Themeless Saturday by Annemarie Brethauer and Katie Hale
Katie Hale, originally from Houston, is now a stay-at-home mom in London and Patti's assistant editor for the LA Times puzzles. We have seen her in a collaborative role quite often. In fact, this is my fourth Saturday Themeless collaboration with these two constructors.
After a run of very difficult solves, this one proved to be much easier and fun to do although some of the cluing...
1. Skip-the-line status: TSA PRE - No hint of abbreviation
7. Ambulatory access: APSE - New use of ambulatory for me. It can be a noun denoting the passageway used to access an APSE
11. Out of sorts: OFF.
14. Wartime partners: ALLIES - In 1945, I doubt my dad and uncles would ever have perceived that Germany and Japan would become our ALLIES and Russia would not
15. "Golda" subject: MEIR.
16. Links target: PAR.
17. Heckles: BOOS AT.
18. Taylor Swift hit that begins, "I have this thing where I get older, but just never wiser": ANTI HERO.
20. Take revenge: SETTLE OLD SCORES - Do politicians really do this? 🤔
22. Base runner's assertion: I'M SAFE - Shohei Ohtani pleads his case
23. Whac-A-Mole move: BASH.
24. First name in boxing: LAILA.
27. Penalty area in rugby, familiarly: SIN BIN.
30. Mantra sounds: OMS.
31. Sleeve element, for short: TAT - Howard and Raj got fake, slip-on TATS on Big Bang Theory to attract goth girls
33. Mexican-inspired casserole: TACO PIE - or a Frito Pie
37. Tusked pinniped: WALRUS.
39. Full-bodied: ROBUST.
40. "Ta-ta!": CHEERIO.
42. Disco guy on "The Simpsons": STU.
43. Univ. that sends acceptances on Pi Day: MIT ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but interesting
44. Turn down: REFUSE - Henry turned down a famous role that went to John
46. Tibet's capital: LHASA - McDonalds took its business to new heights at this restaurant in LHASA at an elevation of 12,123'
48. Title fellow in a 1922 Broadway hit: ABIE.
51. Spanish store: TIENDA.
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| "I want a bag "What color?" |
53. Competition for queens: RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE.
59. Wade Wilson's alter ego: DEADPOOL ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
60. "Shaun of the Dead" genre: ZOM COM - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ A zombie comedy
61. Terminate: END.
62. Hill partner: DALE - Before the U.S. Army used the phrase...
63. "Take a chill pill!": COOL IT -
64. Figs.: NOS.
65. FanDuel list: ODDS - Here's how FanDuel sees the betting on today's Pinstripe Bowl. The Huskers are a 2.5 pt. favorite. On the Moneyline, you have to bet $132 straight up to win $100.
66. Makes invalid: ANNULS - Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman had their Las Vegas post-partying marriage ANNULLED nine days later
Down:
1. Window openings: TABS 😀 I always have too many open
2. Blackthorn: SLOE.
3. Lazy answer to "How many stars are in the sky?": A LOT.
4. Ovary plus stigma plus style: PISTIL.
5. Response to a puerile joke: REAL MATURE.
6. Newbery Medal winner Eleanor: ESTES ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
7. Coastal town at the foot of Monte Cerreto: AMALFI.
8. Suspended: PENDENT.
9. Gets ready to drive: SITS.
10. NFL Hall of Fame running back Dickerson: ERIC.
10. NFL Hall of Fame running back Dickerson: ERIC.
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| $550 |
12. Uber passengers: FARES.
13. Ninth grader: FROSH.
19. Mix (with): HOBNOB.
21. Brewery kiln: OAST.
24. Note played by covering every hole on a recorder: LOW C - We called them tonettes when I was in school
25. Eastern nanny: AMAH.
26. __ of Man: ISLE.
28. Syst. that connects to Caltrain: BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit connects at Millbrae, CA.
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32. "Please.": AS IF.
34. Big cat: PUMA.
35. Goddess of the Pyramid Texts: ISIS - Four letter goddess and pyramids, hmmm...
36. "Don't Go to Strangers" singer Jones: ETTA.
38. Go over again: REREAD.
41. Won an ad war, perhaps: OUTSOLD.
42. Fortuneteller: SEER.
45. Crab-walks: SIDLES.
47. "NCIS: Origins" narrator Mark: HARMON.
