Saturday Themeless by Rachel Fabi and Rebecca Goldstein
 |
| Rachel is a Associate Professor of Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University. |
 |
| Rebecca is a research scientist at Merck, developing cancer immunotherapies. |
1. Body suit?: SKIN π
5. Case study?: LSAT PREP π
13. To: UNTIL - My sub days run from 7:45 UNTIL/to 3:45.
15. "Heavens above!": OH ME OH MY.
16. Coming out of anesthesia, maybe: POST OP.
18. More effervescent: BOUNCIER - Not bubblier it turns out
19. People at a swap meet?: BARTERERS.
21. Source of child support?: KNEE π
22. Fell behind: LOST A STEP - Some think 40-yr-old Aaron Rodgers has LOST A STEP
24. Sudden-death NHL periods: OTS.
25. Couture initials: YSL.
27. Raised eyebrow, e.g.: ARC.
28. Hollywood haze: SMOG.
 |
| The result of a stay-at-home order |
30. More than half: MOST.
32. "This is kind of a big favor ... ": I HATE TO ASK.
37. Get ready to play: CUE UP - Dr. Johnny Fever is playing a record and CUEING up the next one
39. Main character energy: EGO.
40. Lippy: SALTY and 38. Lippy: PERT.
41. Fine print specialists: ART DEALERS - Any talk of fine art reminds me of our sorely-missed constructor and art curator Jeffrey Wechsler. Here he is amid what seems to be some 55. Works in a gallery: OILS.
44. "going afk": TTYL - I'm afk (away from keyboard), TTYL (talk to you later)
45. Dane of "Euphoria": ERIC.
 |
| Dr. Mark Sloan Cal Jacobes Grey's Anatomy Euphoria |
46. "Me, that's who!": I AM.
48. Letters on some kitchen gadgets: OXO.
49. The U.K.'s Auntie Beeb: BBC.
52. Tag-teams: TRADES OFF.
57. Offensive lines on the field: TRASH TALK.
 |
| Just fine, how are you? π |
59. Grin-and-bear-it philosophy: STOICISM.
61. Bring into harmony: ATTUNE.
63. Garam masala element: CINNAMON.
65. Becomes more inclined: STEEPENS.
66. Adult: LEWD.
Down:
1. [Raises eyebrows]: SUP.
2. Key turning point?: KNOB π
3. "You just have to show up": IT'S ALL SET - Uh, the devil is in the details
4. Cold brew variety: NITRO.
6. Shirley Jackson collection: SHORT STORIES ¯\_(γ)_/¯
7. "I'm bored! Fix it!": AMUSE ME.
8. X: TEN - Roman numeral
9. Scar: POCK.
10. Creature in a crash: RHINO - Learning for me
11. "Nice to __ you": virtual greeting: E-MEET - I suppose...
12. Funerary heaps: PYRES - Hear PYRE at 1:00
… The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral PYRE…
14. "__ luck!": LOTSA.
