi people of Northern California: SILVER FOX.
20. Hybrid pastries: CRONUTS A portmanteau: A ring-shaped fried pastry made from croissant dough.
22. Hazelnut: FILBERT - Two names for the same nut.
26. Stable diet: HAY 😀
27. Revelation: EYE OPENER.
29. Sheepherder in a 1995 Oscar-nominated film: BABE 31. 29-Across, for one: PIG.
30. Yak: GAB.
33. Sch. with the second-most NCAA team championships: UCLA.
34. One who spends a lot of time in cabs: LONG HAUL TRUCKER 😀
39. Like a roller derby track: OVAL.
40. Cellular messenger: RNA - A very frequent cwd messenger
41. Letter abbr.: ENC.
42. Shape-shifting prefix: WERE - The prefix "were-" comes from the Old English word for "man".
43. Prevents an actor from getting a breakthrough role, perhaps: TYPECASTS = Speaking of werewolves and typecasting, here's Lon Chaney
48. Demonstrate one's humanity: ERR.
49. Pursued: CHASED.
51. Comedian Trevor: NOAH - His big break
52. Turns the page?: READS ON 😀
54. Result of a successful collaboration: SYNERGY.
56. Conan O'Brien's first talk show: LATE NIGHT.
58. End: CEASE.
59. Avoids injury: IS OK.
60. Gin berry: SLOE.
61. Root used in perfumery: ORRIS - Rootstock of the Iris
62. Wicker man, for one: PYRE - More
63. Spree: TEAR - Some athletes who are doing very well at some point can be said to be "on a TEAR".
64. Email folder: SENT.
Down:
1. Soup strainer, informally: STACHE.
2. "Dumb and Dumber" star: CARREY.
3. "An Inconvenient Truth" writer: AL GORE.
4. Wasteful project: BOONDOGGLE - This word's interesting derivation
5. Reduce: LESSEN.
6. Yale student: ELI.
7. Completely on board: ALL FOR IT - Where'd everybody go?
8. Flightless bird in "Up": KEVIN.
9. Low-__ diet: CARB.
10. Shortcut, of sorts: LIFE HACK - They are ubiquitous on the internet
11. Precious: ADORABLE.
12. Foo Fighters power ballad that was the theme song for the NBC sitcom "Ed": NEXT YEAR - It's not the theme from Hawaii 5-0 but it's okay.
14. R-V connection?: STU - Disco STU gets the day off for this alphabet progression
19. Raised trains: ELS.
21. Legal exam, familiarly: THE BAR - Chuck McGill's reaction to his little brother Jimmy (soon to be Saul Goodman) on Better Call Saul
25. Do-overs: REPLAYS.
28. Tuba sound: PAH.
29. Brady bunch, once: BUCCANEERS 😀 Gotta love this!
32. Like Midas: GREEDY.
34. Labium inferius oris: LOWER LIP - Labium/LIP, Inferius/LOWER
35. Breakfast specification: OVER EASY - Recently I had OVER HARD as a scrambled alternative
36. David Attenborough, for one: NARRATOR - A hilarious AI application
37. Straighten out: UNTANGLE.
38. Cousin's dad, casually: UNC.
44. Nag: PESTER.
45. 1957 Jimmy Dorsey hit: SO RARE - Dedicated to my Mom
46. Takes over: TAGS IN.
47. Most reserved: SHYEST.
49. "Marrakesh Express" band, for short: CSN - Crosby, Stills and Nash are the 3-letter abbr. group today.