48. Elizabeth of cosmetics: ARDEN.
49. "¡Qué __!": BUENO - How nice! In Español
50. Procreate devices: I-PADS - 😀 For amateurs too!
52. South American culture known for geoglyphs: NAZCA - 2,000-yr-old lines that have to be seen from the air to be comprehended
54. Beehive, e.g.: UPDO.
55. Freight weight: LOAD.
56. Rights org.: ACLU.
57. Kinky curl shape: COIL.
58. Some FD employees: EMTS.
41 comments:
I was lucky to know NAZCA. I wonder how many of you put in ROMCOM, wondering how that could be a ROMCOM title, and then had to go over the entire grid looking for a mistake.
Well, it was tough, but I got it. Toughest was the intersection of “Nazca” and “Tienda.” That took an alphabet run. And the rest of the puzzle was quite a slog, too. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
D-o immediately thought of PENDENT, but it was so similar to "Suspended" that it couldn't be right. D'oh. OAST and AMAH are old-timey cw staples, back for an encore. Second in a couple of days for OAST. SINBox seemed right, until SINBIN elbowed in. Good thing I'm not a gambler. Those betting ODDS were (and remain) a complete mystery. In the end, it was the SW that did me in. Didn't recognize RUPAUL and DEADPOOL, and IPADS would never, ever, have occurred to me with that cluing. Bzzzzt. Thanx, Annemarie, Katie, and Husker.
DNF. I had tees instead of SITS, and when I stalled out I finger-boned all my fill into the LAT online version, and did a "check puzzle" assist. Disabused of tees, I guessed ANTIHERO and the rest of the area fell easily. Still no TADA! Checked again, and rOMCOM showed the scarlet slash. Did an alphabet run, and narrowed it down to d, h, m, n, or s. Tried all, but nooooo. Did a "reveal letter" to get the Z and the TADA.
The penalty box in hockey is also called the SIN BIN.
WALRUS, but "eggman" would fit as well.
DNK that Procreate was an art app. The device was four letters plus an "s" to make it plural. I was going to ask my friend Richard, but he must have his phone on do not disturb.
Thanks to Annemarie and Katie for the workout. When I saw Katie's name I thought about skipping today's offering, but I'm glad I didn't. Perfect Saturday difficulty - just slightly beyond my ability. And thanks to H.Gary for a fine review.
I'm getting closer to finishing a Sat. puzzle, but it was still a DNF. Taylor and Croatia go me. Plus, I was thinking golf, not driving a car with TEES instead of SITS. GATE, not APSE was my 'Ambulatory access' guess. I knew Golda MEIR, so that nixed TEES. ANTIHERO- not a clue for that song, Even with SI__BIN I could only think of SIT BIN. If I knew the definition of PENDENT it might have helped but it was not filled.
TACO PIE- heard of Frito pie but it was an easy fill
I've never heard of ZOM COM but knew from the clue it wasn't ROM COM.
LOW C- recorder or Gary's tonette. I remember a Flutophone from elementary school. TONETTE was TONI's hair permanent of little girls back in the 50's. Not for an UPDO.
ERIC Dickerson- a good friend was his RB coach at SMU. He would tell us about all the parties and trips that the alumni would provide of the coaching staff. Obviously the players were getting things too because SMU's football team was banned by the NCAA for payola to players. Now, it's the thing to do. Times have changed.
Good morning. Thank you, Annamarie and Katie, and thank you, Husker Gary.
Nope, not today. Major crash and burn in the south.
I held on to RUE PAUL DRAG RACE. That made filling the south central impossible.
It took almost no time at all to fill in about 3/4 of the grid. It took a little over 38 minutes to complete the grid. It took alphabet runs to figure out 1 across and 60 across. All in all a pretty enjoyable way to start the weekend.
Took 18:15 today to make a few very lucky guesses.
I didn't know: the Spanish store, the coastal town by some monte I hadn't heard of, the Swift song, this Etta (I know the usual Etta), puerile, pinniped, amah, Abie, and nazca - but I didn't fall for RomCom, as I knew Shaun of the Dead is a zombie movie.
It's a better Saturday offering than the last several, but there's still room for improvement.
Very tough - probably crossed the border into slog territory, which is one of the dangers when the constructor relies on proper nouns, foreign words, phrases, geography and other “either you know it or you don’t” trivia to boost the difficulty level. You run the risk of ending up with something like TIENDA crossing NAZCA - which is easily the ugliest cross I have seen in 2024.