17. Washington Post columnist Alexandra: PETRI.
 |
| Clever title! |
20. Marine biologist posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter: RACHEL CARSON.
23. Cookware that may nest: POTS.
25. Where to go "when you're short on your dough," per a disco classic: YMCA - The official 1978 video.
26. Like some beer served in a tulip glass: SOUR.
29. Symbol in many Chagall paintings: GOAT ¯\_(γ)_/¯
31. Lip, informally: TUDE π
33. Life time: AGE.
34. High wind: ALTO FLUTE.
 |
| $2,300 |
35. Goddess of the underworld whose name means "shuddering": STYX - Also the river
36. Han's son: KYLO - I only watched the original, which turned out to be #4 in the chronology of the franchise.
42. When a pilot takes off?: AIR TIME - π When a TV pilot makes it on the air
 |
| The gang watching the pilot |
43. "RuPaul's Drag Race" winner Velour: SASHA
47. Apple product brand: MOTTS - None of all my computer products, just the item in my lunch box
50. Wiped out: BIT IT
51. Copy cats?: CLONE.
53. Apt rhyme for slams: DAMNS π - DAMNING something is a step up from merely slamming it
54. Catastrophic, as an error: FATAL.
56. Cosecant reciprocal: SINE - More than you'd ever want to 58. Feel in one's bones: KNOW.
60. Fitted __: CAP - Too small for me
62. Put a stop to: END - Okay...
I didn’t realize “Styx” was a goddess - I thought it was a river. Other than that, I didn’t have too much trouble with this puzzle, in spite of the many attempts at misdirection, reminiscent in some ways of my bane, the “cryptic” crossword (although not quite that bad,) Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteUnlike SubG, I struggled with this one. First pass only yielded about a half dozen, mostly unconnected fills, and I had to work from there. Somehow through a minor miracle, two walkaways and 1 hour and 6 minute solve time, I was able to FIR w/out help. Would like to know the seed entries Rachel and Rebecca used to create this elaborate grid, a very talented duo. They even included a SO to RACHEL.
ReplyDeleteHG ~ as usual, your review was a highlight of my Saturday morning! I’ve been wondering about Jeff Wex also, is he on a CW construction hiatus?
DNF. Filled 15, 12 correctly. At least I didn't linger. Looking at the completed puzzle, I'm glad I didn't spend any more time struggling.
ReplyDeleteAgreed
Delete19A had adulterers, made sense.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the SE, why is adult LEWD? π€·♂️
DeleteAs in adult movies, lewd.
ReplyDeleteFIR. I have a problem with lewd being adult, and since when is Styx a goddess instead of a river? Other than that this was a typical Saturday brain breaker with clever misdirection throughout.
ReplyDeleteAnd as I struggled with the puzzle I came to appreciate some of the clues. So overall, this was enjoyable. Quite hard, but enjoyable.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI struggled to the finish line in 49:01, using every once of P and P that I could muster. However, I couldn't muster even one ounce of satisfaction or enjoyment in the solve. This was, for me, a perfect example of too, too clever by half.
Thanks to Rachel and Rebecca for their efforts and thanks to our steady Saturday Sherpa for the always diplomatic and tactful observations. Thanks for featuring our much-missed Jeffrey Wechsler and for the infectious music of YMCA.
FLN
Welcome back, Moe. You did a great job on your analysis of the puzzle and your Cliff Notes on your trip were appreciated.
Have a great day.
No a snowball's chance in hell of finishing this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteLSAT PREP, SALTY no sassy, TRADES OFF, NITRO, Shirley Jackson, a crash if RHINOs, PETRI, SOUR beer, ERIC, GOAT, STYX the goddess, SASHA and any other drag queen, - no way to ever guess those.
At least I WAGGED a few unknowns as clued- CINNAMON, YSL, EMEET, RACHEL CARSON, and actually knew a few, YMCA, BBC, TTYL, BOSC, and TRASH TALK.
SAT ON- the media really sits on stories, especially when they have to admit they were totally wrong. Two huge things come to mind. Even got Pulitzers.
I BIT THE DUST on this one, oh, it's BIT IT-another unknown.
TTYL
Jeffrey weschler/sorely missed?
ReplyDeleteDid I miss someth8ng?
(Sounds like An obit...)
We haven't had any Jeffrey puzzles in a long time and that's why he's missed. Sorry for the confusion. π
DeleteThe constructors of this puzzle and I live in different worlds and speak a different language. I TITT, and reading HG’s nice recap, I’m glad I did.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to tomorrow’s CWS.
A nice piece of R & R! My experience was exactly like YooperPhil's - FIR in spite of erasing nearly every letter at least once. My dad always said to avoid people with long pencils and short erasers...now I guess I'm one of them!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya RB, my backspace key got a workout today. I thought it was a period and not a comma after the clue ‘Lip’, denoting an abbreviation, liposuction? which gave me TUCK and not TUDE, and I was way off on others too. π
DeleteYikes, threw in the towel, the kitchen sink and a breadbox for good measure. Only solid fill was the NE.
ReplyDeleteA “crash” of Rhinos? C’mon who makes up these collective noun type words? Are they the same in all languages or just our ego-centric English?
