Saturday Themeless by Carolyn Davies Lynch
Carolyn is a mother of four and a former CEO of Rocketship Public Schools and lives in San Carlos, CA.
1. Warby Parker array: FRAMES. You can go to their web site and Click on Home Try-On to try on their lenses virtually as they take your picture and let you see the frames on your face.
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| Waddaya think? |
7. Shipping inquiry: TRACER.
13. Wine gadget: AERATOR - What they do
15. Flow swiftly: COURSE - Blood COURSING through your veins (and arteries)
16. Like many Basquiat works: UNTITLED.
18. Swahili for "trouble": MATATA - Another palm slap after a few letters!
19. Baby gear that allows safe snuggling: CO-SLEEPER.
21. Booking.com option: MOTEL - Old MOTELS not near an interstate are being torn down like this one on Route 66 not I-44.
22. Some farm ruminants: EWES.
23. Takes steps?: PACES.
25. "In order to be, never try to __": Camus: SEEM - To me it says, "You Do You"
26. Bang-up stuff: TNT.
27. Product with a leprechaun mascot: LUCKY CHARMS - A nice easy fill in the middle of the puzzle.
29. Puts on the spot?: PARKS 😀
30. Privileged ones: HAVES.
31. Booties: RUMPS 😀 - The baby footwear was locked into my brain and I laughed out loud when I got the joke. Crossing RAMAYANA was no help!
32. Did a cobbler's job: SOLED - Shoed? Not so much.
33. Figure on Sweden's 100-krona note ($9.42): GARBO - Greta eventually made sense. Other Swedish icons on their currency
33. Figure on Sweden's 100-krona note ($9.42): GARBO - Greta eventually made sense. Other Swedish icons on their currency
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35. Refuse to help in the garden?: COMPOST PILE 😀- "REF yooss" not "ree FYOOZ"!
37. Soak (up): SOP.
40. Make sound: HEAL - Sound is used as an adjective here
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| Faith healer? |
41. Water choice: EVIAN.
42. "Wipeout" host John: CENA.
42. "Wipeout" host John: CENA.
43. So far: AS YET.
45. Great heights: ALTITUDES - The highest ALTITUDES on Everest have an ominous name
45. Great heights: ALTITUDES - The highest ALTITUDES on Everest have an ominous name
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| Rodney Dangerfield "slaying" Johnny Carson |
49. Least likely to pop open: TIGHTEST.
50. French endearment: MON AMI - Close enough...
51. "Toodles": CHEERIO - This British farewell predates the American cereal by many years
52. Boggy: SWAMPY.
53. Less likely to ramble: TERSER - The other speaker at Gettysburg was orator Edward Everett and he said of Lincoln's speech, "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."
Down:
1. Moen product: FAUCET.
2. Celebrity: RENOWN.
3. Creative gift: ART SET - I was content with my box of Crayola Crayons
4. Posts: MAILS - One posts a letter in England
5. Extension that makes something smaller?: ETTE.
6. Raison d'être: SOLE PURPOSE.
7. Old film channel: TCM - Turner Classic Movies recaptures Hollywood's Golden Era
8. Freedom to __: rights of public access: ROAM
9. Routinely insured against a crash: AUTO SAVED 😀 A computer crash not a financial one.
10. Collapsed dramatically: CRATERED.
11. Prizes: ESTEEMS - The verb not the noun
12. Domains: REALMS.
14. Prepares to go home: REPACKS - On the last January night of our field trip in Orlando, 100+ kids had to do this to go back home to winter in Nebraska.
17. Sets of slides: DECKS - A slide is a single page of a presentation. Collectively, a group of slides may be known as a slide deck.
20. "Video Games" singer Lana Del __: REY.
24. Time to enforce bedtime: SCHOOL NIGHT.
27. Italian ride, casually: LAMBO.
28. "The Little Mermaid" star Bailey: HALLE - Not HALLE Berry
29. Dessert ingredient also called ube: PURPLE YAM.
31. One of the two major Sanskrit epics in Hinduism: RAMAYANA - 🤔
32. __ nerve: SCIATIC - Starts up near your rump/bootie
33. Is underhanded: GOES LOW.
35. Deep fissures: CHASMS.
36. FDR power project: TVA - Harry Truman dedicates the huge TVA Kentucky Dam in 1944. He said “It is common sense hitched up to modern science and good management. And that’s about all there is to it.” TERSER than most politicians.