53. Football : juke :: hockey : __: DEKE - DECOY
55. Many a PX shopper: NCO - Every branch of the service has NCO's these are in the U.S. Army
57. Residential community org.: HOA.
1. Part of the healing process: SCAB.
5. Hiss source: LEAK - If you spray the tire with water, bubbles will tell you the source of the LEAK
9. Network, say: CLAN.
13. Giant automaton of Greek mythology: TALOS.
13. Giant automaton of Greek mythology: TALOS.
15. French pronoun: ELLE - ELLE est belle (She is beautiful)
16. Number two: AIDE - Ulysses S. Grant and his AIDE-de-camp, Orville Babcock.
17. Lingo: ARGOT and 50. Raise: HOIST - The STS-79 orbiter being HOISTED from the ET/SRB stack on the MLP in KSC's VAB - NASA ARGOT
18. Animal in the creation myth of the Achomawi people of Northern California: SILVER FOX.
20. Hybrid pastries: CRONUTS A portmanteau: A ring-shaped fried pastry made from croissant dough.
22. Hazelnut: FILBERT - Two names for the same nut.
26. Stable diet: HAY 😀
27. Revelation: EYE OPENER.
29. Sheepherder in a 1995 Oscar-nominated film: BABE 31. 29-Across, for one: PIG.
30. Yak: GAB.
33. Sch. with the second-most NCAA team championships: UCLA.
34. One who spends a lot of time in cabs: LONG HAUL TRUCKER 😀
39. Like a roller derby track: OVAL.
40. Cellular messenger: RNA - A very frequent cwd messenger
41. Letter abbr.: ENC.
42. Shape-shifting prefix: WERE - The prefix "were-" comes from the Old English word for "man".
43. Prevents an actor from getting a breakthrough role, perhaps: TYPECASTS = Speaking of werewolves and typecasting, here's Lon Chaney
48. Demonstrate one's humanity: ERR.
49. Pursued: CHASED.
51. Comedian Trevor: NOAH - His big break
52. Turns the page?: READS ON 😀
54. Result of a successful collaboration: SYNERGY.
56. Conan O'Brien's first talk show: LATE NIGHT.
58. End: CEASE.
59. Avoids injury: IS OK.
60. Gin berry: SLOE.
61. Root used in perfumery: ORRIS - Rootstock of the Iris
62. Wicker man, for one: PYRE - More
63. Spree: TEAR - Some athletes who are doing very well at some point can be said to be "on a TEAR".
64. Email folder: SENT.
Down:
1. Soup strainer, informally: STACHE.
2. "Dumb and Dumber" star: CARREY.
3. "An Inconvenient Truth" writer: AL GORE.
4. Wasteful project: BOONDOGGLE - This word's interesting derivation
5. Reduce: LESSEN.
6. Yale student: ELI.
7. Completely on board: ALL FOR IT - Where'd everybody go?
8. Flightless bird in "Up": KEVIN.
9. Low-__ diet: CARB.
10. Shortcut, of sorts: LIFE HACK - They are ubiquitous on the internet
11. Precious: ADORABLE.
12. Foo Fighters power ballad that was the theme song for the NBC sitcom "Ed": NEXT YEAR - It's not the theme from Hawaii 5-0 but it's okay.
14. R-V connection?: STU - Disco STU gets the day off for this alphabet progression
19. Raised trains: ELS.
21. Legal exam, familiarly: THE BAR - Chuck McGill's reaction to his little brother Jimmy (soon to be Saul Goodman) on Better Call Saul
25. Do-overs: REPLAYS.
28. Tuba sound: PAH.
29. Brady bunch, once: BUCCANEERS 😀 Gotta love this!
32. Like Midas: GREEDY.
34. Labium inferius oris: LOWER LIP - Labium/LIP, Inferius/LOWER
35. Breakfast specification: OVER EASY - Recently I had OVER HARD as a scrambled alternative
36. David Attenborough, for one: NARRATOR - A hilarious AI application
37. Straighten out: UNTANGLE.
38. Cousin's dad, casually: UNC.
44. Nag: PESTER.
45. 1957 Jimmy Dorsey hit: SO RARE - Dedicated to my Mom
46. Takes over: TAGS IN.
47. Most reserved: SHYEST.
53. Football : juke :: hockey : __: DEKE - DECOY
55. Many a PX shopper: NCO - Every branch of the service has NCO's these are in the U.S. Army
57. Residential community org.: HOA.
33 comments:
Well, I won’t say this puzzle was “easy” (after all, it was a Saturday puzzle) but it didn’t strike me as difficult as some Saturday puzzles have been. Though there were a few toughies, like the Latin (at least, I think it was Latin) for “lower lip.” But I persevered, and got the win. FIR, so I’m happy.
