Themeless Saturday by Rich Norris
Rich is back again with a puzzle that kept me going for way too long. MOLIERE and TOVAH were my last two entries among the slew of names. 
Some of Rich's cluing was cruel and unusual! Okay, I got 'em but laughed when I saw how they fit for my hard-earned "got 'er done".
1. Attractive bar, say: INSPOT - NYC's INSPOT of the 70's. Yeah, I went with magnet first.
7. New parent, maybe: STEP DAD - Mike was a new parent to half the bunch
14. Big star: POP IDOL.
16. French Tony equivalent: MOLIERE - MOLIERE is considered to be France's Shakespeare and 36. Cover name: ALIAS - Moliere was born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, but changed it to his one-word pseudonym.
17. Significant tennis term: OPEN ERA - It started in 1968 when pros were allowed into The Grand Slam events.
18. Reveals: EVINCES - It was good enough for Thomas Jefferson.
20. Cub Scout leader: AKELA - Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement, chose the wolf AKELA from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book to be its leader.
23. Sword holder: SHEATH - More info
24. Brit's clothespin: PEG - This is also what some people call a golf tee
25. Letters for a seaside vacation: SPF - Sun Protection Factor
28. Hieroglyphic figures: ASPS.
29. "Lost" antagonist: ETHAN.
31. Carmichael who composed "Heart and Soul": HOAGY - Like others, I learned the right hand only version of HOAGY's classic tune
33. "Jingle Bells" preposition: OER - ... OER the fields we go...
35. Display area: SHELF.
37. Computer add-on?: ESE.
38. Go a-wassailing: CAROL - There is hot cider (wassail) being consumed and CAROLLING going on below
39. Honorary Oscar recipient in 1955: GARBO - The reclusive actress never came to accept it
40. Old young king: TUT 😀 - Howard Carter's discovery of TUT's tomb was financed by Lord Carnarvon, the actual occupant of Downton Abbey (Highclere Castle) in 1922 .
42. Unpolished: CRASS.
43. Play thing: PROP - For the very few peeps who do not recognize this famous PROP from the movie of the same name, the answer is at the bottom of the write-up. *
45. Overnight development: DEW - 😀 We early golfers are sometimes called DEW sweepers.
46. Mil. defense letters: ABM - Anti Ballistic Missle system
47. Place for many a last-minute purchase, casually: C-STORE - Or so many others...
51. Lyon's river: RHONE - Originates in the Swiss Alps and empties into the Mediterranean
52. Composer/conductor Lukas: FOSS - Everything you want to know
56. Pope who was a patron of Michelangelo and Copernicus: PAUL III - Pope Julius II forced Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo did The Last Judgement for PAUL III in the same room.
58. "Nice one!": YOU ROCK.
60. Triage pro: ER NURSE.
61. Strike goal, perhaps: MORE PAY.
62. Sandal features: T-STRAPS.
63. Fails to act: SITS BY - If you were among the many millions who watched the finale of Seinfeld, you know they went to jail for failing to act to help a man getting robbed.
Down:
1. Certain market launches, for short: IPOS - Initial Public Offering of stock
2. "Try again": NOPE.
3. Brief detail: SPEC.
4. __ glass: PINT.
6. Five-book scrolls: TORAHS.
7. Troutlike fish: SMELT.
 |
| Rainbow SMELT |
8. Actress Feldshuh: TOVAH - I never knew her name but remember her playing a "tough as nails" defense lawyer Danielle Melnick in Law And Order
9. One "ManningCast" host: ELI - Peyton and ELI Manning bookend Will Ferell
10. "Trouble" Grammy winner: PINK.
11. Figured out: DECIPHERED - Alan Turing and his colleagues did some of the most important DECIPHERING in human history in Hut 8 during WWII.