37. Meals that tell a story of liberation: SEDERS - The SEDER plate
38. Bodysuit: ONESIE.
39. Tacos al __: PASTOR - "Shepherd style"
42. More likely to win the annual Gerber Photo Search, perhaps: CUTER.
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| The original Gerber baby Ann Turner Smith in 1928 and 90 years later |
46. You, once: THEE - I'm betting there is a large number of peeps in our group who can recite most or all of this lovely poem.
48. Like some reno projects: DIY - Hmmm...
Notes from C.C.:
Happy 77th birthday to dear waseeley (Bill), our faithful and caring Sherpa on Thursdays. Hope you and Teri are having a great time in Ohio, Bill.
36 comments:
Well, I admit it. The top left part (what do you call that, Northeast?) remained opaque to me, so I turned on the red letters. Then I got it. So it’s either FIW or FIRWH (with help). I’m not particularly happy about that but I am happy to be here with you folks and see if some of you did better than I did. Blessings!
SubG ~ the top left would be the NW, which is where I got my foothold this morning, unlike yesterday 1A and 1D came easy (coincidentally FRAMES was the theme yesterday). I breezed along counterclockwise on a personal record pace till the NE gave me pause, then with a couple letters filled I sussed MATATA, which was also In yesterday’s grid, at 22:17 I got the congratulatory message. Ramayana was entirely perped, wasn’t familiar with a COSLEEPER, and didn’t understand COMPOST PILE till Gary explained it, PASTOR as clued was also unknown, and I didn’t equate LINO as short for linoleum. All in all a very enjoyable themeless, thank you Carolyn for the grid and Patti for the editing.
HG ~ thanks for your in depth review, your Saturday blog is always a treat! I think you may wanna try out a few different FRAMES 😂.
Good morning!
Twasn't to be. Like Husker, d-o had baby shoes stuck in his brain and _U_PS made no sense. Sucessfully wagged the M, but not the R. Devilish clue. Also tried THou before THEE dropped in. COSLEEPER was (and still is) an unknown, but the perps demanded it. This puzzle was definitely Saturday-worthy. D-o was not. Thanx, Carolyn and Husker. (Those Warby Parker frames are definitely you.)
HBD waseeley, you sly young man.
Oops I failed to mention ~ wishing a very happy b/day to our esteemed Thursday blogger waseeley! 🥂🥳
Another “close but no cigar.” Ultimately, the northeast did me in. And it took an alphabet run to finally get “rump” since I, too, couldn’t get baby socks out of my head. Still, all in all a fun puzzle with some great cluing resulting in many head slaps.
Took 15:42 today for me to give this one the boot.
I struggled in the area with the Sanskrit epic, the Swedish figure (today's actress!), the French endearment, and the purple yam. Slowly and steadily though, I was lucky enough to figure it out.
The Swahili/roam/tracer area was a problem too. I've only heard of tracking or tracker, not tracer, and "freedom to roam" isn't a phrase I'm familiar with, although I'm sure someone, somewhere, at some time has written it before. "Cosleeper" was new to me.
Happy Birthday to Waseeley - I hope he enjoys Bela Fleck tonight at Blossom Music Center.
FIR. The NW was the last to fall since a cosleeper was unknown to me and untitled just wouldn't come.
I love the clever cluing for rumps. I too was in infant mode when I read the clue and threw down shoes. Wrong!
I'm a tad confused about "mon ami". It means "my friend" in French and I don't think of it as an endearment.
But being a Saturday, and having finished, I feel pretty good.
Good Morning:
For the first time in a very long time, my P and P failed me and I just TITT in frustration with the NE quadrant. Auto saved is unknown to me and the non-specific cluing for Course, Cratered, Tracer, Roam, plus the Swahili reference and the unnecessarily difficult cluing for Seem were all too much for me, ergo, a rare DNF. Other problem areas, but ultimately solved, were Co Sleeper, Ramayana, Pastor, Decks, and Spilt. Soled was a nose wrinkler. I thought the cluing and fill was a mixture of clever and exciting vs too deceiving and obscure. Personal opinion based on personal knowledge and experience, of course.
Thanks, Carolyn, and thanks, HG, for the usual fun, facts, and frolicking. Enjoyed all of the striking visuals, which alwad add so much context to the expo. As far as those frames you're sporting, my vote is a resounding Nay! Thanks, also, for the mini bio of Carolyn.