+1 Comment at 8:00AM EDT, hmm.
I hope the news about Alec Baldwin and RUST is finally over. I am sorry for the victim but there never could be a winner here.
Oddly, it was the proper names that made this Saturday doable for me. ORRIS was fill in the NYT in June. CRONUTS was short lived fad. I like almost all nuts but not HAZLENUTS/FILBERTS.
Thanks Gary and Ricky (sounds like a band from the 70's).
Took 20:01 today. Spent about 5 of those minutes staring blankly and re-writing in the upper-right corner.
I didn't know the root or the nut, nor did I know the Latin or the French. I also didn't know the Jimmy Dorsey hit, but eventually got the Foo Fighters' one.
Have a good weekend.
DNF, leaving 4 squares blank. I also demonstrated my humanity with avONUTS and LOWER LId.
I would have filled in 1d had the clue been "womb broom, informally," instead of "soup strainer."
I didn't write in my first thought for a four-letter word for "number two."
Thanks to Ricky for the fun stretch exercise, and to H.Gary for another interesting review. (My favorite was BOONDOGGLE.)
FIR. Threw down boondoggle almost immediately and was off to the races from there. Only WAG taken was Talos and stache. The first was unknown, and the second made no sense. This from someone who sports a beard and mustache!
As a typical Saturday puzzle this was hard as expected, but perseverance saw me through.
Overall a fun puzzle and very enjoyable.
I got about 90% of this puzzle filled correctly before I had to resort to red letters and alphabet runs. I head-slapped myself so hard when I finally got the answer to “Brady Bunch Once” that I’m surprised I didn’t detach both of my retinas. And me, from New England, no less! Ditto for the answer for “Wicker Man for one” since I’ve seen that film a bunch of times. I was delighted to see the shout out to “Babe” which I saw decades ago and which remains one of the most delightful, uplifting films I have ever seen. A movie about a pig who aspires to become a sheep herder. What’s not to love? No one should allow themselves to die without having seen this wonderful film.
Saturdays are my favorite because I like the challenge and the feeling of accomplishment when done. This one played a little easier than usual until I hit the SE corner. I'm not up on my 50s hits and entered SOLARE - turns out I was thinking of Volare! And putting TAPSIN instead TAGSIN made SYNERGY undecipherable. Grrr...
FIR - a mostly fun quick fill (for me anyway as I take longer than anyone who puts their times down) but still with some wags. Much as I enjoy my father’s music including Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, I didn’t know the song or the orris root. Myth had to be replaced with pyre; next year, lifehack, and silver Fox took a bit to become clear even if I didn’t actually know the answers; and the combo of talos, cronuts, and stache had me tied up til the end. Some clever but doable fill. Thx.
Good Morning:
I'm surprised I was able to get a FIR on this head-scratcher, but due to the power of perps, it ended up being quite tameable. The number of unknowns, at first pass, were challenging, to say the least: Talos, Silver Fox, Were, Pyre, Next Year, Kevin, Lower Lip, CSN. But a chip here and a chip there led to a less than normal Saturday completion time. I think my only w/o was Repeats/Replays.
I never made the connection of Tom Brady and the Buccaneers until HG's expo, which I'll blame on a lingering fuzzy brain from a few days of sub-par health.
Thanks, Ricky, for an enjoyable solve and thanks, HG, for another stellar review, laden with dazzling and delightful visuals. I never get tired of seeing snippets from Casablanca or any reference to Better Call Saul. Enjoyed hearing the long-forgotten So Rare.