Good Morning:
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is another example of the constructors’ (and editors) doing their best to either annoy or frustrate the solver, IMVHO. Difficult (not obtuse) cluing is expected on a Saturday, but not for every entry and not when it’s only done to show off the author’s cleverness. Two examples of this are Ambulatory Access=Apse and Procreate Devices=iPads. The Zomcom/Nazca crossing caused a FIW but that’s because I never heard of either word, nor did I know Anti Hero, Pistil, or Dead Pool.
Thanks, HG, for the sparkling visuals and your informative commentary.
Have a great day.
Even though I seldom finish a Saturday puzzle these days I do get much pleasure (and some pain) from each attempt in part because of HG's wonderful write-ups and because of what I learn. NAZCA rang no bells for me though I have studied Qhechua and the history of the native cultures in South America. I also have no awareness of ELEANOR ESTES and her books despite her being born and raised in West Haven Connecticut where my grandparents and uncle and father (who was 3 months her junior) lived around the time she was born. To add to the coincidence, she died in Hamden CT where my maternal grandmother was born. My family all devoured many books but hers were never mentioned that I recall.
ETTA JONES and ETTA JAMES have the same amount of spaces. HELEN MIRREN looks too sad to be GOLDA MEIR IMO; I never thought of pies as casseroles but of course they are. Gary you always make me want to read more, I hope Nebraska wins a bowl game (of course as a UConn grad we have never cared for Boston College) and I am still amazed that with ocean in between Annemarie and Katie create puzzles together. Counting down Chanukah and til the New Year.
Saturday puzzle. Many toeholds went nowhere….just not a fun challenge, Obviously, from Friday, DNF realizing that the water was over my head!
Greet the day.
When I saw today’s byline I knew I was in for a challenge and I was right about that. Had the grid filled (not confidently) in a half hour with no congratulatory messages, took a break and came back to see if I could correct what was amiss. My first hang-up was not knowing the Ovary thing, the medal winner, and the coastal town, and having PENDING threw me off for a bit too. I finally sussed IM SAFE, also got rid of GACOPIE, which tidied up that area. Then I knew my error(s) were in the SE cross of TIENDA/NAZCA/ZOMCOM, ultimately failing to WAG the Z for a FIW by one letter. Like Jinx, I’m familiar with SIN BIN as a hockey term. Learning moment ~ that there is an ETTA James AND Jones. A tough but fair Saturday puzzle IMO, thank you Katie and Annemarie!
HG ~ thank you for another stellar write up, I always learn from your expos.
FIW. Two mistakes, putting TSA pro instead of pre, and spelling Nazca wrong. I threw down Nasca.
Other than that I struggled but ultimately sussed out this very hard Saturday presentation.
The long answers I was pleased I knew, although there were many other short answers that were baffling.
Overall I enjoyed this puzzle.
FIR but wanted BODEGA for the Spanish store!
Got lucky that the only Taylor S song i knew was the right answer
DNF. I’m not good at trivial pursuit so this CW got me. So many names….. My other weakness is remarks, like AS IF and REAL MATURE, I COULD GO ON, COOL IT ergo I was doomed from the start.
Indeed AMAH is an old standby we hadn’t seen in á while.
Thank you HG for á great review which helped me understand what I missed or what I got right not knowing why like SINBIN.
Began on my phone and found myself at many a dead end. Then accidentally deleted the puzzle and hadda start over. With renewed vigor and recruitment of a few new synapses came close but nope . Had is a pro for TSA PRE (and figured the reveal would explain iABS. (“Ambulatory”/APSE escapes me too BTW.) I saw “Shaun of the Dead” and gnu it wasn’t a rOMCOM. But gave up on my alphabet run too soon.
Nicholas Hoult was in a 2013 move called “Warm Bodies” about a living girl and zombie boy who fall in love: a real ZOMCOM or maybe a ROMZOM ?🧟♂️
Helped that there were few odd PNs (Although I’m looking at you “Eleanor”)
Does MIT send REFUSal letters on Omega day?… “procreate devices” worried the answer might be anatomical 🫣
AMAH we’ve missed you!!
The Wizard of Oz: “…..to confer, converse, and otherwise HOBNOB with my brother wizards.”
Inkover: tween/FROSH, Sid/STU, sitbin/SINBIN, lade/LOAD
Well “Pip, Pip, CHEERIO, and all that sort of Rot”🧐
FIW but wore down my entire eraser in the process! BTW the best mechanical pencil I've found for Xwords is the Pentel Twist-Erase III with .7mm lead (yes, I'm old school). May be too late for one in your Xmas stocking, but it's still Hanukkah!