POTS: was looking for a brand. Could only come up with “fitted” sheet. Thought Persephone was goddess of the underworld and the river was STYX . Tried swingers for “swap meet people” almost fit π. Had BARTERERS but it didn’t cuz of wrong perps.
Didn’t realize RACHEL CARSON was a marinebiologist. No wonder her Spring was Silent. It was under water!
SOUR beer in a tulip glass, huh?
It’s a beautiful autumn Saturday 75 sunny with blue skies against the color of the changing leaves. I’m outta here.
Congrats to all of you who FIR π
Irish and Monkey pretty much summed it up for me, so I'll just Echo what they said! I really must try to figure out which alternate universe this originated in, and take precautions to never end up there!
ReplyDeleteWhat a slog. Not much fun at all..
ReplyDeleteAgreed
Delete14. Down: Does anyone remember Lotsa Luck, the Tumbleweeds cartoon character?
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those Saturdays that find me arriving at the Corner wondering if I was the only person to FIR.
ReplyDeleteIt took an hour, and it took so many WAGs that I started to grow a tail. But I knew enough about Rachel Carson, Shirley Jackson, and Mott’s apple juice to propel me to success. I ended up liking the body-suit/SKIN, KNOB, LOBES, PYRES, PERT, CLONE, and DAMNS, once I got over my doubts that word would appear. I figured out the crash of RHINOs, so I guess I liked that, too.
I did not like: LSAT PREP, BARTERERS, SALTY (as clued), the obscure ERIC, “tag-teams” as a verb, the “grin” part of the STOICISM clue, the obscure clue for CINNAMON, STEEPENS, everything about tulip glass entry, and – especially – the 1D clue and answer.
With one exception, entries with quotation marks had the usual negative effect on me: I HATE TO ASK, IT’S ALL SET, AMUSE ME and E-MEET, plus the vague clue for TTYL. But I’m kind of on the fence about my final fill, OH ME,OH MY, because one of our octet’s favorite songs in the UC Men’s Octet stockpile has this lyric: “Oh me a, oh my a, you really ought to try a little piece of The Princess Papuli ’s papaya . . .”
I was ready to concede defeat in the northeast, and decided to look up a clue: Shirley Jackson. Before that cheat, at 32 Across I had, "I HAvE TO ASK." After learning (for the moment) that Ms Jackson was an author, I changed the v to a T, giving me I HATE TO ASK, because I now wanted STORIES going down instead of SvORIES, which was giving me fits. From that cheat, I filled in the NE corner, but I still don't see how LSAT PREP is a "case" study. And BOUNCIER is a stretch for "more effervescent."
ReplyDeleteDNK "afk," Dane of "Euphoria," the Washington Post columnist, or the Drag Race winner. Also DNK that Styx was a goddess as well as a river. Further research reveals that her father was Oceanus. Her family was all wet.
Thanks to Rachel and Rebecca for the workout, and to Husker Gary for the post-workout stress relief. Needed that!
My only qualm is that while there is a limbic system (the paleomammalian cortex), it is not a "lobe." Frontal, Temporal, Parietal, and Occipital are the lobes.
DeleteOH ME, OH MY, a bit of a tough puzzle, but Saturdays are SUPposed to be tough, so thank you, Rachel and Rebecca. And your commentary and pictures are always helpful, thanks for those too, Gary.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, the worst negatives didn't appear until the end when we encountered TRASH TALK, and DAMNS, and LEWD, which required a bit of STOICISM. I kept thinking 'Come on, AMUSE ME,' and we also did get a bit of art with those SHORT STORIES, and the ART DEALERS, and some OILS, and music we had to ATTUNE with that ALTO FLUTE. By then I was ready for some food, but we only got those BOSC pears and some tastes like CINNAMON and SALTY and SOUR. Well, I'm ready for a nap.
Have a delightful rest of the day, everybody.
Red letters on all the way.
ReplyDeleteI had to do a lot of looking stuff up, especially "trivial pursuit" information such as:
ReplyDeleteDane of "Euphoria"
Shirley Jackson
Washington Post columnist Alexandra
and "RuPaul's Drag Race" winner Velour,
which also all happen to be specific proper names.
