Saturday Themeless by Adam Aaronson
There are lots of ways to struggle with a crossword and today I decided to enter what I thought was a solid/clever fill that turned out to be wrong. At 46. Upper class, often: SEMINAR, I thought SENIORS compose most upper classes and stuck with it. When I saw that I should have had SEMINAR, that part of the puzzle opened up very quickly. I do have to take one bad cell at S(H)EIN/(H)EARTH but I did enjoy the struggle.Here is a wonderful story about Adam's start in the construction game at 19 years old.
Across:
1. Genre embraced by Miles Davis in the late 1960s: JAZZ FUSION.
11. Intel on a political rival: OPPO - What they dig up in OPPOsition research makes you wonder how you could vote for anybody.
15. Speaker of the house?: AMAZON ECHO.
16. Einsteinhaus city: BERN - Where Albert lived from 1902 - 1909 and developed his theory of relativity
17. Bottom of a pie: PIZZA CRUST 😀
18. Quantity of strontium in an award-winning 2018 photograph: ATOM.
19. Professor's domain: EDU.
20. Throng: MOB.
21. Insect that collaborates through stigmergy: TERMITE - Stigmergy is the method in which social organisms communicate indirectly by sensing and shaping what’s around them without following a plan. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
23. "__ de Funk": Horace Silver composition: OPUS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
24. Postop prescription: OPIATE.
 |
| A common one |
25. Narrow channel: STRAIT - The one that leaps to my mind
28. __ musubi: meat-and-rice snack: SPAM - I knew SPAM was popular in Hawaii
29. "__ Mubarak": EID.
31. Hestia's domain: HEARTH - Greek goddess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
32. Didn't divulge: HID.
33. "Dumb Money" star Paul: DANO.
34. Extremities: EDGES.
35. Check: VET - You try to VET anyone before you hire or appoint them
36. Stallone role: RAMBO - Turns out Rocky works too
37. Checked at the door: IDED.
38. Cap: LID.
39. Decidedly non-vegan kid-lit character: SAM I AM - Sam keeps offering...
40. Airport code that encompasses EWR, JFK, and LGA: NYC.
41. Boatloads: TONS.
42. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" musicians: PIPERS.
43. Dress part: BODICE.
45. Some Barbieland residents: KENS.
47. Unite: WED.
48. York mother: MUM.
51. Placed, as bets: LAID - In last year's Super Bowl, you LAID the points if you thought KC would win by more than 1.5 points and took the points if you thought SF would win. KC won by 3 and that was the winning bet.
52. Made a solo arrangement?: LIVED ALONE 😀
55. Rainbow forms: ARCS.
56. Bright green cocktails: APPLETINIS.
57. Furtive summons: PSST.
58. Walkway created by foot traffic: DESIRE PATH - I've never heard of the term but it makes good sense
Down:
1. Zinger: JAPE.
2. During: AMID - The start of one of my favorite poems
3. Bird voiced by John Oliver in "The Lion King": ZAZU.
4. "Bo-o-oring!": ZZZ.
5. Spots for soft landings: FOAM PITS.
6. Crude: UNCOUTH.
7. Jokic and Jovic of the NBA, e.g.: SERBS - +1
7. Jokic and Jovic of the NBA, e.g.: SERBS - +1
8. Hosp. area: ICU.
9. "You're too much!": OH STOP IT.
10. Tablet: NOTE PAD - Oh, one you don't plug in!
11. "Becoming" memoirist: OBAMA.
12. French girlfriend: PETITE AMIE.
13. Energy consumption unit?: PROTEIN BAR. 😀
14. "Your money's no good here!": ON ME.
22. Perimeter: RIM.
23. Spent time on the lake, say: OARED.
25. Fast-fashion giant based in Singapore: SHEIN ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
26. Loveable sorts: TEDDY BEARS.
27. Crudely drawn cartoons expressing frustration: RAGE COMICS.
28. Shakes: SHEDS.
30. Makes toast?: DOOMS.
33. Makes wet: DAMPS.
35. Like some tomatoes: VINE RIPE.
36. Outdoor concert contingency: RAIN DATE.
38. Yard sale sign, essentially: LOCAL AD.
39. Likely ticket holder?: SPEEDER.
41. __ ear: TIN.
44. Performed in a Shakespeare play?: DIDST.
45. Talib who rapped "My name is in the middle of equality": KWELI.
46. Smack: SLAP.
48. First name in art: MONA.
49. Military group: UNIT.
50. Material for a scrimmage pinny: MESH.
53. CEO's direct reports: VPS.
54. Sass: LIP.
32 comments:
Well, how about that! I finally got a Saturday puzzle 100 per cent right! Was it easier than the usual Saturday puzzle, or was I just “on my game” today? I await your verdict, good friends, but “Yippie!” FIR, so I’m happy, and not just happy, but over the moon!