FLN
Monkey and Lucina, thanks for your kind concern but, as mentioned above, I was so befuddled and distracted that I didn't even attempt to solve sumdaze and CC's puzzle. Based on the favorable comments, though, I think I missed a fun and fresh offering. Congrats to the dynamic duo on another successful collaboration.
Have a great day.
All right. This CW was difficult but very doable. What I didn’t know, like the SILVER FOX, was guessable. Even the Latin phrase when studied carefully ended up being easy; my Latin classes were many, many years ago.
We had a clue with the word oris and an answer with ORRIS. Coincidence.
I see everyone seems to understand the connection between the Brady Bunch and BUCCANEERS, but I don’t.
The last to fall was STACHE. I’m not impressed. Yuk.
I agree with Anonymous @ 8:28 about the movie BABE. In fact, I had been toying with not eating meat before that time. The movie made such an impression on me, I definitely quit eating meat from that day on.
Thank you HG for a fine review.
Irish Miss ☘️ Glad to see you well enough to join us.
For a Saturday puzzle, this made for a pretty enjoyable almost solve. Better than my usual Saturday efforts. Down in flames in the Southeast corner, but closer than I usually get! Bring on the horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons! (Where close REALLY counts!)
FIR by the skin of my teeth and enjoyed it! A real test today. Dashing out -- looking forward to reading y'all later. Many thanks, Ricky and Husker Gary!
Monkey ~ Tom Brady was the quarterback of the Tamps Bay Buccaneers after his long tenure with the Patriots. Great clue! Notice bunch is not capitalized, in this case meaning his teammates.
This puzzle was easier than many Saturday puzzles, but there were enough unknowns to make it challenging. I FIR at the ORRIS/SO RARE natick. I didn’t realize the Dorseys had any hits during my lifetime.
I needed H.G.’s explanations for WERE- and PYRE and was unfamiliar with TALOS, the Achomawi people, and the names of any characters in “Up,” and AIDE was not my first thought for the “number two” clue. As I suspected at the time, it wasn’t Jinx’s first thought either. Hand up for “director” before NARRATOR for the Attenborough entry. I could tell right away that the Brady clue meant Tom (small ‘b’ in “bunch”), but I still wasn’t thinking about his second team until it perped. Gary and others thought it was more clever than I did.
But I liked a buncha stuff, including ’STACHE and LOWER LIP (though I didn’t anticipate Jinx’s reaction to those (LMAO). I also liked LONG-HAUL TRUCKER, THE BAR, and LATE NIGHT. I can even hum the complicated theme music for Conan’s version of that show, by the Max Weinberg Seven.
FILBERT is what Oregonians called em when I was growing up there. Family lore: My mother was very allergic to nuts, and she had the wrong kind of reaction when my dad kissed her after eating filberts.
Thank you Ricky Sirois for a Saturday stumper. Close, but no cigar -- missed it by one letter.
And thank you Husker for another fine review. I especially liked your example for 36D.
18A SILVER FOX. The name of old my Boy Scout patrol!
24A HERONS. Not just on the coast, but around large lakes as well.
29A BABE. Loved the sound track -- here's a medley from it. A 31A will make an appearance in a different film this coming Thursday!
34A LONG HAUL TRUCKER. It was too long to be a CSO to Chairman Moe.
48A ERR. If you interrogate an AI long enough it will eventually give itself away.
62A PYRE. Two priests are burned to death in an episode of Midsommer Murders called The Straw Woman.
1D STACHE. My Waterloo -- I just couldn't conjure this one up. I guess it's because I keep my STACHE so neatly trimmed (NOT!).
29D BUCCANEERS. Favorite clue!
34D LOWER LIP. My limited Latin helped me land this one.
35D OVER EASY. Teri poached 'em this morning.
36D NARRATOR. I rest the case I made in my comment to 48A.
Cheers,
Bill
I have been very much enjoying reading what you all have had to say. I liked the "Back to the Future" theme in yesterday's puzzle. Good wishes to you all.