I was also stumped by the clues that are simply paraphrases of the answers, such as :
"Heavens above!"
"This is kind of a big favor ... "
"going afk"
"Me, that's who!"
"You just have to show up"
and "I'm bored! Fix it!"
I'll say it again: I really dislike that kind of cluing, and I have already explained why.
The fact that the very first two clues ended with a question mark turned me off right away.
The bottom line is I did not enjoy this puzzle at all. In fairness I tried to list here what I did like about this puzzle but there wasn't anything.
Now I will go back and read Gary's and all your postings.
Good reading you all.
ReplyDeleteEdward, Los Angeles:
ReplyDeleteafk, as in “ a f*****g knot”. , this puzzleπ€ͺ
Thank you, Rachel, Rebecca and Husker Gary.
ReplyDeleteMy clock says 2:09:33 (not actual solving time, as I was afk most of that time), but I got the win without help.
Hand up for trying bubblier before BOUNCIER
No idea on ERIC and PETRI. Perped them in.
I was thinking a crash was an animal in either a primate or avian group.
STYX - Also the band. The Steelers play part of the Styx song RENEGADE to fire up the crowd at home games. Only once a game now, and only on defense.
Growing up, we had three varieties of pear trees in the back yard. I loved the BOSC pears the best. So did the bees. The apple orchard also got pretty tough to mow in the fall when the fallen apples were rotting.
The top 4 rows were the hardest for me. Finally getting UNTIL and OH ME OH MY were the breakthrough answers. The NW fought me UNTIL the end. UNTIL forced me to change lock to KNOB. KNOB ruled out huh where SUP fit. KNOB also let me see it was BARTERERS which gave me the E in the unknown PETRI. POST OP was the last answer.
Yes, that was a tough puzzle for me. I like the puzzles that really challenge me. Especially when I complete them FTW.
Thanks to Rachel and Rebecca! Today was a DNF for me in the NE. Oof!
ReplyDeleteFAV: Clue for TRASH TALK. Crash was interesting, too.
In case anyone was wondering, "waS pASsEd" shares 4 letters and all consonant & vowel positions with LOST A STEP. I eventually worked it out.
I've read RACHEL CARSON but not Shirley Jackson.
Thank you, H-Gary! you saved the day!!
One of the worst puzzles ever.
ReplyDeleteI’d live to say “thanks” to R. & R., because there were some really clever clues (like “Key turning point” to get KNOB) and some pretty snazzy fills (TRASHTALK and AIRTIME), but then they went and ruined it all with obscure proper names and total garbage words like ‘SUP, TTYL and EMEET (that last one sounds like should be a digital steak π€£). Reading above, apparently I’m not alone in these opinions…
ReplyDeleteNote to the ladies: the phrase is “ate it”, not BIT IT, when you take a spill. Surfing, skiing, racing cars — I’ve never “bit it”, but I’ve “eaten it” plenty of times π
Hand up here, too, for throwing down “bubblier” for BOUNCIER; it even worked with the crash of RHINOs (but the perps said otherwise). Btw, @Ray-O, if you think English is weird doing all these terms, try Japanese; when counting different items, it uses different words for numerics, depending what one is counting! It uses one word for counting three dogs, but count three POTS and it’s another word for “three”! Totally bamboozled me back when I was trying to learn the language…
The one bright spot (as always) was Husker Gary’s review — yet did I detect a slight flavor of frustration even for you, fine sir? I applaud your tenacity!
====> Darren / L.A.
After finishing this latest constructor vanity project, I conducted an experiment. I pounded my thumb with a hammer for 20 minutes and decided that both endeavors were equally enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteπ€£ππ½ ====> D.
DeleteHola! Yowza! What clamorous comments on this puzzle. I did not finish it because I went to my book club meeting but afterwards I looked up the completed puzzle and I can understand the frustration. I believe I would have felt the same. If anyone completed it, congratulations! I hope your day was better that the solve.
ReplyDeleteI am with Sir Charles Echo and the Irish demoiselle. The worst 'clue' was that RuPaul thing, which was just dΓ© classΓ©.
ReplyDelete