12. Lead-in to a secret: ARE WE ALONE. 😀
13. Problem that may be confused with operator error: DESIGN FLAW - Uh, there is this one issue with your new Pinto
15. One of several artists nicknamed for where they lived: LAKE POET - More
21. Approaches carefully: EASES UP TO.
23. Indisputable decisions: SAY SO'S - I am married to the person who has the SAY SO around here
25. Big pile on the floor: SHAG CARPET - 😀 A necessary accessory for big pile SHAG CARPET in the 70's.
26. Club members who break the ice with splashy entrances?: POLAR BEARS - Yikes! Not a club I am anxious to join.
27. Negotiation objective: FAIR AMOUNT - Ask for too much and hope to get somewhere in the middle
29. Get away: ESCAPE.
30. Seagoing adverb: THAR - Adverbs can tell where, like this version of there.
32. Natters: GABS.
34. Snail mail, e.g.: RETRONYM.
44. Cereal promoted by the Creme Team: OREO O'S.
47. Burning result?: CRISP - I'm at an 8 or 9
48. Backs (away): SHIES.
50. Arc on a score: SLUR.
52. Violin's lack: FRET 😀
53. Slip indicator: OOPS.
54. Sign of healing: SCAB - Tina Fey got a SCAR on her chin when she was 5 years old
55. Finlandia rival: SKYY.
57. Yo La Tengo guitarist Kaplan: IRA - I Have It in English. A definite Saturday IRA in this onslaught of name from Rich or Patti. This IRA was number 12 on this list of famous IRA's
59. The Rams of the Atlantic 10, briefly: URI - A good guess for an Atlantic Coast School
From l to r, that is Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Mary Astor and Sidney Greenstreet perusing the Maltese Falcon.
Never heard a convenience store called a “c- store.” And there were several other “tricky” answers like that. But, anyway, through P&P I managed to solve this (mostly) fair puzzle. FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteWell, my fairly long string of FIR came to an end this morning, done in by the likes of TOVAH, MOLIERE, ETHAN, et al. Had the west filled in a half hour and took a break, came back and filled the SE correctly with perps and WAGs, an hour in I still had 23 blanks in the NE and I TITT. Just didn’t have the innate knowledge to even come close. I did like the clue for SHAG CARPET and HG’s write-up but not much else. Congrats to those who succeed on this one! I hope I have better luck when I go “dew sweeping” this morning.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteMOLIERE and ER NURSE came to me immediately, and broke open the NE and SW corners. On the other hand, LAKE POET and RETRONYM took lotsa perps before they appeared. Don't recall ever hearing C-STORE; is that a common expression? Nice to see Rich Norris back for an encore. This one was tough, clever, ultimately fair. Husker, enjoyed your tour through the grid.
DNF. Filled 17 entries, only 12 correctly. But that was enough for me to mispel an answer I knew - lookin' at you, HOgie. (Maybe I'm just hungry.)
ReplyDeleteWhen I read "big pile on the floor," I thought Rich must be housebreaking a Great Dane or an Irish Wolfhound puppy.
Congrats to those who FIRed this challenge.
FLN, no one asked me, but to Darren and MalMan, for me it was Hermosa Beach, San Pedro, Santa Monica, Topanga, and finally Canyon Country before moving to Phoenix.
Ah, @Jinx, you’ve moved around a lot more than I have; except for a short stint in the Islands, it’s been West L.A. and then here in The Ditch (Valley) the last 30 years! Wi$h I could still be on the other side of the hill (it’s 114° in North Hills today…again).
Delete====>. Darren / L.A.
I’ve been doing crossword puzzles for decades and I can’t recall one that gave me less joy than this one. One proper name after another of people I’ve never heard of. Apparently the editor was on vacation when this was submitted. On a MUCH happier note, my son is home from UNH for the weekend. I’m happy. My wife is happy. The dogs are happy. Once I get the sour taste of this puzzle out of my mouth, all will be right with the world.