Saturdays are often a bit challenging, but this one was still fun. So, many thanks, Ricky. And your comments and pictures were a pleasure, Gary, thanks for those too.
Well, I always look for a theme in puzzles, and this one had lots of possibilities but in the end there wasn't a whole lot of SYNERGY. There were kind references to figures that might be ADORABLE even if they were the SHYEST, and that might make them OVER-EASY. But hopefully none of them were ALL FOR IT, or GREEDY. Looks like they might have had pets, though not very ordinary, if they included a PIG and a SILVER FOX and some HERONS. The food was a bit odd too, although the CRONUTS and the FILBERTS and some SLOE would probably go pretty well with a glass of wine on a LATE NIGHT.
Well, time for lunch is coming up, so I'd best say goodbye.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Typical of a Saturday themeless for me, first scan over the grid only yielding a few confident fills, but that’s what I really enjoy, the thought processes necessary for a FIR which I managed in 35 minutes. Last fill took an A-run to get the T in the TALOS/STACHE cross. Thank you Ricky for the challenging puzzle today, and HG for your always entertaining and informative expo!
IM ☘️ ~ glad you are feeling better! Always look forward to reading your take on the CW, you are missed on the Corner with even a one day absence 😊
Jinx ~ I can always count on you for a couple grins everyday!
I finally finished a Saturday puzzle correctly. The NE was the hardest. Never heard of a FILBERT, the TV show Ed or its theme song NEXT YEAR, and the only SILVER FOX I knew of was Charlie Rich. My OAT became HAY and UCLA and BABE were WAGs. The NW wasn't much easier- TALOS and CRONUTS- unknowns.
WERE for 'shape shifting prefix'- new to this guy. As were NOAH, ORRIS, PYRE for 'Wicker man', KEVIN, LIFE HACK, LOWER LIP, SO RARE.
Most NCAA championships- Stanford must have them in sailing, golf, tennis. Tiger Woods, John McEnroe. There are 15 Olympic athletes who went to LSU competing in Paris. Only 5 are from the USA.
AL GORE- nothing like a politician having a book ghost-written in his name about a subject he knows absolutely nothing about. Now that's an "Inconvenient Truth".
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with several write/overs (or in the case of my Across Lite puzzle solving software - type/overs)
LOWER LIP took every imaginable alphabet run to complete. I was left with LO_ER LI_ before trying to fill in the last two letters. Obviously, PYRE and WERE (as clued) did not resonate with me. It wasn't until I focused on the clue word "labium" that LIP came into view
[spoiler alert] I use this labium reference in next Friday's puzzle recap ...
21:01 was what the timer said. I benefited from starting at the bottom and working up
Far too many clues that were misleading but that's what Saturday solving is all about
HG, I was surprised not to see your Nebraska Cornhuskers on that list of NCAA Natl Champs
IM, glad to see you're OK - my Friday July 19 blog is rife with ku's and l'icks, BTW
As others said, BUCCANEERS and BOONDOGGLE were two of my favorites. We always spoke of a BOONDOGGLE when it came to sales meetings held @ fancy resorts and/or client treatment of the same. My two biggest client BOONDOGGLES had to be:
1) attending the first 2 rounds of the 1997 Masters golf tournament (I invited a customer; we stayed at a private home; had catered meals at the house; played golf in the Augusta area; and had "reserved seating" @ hole #16)
2) taking a pair of customers to play golf at Pinehurst #2 just prior to its hosting the 2005 US Open Golf Tournament
Yep, a real prep walk today.
34D. The Latin “inferius” triggered inferior which led me to LOWER and filling the W below the LO I had entered previously. From there, LIP became obvious.
Thanks to Rick and HG.
Yooperphil. Thank you for the BUCCANEER explanation.