As I've found in my life, I did great in the South and struggled in the North. Lots of fill with no errors in the lower half, but almost nothing up top. Overall, filled 42, 38 correctly.
Missed with gram instead of ATOM (is ATOM a quantity? One ATOM would be.) Also had rowed instead of OARED, and Rocky instead of RAMBO. edGE COMICS was my other flaw.
OK all you pilots and frequent fliers in the Corner - in what context is NYC an airport code? I'm thinking that it might be the name of a regional ATC center, but would Patti know that? That's pretty specialized knowledge. (I knew EWR, JFK and LGA which are KEWR, KJFK and KLGA in pilot speak.)
Congrats to those who finished this one, and thanks to H. Gary for the tour.
Airport codes are monitored by the International Airport Transit Association (IATA) and New York City's IATA code is NYC. It represents the New York City area, including flights to John F Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK), Newark Liberty International Airport (IATA: EWR), and LaGuardia Airport (IATA: LGA). As Subgenius said this seemed easy for a Saturday though I had another fail as I never heard of DESIRED PATH and didn't look carefully at RAIN DATE . Thanks Adam and Gary; go Nebraska, Indiana, Illinois and Navy. Great first game of the World Series with Marlin discards featured
Took 16:42 today.
Guessed correctly after alphabet runs at the intersections of shein/hearth and Eid/dooms. Like others, "desire path" was a new term.
I've never heard of Kweli, couldn't remember Dano, and not a fan of didst.
Samiam and localad took a long time for me to parse.
That was a pleasant Saturday puzzle.
Still, it is an IATA area, not an airport code. Still an unforced bad clue. Saturdays are hard enough without those.
Didn't we have a fairly extensive exchange regarding desire path a few weeks ago right here in the Corner?
FIR. I'm amazed I got through this Saturday's challenge! There were so many times I was just ready to throw in the towel and then something would click and another section filled. Last to fall was the NW. I so tried to go with amazing instead of Amazon and then the aha moment happened.
I've never heard of a desire path, but nothing else made sense there. And I too had gram before atom. I agree, atom is not a quantity.
But overall, although a struggle, I did enjoy this puzzle.
I didn’t have much confidence I would get this one when I encountered clues that contained the words Scrimmage pinny, Stigmergy, Strontium, Talib, Einsteinhaus, __ de Funk and others, but somehow I FIR w/out help, although I did take about a half hour break after the west half was filled. Had Seniors before it gave way to SEMINAR. Rocky instead of RAMBO never occurred to me or that would’ve messed me up. APPERTINIS, RAGE COMICS, DESIRE PATH, all perps. I’ve never OARED a row boat, but I’ve rowed many. Definitely a Saturday difficulty level for me, a struggle, but I like a challenge. Thank you Adam, nice cluster of Z’s in the NW!
Thanks HG for making sense of it all.
Good Morning:
First of all, congrats to Subgenius! From my viewpoint, this was not an easier than usual Saturday, so you deserve a thumbs up for your efforts and a well-earned trip over the Moon!
I found the solve very challenging and almost gave up, but P and P and a certain Irish trait of stubbornness kept me going. It took 59:06, but it was worth it in terms of satisfaction and enjoyment. My major obstacle was being convinced that Rocky was rock solid and that Joke was the Zinger. Eventually, Joke morphed into Jibe and finally Jape materialized, which broke open the Amazon Echo and Pizza Crust dam. Not knowing Zazu or Foam Pits added to this log jam. In addition to these quandaries, there were several other unknowns: Opus, EID, Desire Path, SHEIN, Rage Comics, and Kweli. Fortunately, the perps were kind, so a FIR was achieved, albeit slowly and laboriously. My favorite entry was Teddy Bears. Who doesn’t love Teddies?
Thanks, Adam, for a Saturday Stumper that was difficult (for me) but doable with extra effort and thanks, HG, for the usual interesting and informative review and eye-candy visuals. Desiderata is one of my favorites, also.
Have a great day.
Irish Miss, "Not knowing Zazu or Foam Pits added to this log jam." That comment reminded me of Zazu Pitts, a silent-era film actress, who played Margie's neighbor and confidential adviser on My Little Margie.
DNF. I don’t have Irish Miss☘️ P and P. I get to the point where I think, I have things to do today, so the West remained mostly blank.
I encountered many names I didn’t know and expressions I’m not familiar with and barely understand. For instance AMAZON ECHO, which I filled but don’t know why. I loved the reference to Miles Davis, of course. I have, no had, many of his records.