ReplyDeleteLUKAS FARR was the only very obscure name for me, though C-Store was unknown as clued it is not just an inferable reference to Convenience-STORE but an actual brand name. We have two in South Florida, one 17 miles north of me, one 17 miles south of me. I have never seen either. I never knew there was a name for hieroglyphics but knew the Maltese Falcon.
ReplyDeleteI found the down fill mostly very easy for a Saturday - thank you Rich and Gary
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteI knew I was in for a struggle when I saw Rich's byline, and I was proven correct. Not only was it a struggle, it was a TITT at the NE corner. I didn't know Foss, URI, Oreo Os and was stuck on Strike goal as being hockey or soccer related, and I was never going to come up with Let's By. Coming up with Oops was a miracle in itself. I like a challenging Saturday puzzle, but I also like a little more solver-friendly perps and a little less solver stumping cluing.
Thanks, Rich, and thanks, HG, for the critique and the usual array of striking visuals. Reading Thomas Jefferson's eloquent words, written in such beautiful penmanship, was a special treat in these days of TLDR! 😉 I, too, remember Tovah Feldshuh from L & O, plus many other shows and Broadway roles. I'm a 7 or 8 on that bacon scale. (There's nothing more off-putting than under-cooked bacon! Yuck!)
Have a great day.
Thank you, Rich, and thank you, Husker Gary.
ReplyDeleteIt took a while, but that was a challenge that I greatly enjoyed.
OOPS, I had mOPS for slip indicator!
It was only after the screen flashed and I looked again did I notice that filling in that erroneous M gave me FmSS instead of FOSS. D'oh! I never knew of FOSS.
Lead in to a secret - I held on to CAN YOU KEEP too long.
Also had EASES UP on before EASES UP TO. On held up C STORE and RHONE.
I knew of MOLIERE because of a crossword I blogged many moons ago. Plus, Old Man Keith wrote a number times of playing the lead characters in a number of Moliere's plays.
HG, great image for "Problem that may be confused with operator error: DESIGN FLAW" !
Correction, SE Corner.
ReplyDeleteTITT. When I have to look up more than six or seven names, that’s when I know a CW is not for me.
ReplyDeleteI did manage to finish the whole west side, but the rest fell by the wayside.
Thanks HG for a nice review.
See you all tomorrow.
What does TITT stand for?
DeleteTITT = Toss In The Towel, an apt idea for this monster of a puzzle.
DeleteClues of obscurity led to an exercise in futility. Excessive cleverness typically ruins the crossword experience.
ReplyDeleteI started doing crossword puzzles 45 years ago while laid up with a broken leg but puzzles like this make me want to quit. I don't mind a few proper names and obscure clues but not a puzzle full of them. I'm not smart enough and don't bother watching trivial shows. I'll start with what I've never heard.
ReplyDeleteMOLIERE, ETHAN or Lost, C STORE, RETRONYM, TOVAH Feldshuh, Morning Cast, "Trouble". (I've heard of PINK), Lukas FOSS, IRA Kaplan, OREOOS- might as well be names in Urdu or Farsi. Then I started guessing the wrong words for clues.
SDI- nope, it ABM
STAGE?- Uh uh, it ARENA
REM? It's DEW
DODO? KIWI
ELAPSE for ESCAPE
VMI, then MIT for URI
ARSON instead of CRISP
URBAN II, wrong pope; PAUL III
HOGEY Carmichael- misspelled
My SHAG was some type of RUG, not CARPET
DW's good friend and sometime tennis partner Peggy made it to the third round of the US Open at Forest Hills in 1963 before the OPEN ERA. (She also taught math to ELI, Peyton, and OBJ, Jr. at Newman School before she retired.) All were amateurs but the top players always got money from somebody. Another member of the club played three years at Wimbledon, Paris, and Forest Hills.
ER NURSE- my granddaughter is one at UMC in NOLA, one of the busiest ones in the USA with the most gunshots and stabbings(even more than Chicago).
TITT. WAY above my pay grade. A shining exhibition of the obscure and arcane.