Chairman Moe
-Here’s all the universities and their rankings. My Huskers are tied at #30 with Villanova and UTEP
Thanks to Ricky for his Saturday challenge! I filled the grid but had a few "humanity demonstrations". Nevertheless, a fun effort. FAVs: LIFEHACK and "Stable diet"
Thanks to H-Gary for another terrific review! I needed you to make the WEREwolf connection. I do not think I have ever looked up the definition for SYNERGY, so thanks for that, too. Loved the ERR meme!
Hola!
Lots to do today and took one look at the puzzle's mostly white grid and knew I would not finish. But Latin served me well and LOWER LIP instantly fell in place as did the rest of the SW corner. Surprise! I continued and soon had about 75% filled. But those errands were not going to do themselves so I paused for a few hours.
Later I filled a few more, then more but came to a screeching halt in the SE corner. Brady's BUCCANEERS meant nothing to me (you all know my history with sports) but I knew it had to be right and so it was. Then as often as I've watched Trevor HOAH his name just would not come forward so ALEXA had to come to my assistance. It must be age related!
I hope you are all having a super Saturday and have survived Beryl.
Thank you, Gary! You cleared up a few foggy areas for me: ORRIS, LIFEHACK and though it perped, KEVIN.
Monkey, Yooper Phil, and Moe ~ Thank you. 😘
Hi All!
I had fun putting ink the little squares and was right much of the time (not that I emptied my pen / filled all the blocks :-))
Thanks, Ricky, for the diversion. Thanks, HG, for the extra nudges and expo.
WOs: SCAr -> SCAB, oat->HAY (HG nudge), bother (PESTER) started before I ran out of boxes.
Fav: BOONDOGGLE
//C.Moe - I've been treated to a few of those by vendors. They were fun but mostly pointless :-)
IM - glad you're coming out of the ailment.
Our power came back on yesterday at 5:54a (according to Ring camera that came back on-line). Only one other neighbor on the block has power - I can still hear whole-house generators across the street). BIL, SIL, & MIL are still on a generator powering a window unit & fridge; two cyber-team members still don't have power either. CenterPoint(Le$$) and Dan Patrick sh** the bed on this one.
HG - I see OU is #13th on the list. BOOMER SOONER!
Cheers, -T
Just now getting to the puzzle - visiting my son's family with an almost 3 year old and 3 week old granddaughters- so helping out starts early!
Fun Saturday puzzle which took a bit of P&P but then finished quicker than many Saturdays
I grew up with FILBERTS- but then as I got older heard of them as hazelnuts. I am a big Nutella fan combining chocolate and hazelnut together.
Big Easy - you are correct in Stanford winning championships in lesser known sports which add to the tally like cross country, water polo, fencing, gymnastics
The annual award used to be called the Sears Cup - but now it is called the Learfield Director's cup. Learfield is a sports marketing company that does media and licensing for over 200 colleges and universities across the country - it was started in my town Jefferson City, MO in 1972 by a dear friend Clyde Lear
https://www.learfield.com/history/
Thanks HG and Ricky!
Glad you are starting to feel better IM!
Ooooh! I see that I misspelled Trevor NOAH's name. Hmm. I wonder if I need to increase the strength of my readers?
heh, heh — it appears that both our minds inhabit the same drainage ditch, Jinx! 🤣👍🏽. ====> Darren
Nice challenge from Mssr. Sirois today, although I drew mostly blanks on my initial run-through. Got some li’l ’uns here and there, but zinged LONGHAULTRUCKER and that was the backbone for an eventual FIR.
Luckily, my wife and I REPLAYED “Up” on TV a couple of weeks ago, or I’d never have remembered that silly bird’s name. And although I never had a Latin class, for some odd reason I remembered “labia” has something to do with LIPs, which jump-started the SW for me.
As for the Brady bunch clue, the perps were suggesting BUCCANEERS all along — but do you think I made the connection immediately? Definitely a Homer Simpson moment…”Doh!!!”
Thanks for the vid clips, H.G. — gotta luv “Casablanca”; classic ending line!
====> Darren / L.A.
Thought "Turns the page" might be "knights".
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