Clever clues: LIVED ALONE, SEMINAR. I misunderstood the ON ME clue. SAM I AM, no clue. RAGE COMICS, no clue. ZAZU, no clue. And not following sports, didn’t know the SERBS players, though WAGS helped.
I had fun nevertheless. Thanks HG for the nice review.
I'll bet that the Corner's friendly constructor Stella Zawistowski might opine that seating students alphabetically in the classroom puts some students at a disadvantage. I would further guess that today's constructor Adam Aaronson would opine otherwise.
Thumbs up for Miles! Really got this puz rolling. Still was DOOMed by 30D and FIW.
Anecdotally, some colleges completely sod a new area, and after a year pave the DESIRE PATHS. I often see (and use) these shortcuts in spite of the concrete sidewalks at shopping centers, etc. Who wants to go to go all the way around (per some rando architect) when they can just slip through a hedge?
Yesterday's and today's puzzles were both difficult. The difference for me is that yesterday's was an interesting learning experience for me. Not so today, through no fault of Adam. It's just that my interests do not cover areas like fashion (SHEIN), cocktails (APPLETINI), rap (KWELI), Greek mythology (HESTIA), or many other areas in the puzzle that I do not find useful or interesting.
Clearly Adam is to be commended for his hard work, and I'm glad that so many solvers enjoyed his puzzle.
I knew I was in trouble when I checked to see if bEatenPATH was right. Nope! Never heard of DESIREPATH. Besides, it should be desired due to the tense in the clue.
My oldest daughter loves APPLETINIS.
Like IM, I finally settled on JAPE. That helped open the NW. Went with dirt for 11A. OPPO?? How does that compute? Way too oblique for me.
There were other fits and starts, too numerous to mention. Not a big fan of this offering. Thanks to the author and reviewer for their work.
Mention my name in Sheboigan.
Splendiferous.
I DIDST not FIR today, I DIDST not even finish.
Far too many unknowns to be able to perp and guess my way to completion. I did know JAZZ FUSION but it was downhill from there. It didn't help because ZAZU wouldn't have made it. OPUS, EID, DANO, JAPE for zinger (I've never heard anybody say that word and have only seen it in crosswords), KWELI, and DESIRE PATH- I wouldn't have filled those if I only had one or two missing letters.
I've never heard the term RAGE COMIC and wouldn't give up on SENIORS.
SEMINAR- usually a waste of time and money.
I couldn't figure out who SAMIAM was. Oh, it was SAM I AM. I doubt he would like SPAM.
Tomorrow is another day.
Too far out of the universe I inhabit. TITT.
DO, your memory for trivia amazes me. I vaguely remember the show, My Little Margie, but Zazu Pitts was known to me only as an old-time movie actress, someone I couldn’t pick out of a lineup.
Amazed to FIR. Stuck with JAM SESSION before JAZZ FUSION. Last to fill: DANO-DOOMS-DAMPS-SAMIAM
Husker Gary Thanks for the STRONTIUM ATOM image. I was not aware of this one. But it is not really an image of the ATOM. What is notable is that the student isolated a single ATOM.
This is an image of a lattice of iodide ATOMs taken by my friend Bruce Schardt with the microscope I helped design and build.
I shared this before, but not sure if anyone saw it. The missing ATOM is what makes the image proof that those are actual individual ATOMs and not just an interference pattern.
Amazed to FIR. Stuck with JAM SESSION before JAZZ FUSION. Last to fill: DANO-DOOMS-DAMPS-SAMIAM
Husker Gary Thanks for the STRONTIUM ATOM image. I was not aware of this one. But it is not really an image of the ATOM. What is notable is that the student isolated a single ATOM.
This is an image of a lattice of iodide ATOMs taken by my friend Bruce Schardt with the microscope I helped design and build.
I shared this before, but not sure if anyone saw it. The missing ATOM is what makes the image proof that those are actual individual ATOMs and not just an interference pattern.
As a fan of Bitches Brew, I knew 1A was either fusion jazz or JAZZ FUSION. SERBS answered that question, and UNCOUTH came easily, so I conquered the NW quickly when perps revealed AMAZON ECHO.
My FIR did not come easily, impeded by the rapper intersecting the creepy DESIRE PATH, which intersected the unhelpfully clued and not-that-clever LOCAL AD. The clue for SEMINAR was a stretch that troubled me in the SW, and SHEIN required perps. The NE fell last, as I had no idea about anything Mubarek except Hosni, and neither OPPO nor PROTEIN BAR came easily. I never had noticed that “protein” is an exception to the “I before e” rule, though I’ve never spelled it wrong.