ReplyDeleteWell, I took up the gauntlet, but ultimately went down in flames. There was a Pope down in the SW who stopped me in my tracks, as well as elsewhere the crossing of CSTORE and OREOOS.
ReplyDeleteBut for me there was much to appreciate in Rich's Saturday challenge. It's not often I see Lukas Foss, for instance, in crosswords. Underrated musician whose cantatas have been an adventure for me to sing.
And Hoagy Carmichael! Not only a Tin Pan Alley songwriter extraordinaire, but also a bemused actor in such films as "The Best Years of Our Lives," "Topper," and "To Have and Have Not."
I personally enjoyed Rich's reminder of the French Moliere awards. Difficult to solve in a crossword? You bet. But hey, today is a Saturday, right?
Thanks, Rich, for a solidly constructed and challenging Saturday-appropriate puzzle.
Well! Once I settled to this puzzle as a tutorial - not a gimme - I enjoyed the learning!! Thanks for the challenging puzzle and the informative write-up!! I live to puzzle another (?easier) day! We're riding out the heat wave here in So Cal - but it’s not as unending as Arizona’s 100+ days of 100+ temps!! Stay Cool, Y’all!
ReplyDeleteTough, but still fun Saturday puzzle--many thanks, Rich. And thanks, too, for your helpful commentary, Gary.
ReplyDeleteWell, I bet that STEP-DAD wanted to become a POP IDOL during this OPEN ERA (in tennis, and elsewhere) where I 'd bet he EVINCES a FAIR AMOUNT of effort that might earn him some MORE PAY. After he's done with all that he could just relax and become a LAKE POET, and chomp some OREOS, and play with some new pet POLAR BEARS on a beach by the RHONE. Not a bad life, I would say.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
FIR so I guess I'm in the minority today. Although I didn't know most of the names either, they slowly fell into place by making educated guesses. I finally gave up with the NE unfinished, then went to lunch.
ReplyDeleteAs it often happens, when I picked it up again an hour later, certain letter combinations suggested new words I hadn't thought of previously. With a new foothold, I stumbled my way to the finish line.
There's a fine line between hard and bad, and IMO this is over the line and way into BAD territory. So many obscure names, so few interesting answers, nowhere to get any momentum in the NE or SW corners. And why in the world would you clue ETHAN as ["Lost" antagonist] in 2024??? That show is famous for having a million characters like half of whom are antagonists (and also at least one POLARBEAR(S) - was Rich on a "Lost" rewatch when he wrote this?), so there's no way to narrow it down, but more importantly: "Lost" ended more than a decade ago! Pick a more interesting clue! This feels out of character for the LAT, harder even than today's NYT and just no fun.
ReplyDeleteHand up I found this extremely difficult for all the reasons others have shared. Notably, absurd clusters of crossed names and obscurities. Last to fill for me was cross of LAKE POET/AKELA/TOVAH. I have a friend TOVA, which helped a bit. I am relieved to FIR with too many WAGs.
ReplyDeleteHusker Gary Thanks for the Pinto DESIGN FLAW image. I suppose that makes it A FEATURE NOT A BUG? Had no idea about ODE TO WORK until your explanation. Same for CSTORE.
THAR she blows up close and very personal for us!
I laughed when I finally figured out THAR.
From Yesterday:
MalMan Thank you for the additional validation of my concept of FIR: "it's all within one's own head"
Before I explain the details of my DNF that were dismaying, or worse, let me Before I explain the details of my DNF that were dismaying, or worse, let me talk about all the stuff I liked.
ReplyDeleteI finally came up with the French theater award once I had the MO. I figured out the tennis OPEN ERA, but I thought it was unfair to most solvers. TOVAH and TORAHS were gimmes. I was right about Wassailing and LAKE POETS. I knew the POLAR BEARS and RETRONYM. I figured Finlandia was a vodka and remembered SKYY. I shouldn’t have needed perps for SLUR, but I did come up with it. Ditto for FOSS.