Happy Birthday, dear Bill, I hope you celebrate in grand style! 🎂🎈🎉🎊
Have a great day.
Alwad, autocorrect? Always is better, I think.
This was a steady solve with a few challenges along the way
FRAMES and FAUCET came quickly as I knew both of the brands
Fun that we recently had Hakuna in a puzzle and now MATATA - my kids were young during "The Lion King" era - so those songs are etched in my brain
My son and DIL have a COSLEEPER - I just didn't know what it was called - good for having a newborn near but not actually in bed with you. Co-sleeping on the other hand is having baby (and up to the whole family) in bed with you - which has been associated with SIDS in the under 6 month crowd
My son in DC who is a consultant is always putting together DECKS for presentations
Thanks HG for the blog and Carolyn for the puzzle
Happy birthday to Bill!
FIW - due to one measly square! Although Ramayana seemed correct, certainly booties closest fill would have to be pumps since at least a pump is a shoe, right? And rumps is certainly not a shoe - Never thinking of the slang term for rear end!!!! Had it not been for that, this was the fastest and easiest Saturday I’ve seen in forever! Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty I didn’t know, but crosses and logic helped me with untitled, cosleeper, Matata, Garbo (finally realizing she was Swedish!), and that there must be another Halle! Make sound had me for a long time too, along with Lambo (never ever heard it shortened like that?) and purple yams. Never enjoyed yams! Otherwise, fun stuff!
Phew! I FIR, but, but, I had to look up the products clued in 1A and 1D. But that was later.
First I ROAMed from one clue to the next, and the grid remained blank except for a few plural S letters. Then I reached the RAMAYANA, and suddenly the South CRATERED. Somehow all fell into place and I kept COURSing North until I was back in the NW and once I had looked up those two product brands I had conquered this beast.
When I first saw the grid, I was attracted by its elegance.
There were lots of unknowns but perps and WAGS came to the rescue. I too don’t consider MON AMI a term of endearment. At first I had entered Cherie.
Not only yesterday’s theme was FRAMES, it we also had MATATA clued differently.
Thank you HG for a great recap to accompany this fine puzzle.
Happy Birthday to Waseely. 🎊🎂🎉🎁
I don’t know where that extra it came from. Sorry.
An excellent challenge, but alas, the NE corner did me in.
No idea on the Lion King clue/answer, and although I contemplated ROAM for the unknown phrase I stuck with hOTEL instead of MOTEL. I also had no idea on the Camus quote. What really messed me up was sticking with ruptured instead of cratered.
Not that the rest of the puzzle was easy, but the NE corner was a bear.
Gotta run.
This one nearly stumped me, but I ultimately FIR in decent time, on paper, no cheating. I guess I've read about pros and cons of co-sleeping with infants, but wasn't familiar with COSLEEPER. Thanks for the visual, Husker Gary! I thought I was onto something when I put HEAr for "make sound," but it turned out to be HEAL. As others have mentioned, it took a while for "booties" to be bottoms. And I don't think I've encountered PURPLE YAM in desserts AS YET.
Thanks to Carolyn for a surmountable challenge, to Patti for editing, and to Husker Gary for explaining it all. CHEERIO!
Wow this was tough. I had a special advantage, since RAMAYANA was a gimme. Not sure how anyone else solved that area. Hand up I was amused when I grasped the meaning of REFUSE. DW has a COMPOST PILE for most of our REFUSE. And we live in a condo. Hand up having MATATA and FRAMES recently helped. Last to fill was GARBO/LAMBO to FIR.
Here I was among the performers of the RAMAYANA in Bali, after their performance.
I shared this photo once before, two years ago.
Husker Gary Thank you for the many illustrations and learning moments. I did not know that about the Gettysburg Address.
Is it just me or are the paintings of BASQUIAT hideous and lacking in ART skill? One of his UNTITLED skulls, like the one shown, sold for over $100 million. I should add that the artist did not have an especially tough life. My own DW is an artist and she really did walk past many a skull on her long walk to school. Her art is not hideous.
One of my patients is originally from the Phillipines and she always brings me PURPLE YAM pastries to her visit - Yummers!
https://foodaciously.com/recipe/ube-hopia
Happy Birthday, Bill! Enjoy Bela.
The puzzle was challenging but, ultimately, sussable.
Cosleeper? Co mon, man!