I sort of knew Hestia/HEARTH and enjoyed BODICE and DIDST. I also liked the jazz sub-theme, with Miles Davis and Horace Silver, along with TIN ear. But I STILL do not consider rap/hip-hop to be “music.” They are an art form unto themselves that has greatly enhanced poetry and other verbal expression by black people but has distracted many gifted musicians from adding potential treasures.
This was a good Saturday workout. Thanks, H.G.
Challenging but fun Saturday puzzle--many thanks, Adam. And your commentary is always a help, Gary, thanks for that too.
Well, I've certainly endured some CONFUSION in my past, but not ever any JAZZFUSION, that I remember. I bet that would really give you some AMAZON ECHO. I think by that point it would be best to get some lunch, like a pie with a PIZZA CRUST, and a PROTEIN BAR along with some APPLETINIS (whatever they are, but they sure have a cool color). But let's absolutely stay away from any OPIATES, unless our doctor recommends them.
Then, if we have time in the afternoon, let's visit that LOCAL LAD who LIVES ALONE, and arrange a RAIN DATE with him and maybe enroll him in a SEMINAR. Then, when we visit him, let's bring him a TEDDY BEAR to keep him company. I bet he'd appreciate that.
Have a sunny weekend, everybody.
Especially if the Spam was green.
Would someone please explain the AMAZON ECHO clue. I’m sure it’s very obvious, but it escapes me.
Excuse my silly request. I went back over HG’s recap and now understand the AMAZON ECHO clue. I knew it would be obvious.
Hard, and DNF, but appreciate the many long word answers. Many of the same first tries as others (seniors/SEMINARS, jibe/JAPE), mosh pit/ FOAM PIT, Rudd/DANO, dined alone/LIVED ALONE. What is MONA? I thought it would be NYC ‘s MOMA.
I really liked MD’s music before he changed to JAZZ FUSION. Also, a jam session is not a genre.
ZAZU Pitts - I remember reading that she was so much a one-of-a-kind actress that casting directors would say “Get me a ZAZU Pitts” and everyone knew just what they meant.
Thank you HG for explaining all the obscure and head scratching clues and answers.
Happy weekend, all!
A joyless FIR on this campus.
I had to resort to using "Check Grid" and to looking many items up in order to finish filling in all the cells of this puzzle, which basically stumped me. I can't say I "solved" it. I could pick some nits, but you all have said enough already.
RAIN COAT --> RAIN GEAR --> RAIN DATE. HAT --> LID. FOAM MATS --> FOAM PITS.
I knew SPAM musubi from our neighbor who is from Hawaii and has made it for us a number of times. I also knew EID Mubarak from having heard it said and having it explained to me by my long-time Egyptian friend and colleague.
I really dislike the word OARED. I've heard "dampens" but never "DAMPS," except in an engineering environment ("Damp the oscillations").
Good reading you all.
Thanks to Adam for a rare Saturday FIR for me! FAVs: all the Zs, SPAM musubi (Grab one at a Waikiki ABC store on your way to the beach!), and the DIDST clue.
DANO was in Spielberg's "The Fablemans". The other 4-letter Paul actor is RUDD.
My last box was a WAG for "H" in #31.
TEDDYBEARS immediately made me think of I-M.
Thanks to H-Gary for explaining all the answers lurking on the PERIMETER!
Not for beginners or the faint of heart, but it was fun to solve one mystery after another. Thank you, Aaron!
I gave up with two blank spots: EI_ and DAN_; wish I had thought of DOOMS!
Yes, a DESIRE PATH is that walkway we cut through the grass to avoid walking all the way to the corner, and no, it is not a "desired path."
Thanks for the tour, HG! I appreciated the link to Aaron's construction story.
Props to Adam for his LAT debut; he’s obviously a music aficionado (“Opus de Funk”, Miles & Kweli, etc) and put down a toughie for us here. Pretty gritty, but for the most part doable, with some snazzy clues, like “makes toast?” to get DOOMS. 👍🏽
I get the “single” ATOM deal; that 2018 photo purportedly depicts one of ‘em, hence the “quantity” clue. That one I can buy; things like DESIREPATH and OARED, though, are imho pretty iffy — I’ve “rowed” or “paddled” across a lake, but never “oared”… pfft. And I gotta agree on NYC not being an airport code; close, but no cee-gar on that one.
Mmm, Spam musubi — dat’s ‘ono grindz, da kine! An acquired taste from living in the Islands years ago… an’ speaking’ of eats, SAM I AM was a gimme for me — it was the name of our late pet llama, who lived to the amazing age of 24 (our first two only made it to 15 and 16). He was indeed an herbivore, though — no green eggs and ham for him. RIP Sammy 🦙
Finally, thanks to Aaron for the workout, as well as to Husker G for the informative tour.
====> Darren / L.A.
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