But I was done in by the NE, despite figuring out EVINCES, and frankly, my bad attitude didn’t help. I didn’t think of the football Mannings, and instead of coming up with Pink, I googled “Nine” to see if a pop star uses that handle. There’s a rapper with that name! I could have used a more common clue for PEG. DW came home from her weekly hike with the girls and DECIPHERED a key answer. But the real problem was the unknown-to-me “Lost” character ETHAN and my resulting inability to perp THAR.
Other gripes: I’ve never heard the term CSTORE, though it made sense. I don’t remember AKELA from my brief stint as a Cub Scout. I waited awhile to fill in SAY SOs because of the plural noun usage I believe to be a reach at best and an error at worst. The CRISP entry sort of had the same problem. YOU ROCK is a LOT more emphatic than “nice one.” I was unfamiliar with OREO O'S. Mr. Kaplan is not, in my book, one of the 20 or so best-known IRAs.
That Ira list ought to have included Ira Corn, the founder of the Dallas Aces of bridge fame. His disciple Bobby Wolff is still columnizing at 91. And longtime San Francisco Chronicle sportswriter Ira Miller, who covered the 49ers in their glory years, is THE Ira Miller.
Well, Rich, ya got me. Thanks, HG, for the clarifications. I’m a 3 or 4 on that bacon scale.
Sticky Saturday. Thanks for the fun, Rich and HuskerG.
ReplyDeleteI don’t often have time for the Saturday CW, but I was up early today. But officially a DNF if I take into account the number of Google searches required to finish this beast.
Unknowns were similar to the rest of you (but I thought C STORE was Canadian disadvantage, along with URI).
Royale is a toilet paper brand here.
This Canadian uses wooden clothesPEGs on my outdoor line.
POLARBEAR swims are common around New Years here, but I have never participated. I like my water warm.
I smiled when I figured out SPF, CARPET, and eventually at ODE.
I noted EASES UP TO and the opposite SHIES.
I had Ashes before CRISP. I like my bacon about #5 or 6.
Wishing you all a great day.
Dear C-Eh! "CStore" is not purely a Canadian depth charge -- I have never seen the phrase before, so I suspect that is just some obscure regional chain (maybe southern?).
DeleteFLN:
ReplyDeleteCanadianEh!, in ref to your questions/comments about a battery being drained...
You didn't specify, but I assume you are using a mobile phone, an unplugged tablet, or an unplugged laptop if you have battery questions.
Don't go buying a new battery just yet. Check your battery settings. You should be able to find out which apps are using the most battery power. Also check to see how many apps are "never sleeping." Perhaps there are other apps that are running and using power that should not be running.
Poorly designed webpages can affect power consumption. Though I'm not sure if that's what was happening yesterday with all of the GIFs. I loaded Friday on my phone and it doesn't seem to be using more power.
GIFs are inherently inefficient. Each GIF takes up more storage and more system resources than a comparably lengthed video would.
The 2.6 second David Spade "and you are" gif is 2.02 MB.
The same 2.6 video as an MP4 video file is 401 K
But, GIFs are fun and can enhance the review.
FWIW, for the last three days:
Waseeley - 27 images (no gifs), 8 videos, 55 links (inconsequential). 7.08 MB total. 0 for gifs.
MalMan - 23 images (10 are gifs), 3 videos, 0 links (inconsequential). 18.8 MB total 13.39 MB for gigs.
Husker Gary - 44 images (3 are gifs), 1 video, 4 links (inconsequential). 6.8 MB total Less than 1 MB gifs.
Thanks TTP. I’m on my iPadMini, and have just noticed these last few days that the battery seems to be draining faster than usual. I have adjusted my Background Refresh to see if that helps. (It was On for all my apps.) Perhaps I have been using more than usual (on Safari and Libby), or perhaps my 5thGen is aging like me!