FIR, but I "refused" to read "refuse" correctly. Finally it dawned on me. Enjoyable puzzle that wasn't overly difficult. GC
FRAMES and MATATA, a couple of holdovers from Friday’s puzzle, got me off to a good start, and I managed to FIR despite some major unknowns. Perps helped, and so did “purps,” the words PURPLE and PURPOSE.
CO-SLEEPER was the worst of the unknowns (the contrived perp ART SET didn’t help), and the word “snuggling” in the clue threw me off in a puzzle in which I had already found the Gerber Baby and ONESIE and was perceiving “booty” as a third baby-wear entry. Then LAMBO occurred to me, begetting RUMP.
The clues created other unknowns, like the slides/DECKS and the contorted clue for PARKS. I had trouble sussing HEAL, as clued. And who has linoleum anymore, or calls it “lino?” Major aggro!
I probably should have been familiar with the “freedom to ROAM” concept, but I wasn’t. I was familiar with tacos al PASTOR and LUCKY CHARMS -- and Warby Parker, for that matter. I got the “refuse” pun quickly for COMPOST and waited for perps to present the PILE. DW still refers to any eve before work as a SCHOOL NIGHT.
And I certainly knew SCIATIC nerve, as does anyone who has ever had problems with theirs.
The puzzle was painful at times, but I grudgingly admired it.
FIR rather quickly for a Saturday, and I can't even say it was in my wheelhouse. Lots of unknowns but the perps were fair so it played out nicely.
Fav clue: 35A Refuse to help in the garden. Least fav: 31D All over the lino. Thought it was a typo until I inferred linoleum, but I've never called it that. Looked it up and it's British slang. I guess constructor threw a bone to our friends across the pond after numerous comments about the amount of American slang in puzzles nowadays.
Puzzling thoughts:
FIR with just one "look-up"; confirmation, actually
A couple of write-overs: HOTEL/MOTEL; MARKS/PARKS
I needed alphabet runs to solve a few of the more difficult clued words: CRATERED/COURSE plus others
Raison d'etre is something I had seen in print but did not know the meaning (my look-up)
29:00 total solving time, but have I ever mentioned that I am a slow and error-prone typist?
HBTY, waseeley
Thanks to Carolyn and Gary for the puzzle and recap - oh, and Gary, don't buy those FRAMES
For me, this was a very difficult puzzle, and I only completed it by asking Google’s help with GARBO , so I FIWH (with help) and can’t claim FIR. I was sure I’d have to give up when I first plodded through line after line with no clue. Finally, I got a little toehold in the southeast and slowly, slowly (like the sloth) managed to fill in all the answers. Many of Carolyn’s clues were delightfully tricky, such as COMPOST PILE and RUMPS. I fell into the hotel/MOTEL trap which held up ROAM for too long. And in a major faux pas, I wrote in magic/LUCKY charms, which screwed everything up until my brain unscrambled, enabling me to immediately fill in several down words.
Despite my struggles, I thought this was an excellent, intelligent, creative puzzle, and I look forward to duking it out with Carolyn in the future.
As always, I enjoyed HG’s tour. Yes, as do others, I love the Barrett Browning poem, and I recited it to Jack the night before we were married forty years ago.
I forgot to say Happy Birthday and Many More to Waseely.
Fastest Saturday solve in years. SEEM, RAMAYANA, RUMPS, REY, HALLE, PASTOR-those came from perps. No other problems.
Tough sledding today. Managed to get started in the SW with SWAMPY/DIY Then SOP and SEDER gave a toehold in the SE. Parlayed all that upwards 'till LUCKYCHARMS opened the way to the NE. Went wit TCM over amc the movies which proved to be correct choice.
FAUCET and TNT helped to get started in the NW. Pulled the AERATOR out of the air and I assumed that the slide sets they referenced in 17D were the ones that went in a projector DECK.
Thanks to Carolyn and Gary for their respective contributions to today's fun. Happy birthday to Bill.
North By Northwest is the way to Alaska.
Grunt.
DNF, filling 49 of the possible 62. Trouble near Mojave and Syracuse did me in. One fill was wrong, know instead of ROAM. Neither is a right, at least in the terms of the US Constitution. (The recent trend to make anything a group wants a "right" is a pet peeve of mine. The "right" to get health care paid for by taxpayers is an example. We could have a discussion about whether it is a good idea, but it is not a right. Then there's the Beastie Boys' (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party).)