DeleteNope. Way too tough. Looking at HG's terrific write-up, I see quite a few clever clues, but overall this CW was, as Anon @7:47 said, it was "No joy", AKA no fun. Too many obscure names, with an absolute nightmare in the NE with CROSSING unknown names. By my count and calculation, 39% of the cells were filled with names. Of the 16 names, I knew...ONE (1). AND many clues that weren't names were also DNKs. Never heard AKELA as a scout leader, for just one example., or C-Store. I was surprised to see Lemonade mention that there are two in SOFLO. I've never seen them. So, anyway...huge DNF and not even any fun getting the stuffing kicked outa me. Sorry, RN, some clever clues, but over all no fun. CWs should be fun, even if it is not a FIR. This was not. Thanx HG for the outstanding write-up. Final comment: I am very impressed with anyone who managed to fill the NE overlapping name jungle. For me, that whole area was white, start to finish. 8, 9, 10 down all names, crossing 16A. Oy. The only thing I perhaps should have filled was KIWI, but that would have been scant help with the rest. This CW was just no fun at all. Bah, humbug.
ReplyDeleteUncleFred commented just as I was coming to the Corner to cry Uncle! Did Not Finish today. I actually filled the NE, AKA Proper Name Corner, but failed in the SE with unknown CSTORE, FOSS, OREO OS, etc. Thanks, Rich? Certainly thanks to Husker Gary for explaining the errors of my ways.
ReplyDeleteEven with looking up about half (yes, that much) of the stuff I still could not solve this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI like my bacon flabby, maybe 2, 3, or 4 on that scale.
ReplyDeleteHola! Whew! I can't believe it's so late, but I enjoyed reading all he comments and I see that I am in marvelously good company! No, I did not finish Rich's amazing puzzle but got at least 80, 85%. As a Lit major, MOLIERE is well known to me but not as the French Tony. It makes sense, though. In his ERA he dominated French drama.
ReplyDeleteOnce DECIPHERED emerged the rest of the that column filled rapidly. Not so the west side. I was sure it was Pope Julius and was surprised when I saw PAUL III. That movie, "The Agony and the Ecstasy" was too long ago.
AKELA and the Bee was a good movie in the distant past of 2006. It was nice to see Laurence Fishburne in a non-violent film.
I like the word "RETRONYM".
Enjoy the rest of your day, everyone! If anyone needs a recommendation for a good book, The Huguenot Connection Trilogy by C. R. Monk, is excellent. It's long but worth it.
How about those NIU Huskies? That was a great game!
ReplyDeleteAh…a Rich Norris creation. Okay, I steeled myself for the usual run of obscure obtuse obfuscation…but was not prepared for a triple stack of pop-culture proper names. Ugh. Triple ugh. Okay, go to my usual fallback when this is presented: look up and fill in all the 🤬ing names (I did know ol’ HOAGY and — somehow — Pope PAULIII!) and then kick back and relax, enjoy solving the real stuff.
ReplyDeleteLoved POLARBEARS and DESIGN FLAW, but CSTORE? I’m with @d-O on this one: Unless you live in FL, no one says that ever. Also, Rich, I ain’t Jewish — but I can tell you there is only one TORAH, made up of the Five Scrolls. It’s not a plural, it’s called the Torah, period. From what I was taught, you only have one in the temple at a time, anyway. So TORAHS? Bzzzzt!!!
Of more enjoyment was @H.G.’s recap; I got a big grin out of your sample for DESIGN FLAW, ‘cause I won my first race driving a Ford Pinto, back in the mid-80’s. We affectionately referred to it as The Firebomb 😎 It met its demise in a rather high-speed impact with the Turn 5 wall at Riverside Raceway during a SCCA enduro, at the hands of my co-driver (who owned it). RIP, Firebomb!
RETRONYM was a great learning moment — I didn’t know that was A Thing! Thanks for inserting a useful new word into my brain, Rich. Just hold off on the useless pop-culture obscurities, will ya, please 🤙🏽😎
====> Darren / L.A.