Ironically, we stopped to fuel up at a Loves truck stop this morning, and the special of the day was tacos al PASTOR. I didn't try them.
I think I've mentioned this before, but more people die descending Everest than ascending. And far more people have successfully climbed Everest than have sailed around the world alone.
Thanks to Carolyn for the challenge. Hand up for "refuse"->COMPOST PILE being my favorite. I appreciate a puzzle that is beyond my reach, as long as it is fun. And this one was. And thanks to H.Gary for another fun review.
Happy birthday to Bill. I don't understand why you are just a few years older than me, but twice as handsome and four times as distinguished.
Hola!
Happy birthday, waseeley! Nice photo!
Finished but had several errands and duties to attend to in between. However, the extra time to think led me to a successful solve. ALEXA helped me only with GARBO. No way would I have thought of her but it makes sense. Of course, we used Krona in Sweden but that was over 20 years ago. A lifetime!
Thank you, Carolyn and Gary for a nice Saturday respite. Now I have to get ready to go. My niece is hosting a farewell party for her youngest son who is going to Colorado on a baseball scholarship. I have great expectations for him and someday you may hear of him on a pro team. An auntie can dream!
One of my granddaughters is an aspiring artist and I have often gifted her with a similar art supply set though not quite so extensive.
TEETERED gave way to CRATERED and helped me finish the NE in due COURSE. MATATA followed soon after. The NW corner was the last to fall but fall it did I'm happy to say.
I hope you are all enjoying your Saturday!
As Copy Editor said, "The puzzle was painful at times, but I grudgingly admired it."
I was remiss earlier.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WASEELEY!
Hi All.
NE was a pain in the RUMP and my downfall today (and I see I'm in good company with IM & TTP!). TARIFF went in at 7a ('cuz I had FIELDS at 12d based on 21a hOTEL) and it never came out. Other error was mARKS for PARKS (I was thinking stage-direction / where to stand / "hit your MARK" (spot)). Oh well, I did pretty good (for me) on a Sat so, to quote SubG, I'm happy.
Full disclosure, I did ask DW if she knew what Warby Parker was - I was thinking pen company but she told me glasses.
Thanks Carolyn for (what I assume is) and easy Saturday puzzle.
Thanks HG for the mighty-fine review. Funny, backsides was my 1st thought at Booties ;-)
WOs: CuddlE _P_R -> COSLEEPER, walks -> PACES, hitS LOW b/f COMPOST added help.
Favs: POST == Mail, Refuse to help in the garden (nailed it!), and EVIAN's clue.
Then, of course, there's the LAMBO [SNL - 4:20 (get past the first Rap. It gets better. I promise.)]
I finally got GARBO 'cuz I was pretty sure DumBO wasn't on their currency (Disney would sue the heck of 'em ;-))
Happy Birthday waseeley! I always enjoy your expos and our off-blog comms.
Cheers, -T
Delightful Saturday puzzle, Carolyn--very enjoyable, many thanks. And thank you too for your helpful commentary, Husker Gary. I especially loved those photos of the Gerber baby, thanks for that especially.
Have a fun and enjoyable weekend, everybody!
I gotta agree with Jinx on this one. It beat the daylights outta me, but in a friendly kinda way!
Anyone who has children at home likely has watched the Lion King numerous times; at least that is the case with my grandchildren, so MATATA emerged as clearly as the sunrise.
Limo and SPILT are both Brit idiom (or whatever they’re called!)
====> Darren
Only thing that saved my arse on this one was perpage (is that even a word…?). After getting all confident from quick-ripping the FRAMES and FAUCET intersect, I was staring at a sea of blank squares until I ran into LUCKY CHARMS; I’ve never eaten the stuff, but years of seeing their TV spots has embedded that sugar-laden swill in my brain (along with that toucan from Fruit Loops…). There came my foothold, and I somehow managed to FIR — but not before coming to a screeching halt in that NE quadrant. Yikes. If it hadn’t been for having MATATA in the cw from the other day, I might’ve been stranded and thrown this into the COMPOST PILE — but that got me rockin’ grinning’ again. Fun solve!
However, the only co-sleeper I know is my lovely bride…
Another entertaining recap from the illustrious Husker G. — and a big Happy B-day to Mssr. Waseely 🎂🎉
====> Darren / L.A.
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