“Shaun of the Dead” and others like it are ZOMromCOMs!
Nope. Two thumbs down for me. I'll Echo Irish Miss and Monkey on this one. They summed it up well.
FIR on paper, no cheating, but it wasn't easy! I must have had a lucky mix of knowns, unknowns, and WAGs. Thanks, Annemarie Brethauer and Katie Hale, and thanks, Husker Gary!
Tough Saturday puzzle but still with interesting items here and there. So thanks, Annemarie and Katie. And thanks always for your helpful commentary, Gary.
I don't imagine ALLIES would like to include an ANTI-HERO who wants to SETTLE SCORES. They'd rather have members who are REAL MATURE, and take care of themselves so they can say I'M SAFE. That way they can go to the OPERA, or watch a DRAG RACE, or enjoy eating a TACO PIE along with some CHEERIOS. That sounds like a much better day, doesn't it?
Have a lovely weekend, everybody.
It's college football bowl season. There are at least 8 bowl games on TV today and tonight.
I was watching the Wasabi Bowl between UConn and UNC, but just switched to the Bad Mowers bowl between Boston College and Nebraska.
SMU’s abuses in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s were documented in “Pony Excess,” my favorite episode of ESPN’s “30 FOR 30” series. I was a sports journalist in Texas during that era and worked with a lot of the media people who appeared in “Pony Excess.” I think even saw one of my Dallas Morning News headlines on screen. The best source in the documentary among the SMU assistant coaches and recruiters was Steve Endicott, who I saw play quarterback in person not only for Oregon State, but also for Grants Pass High against my school.
I filled in the grid but felt uneasy about the Natick involving a South American culture I’d never heard of and a movie genre that didn’t seem like a rom-com. I googled “Narca,” came up empty, and ultimately got ZOM-COM with an alphabet run.
I didn’t have many complaints about this puzzle, but the complaints I did have were intense and involved mostly lameness. “I’M SAFE,” TACO PIE, “REAL MATURE,” OUTSOLD, and Que BUENO all seemed contrived or worse. I could tell 1A had something to do with TSA and pre-clearance, but I’ve never heard the actual phrase TSA PRE and needed perps to come up with it. OMAH and Wade Wilson were unknowns (although I remember a quarterback named Wade Wilson). The Taylor Swift clue for “ANTI-HERO” was an annoyance, and so was the obscure ESTES clue the constructors (or Patti) chose. The APSE clue made me unsure about my correct answer. The FD clue didn’t scream “fire department” to me. BART was easy for me only because of where I live. And why rugby instead of hockey for SIN BIN?
Enjoyable words included SIDLE (not ‘60s Auburn quarterback Jimmy Sidle) and TIENDA. Helpful names included Golda MEIR (please don’t pronounce it “my ear”), AMALFI, ABIE’s Irish Rose, and, with perps, RU PAUL’S DRAG RACE.
I found this quite difficult. Hand up SIN BOX before BIN. Learning moment about AMBULATORY. And PROCREATE. That area ABIE/RUPAUL/DEADPOOL/IPADS had me stuck. Last to fill was PENDENT. Learning moment. FIR.
My Burning Man friend Diane has quite a spectacular UPDO in this photo.
We were with our other Burning Man friend "Kaptain Konstruct" after the Solstice Parade. Photo by DW.
For my opinion on this, and every other LAT puzzle, one needs to just scroll back to Irish Miss' entry, as we seemingly are always in sync.
Thanks for a good workout! I do hope it’s true that cross-wording staves off “old-lady-brain” (my 74yo self-deprecating term for my forgetfulness). I learned a little, knew some stuff, and came up one letter short of doing it all on my own: the z at the cross of Nazca and zomcom. I insist to myself that I shoulda been able to guess “zom-com”! And, I KNOW I have heard/read/seen of Nazca lines, but they never made into the memory bank - until today, that is (?I hope 😊 - ya know, taking care of my “old-lady-brain”?! I made it onto a TV trivia quiz show once, and lost because I didn’t know my dromedary from my bactrian camel 🤦🏼♀️; I’ve never ever forgotten since; but I did get a year-supply of Rice-A-Roni as a consolation prize 🤤😋) To self-justify a bit - my iPhone autocorrect doesn’t seem to know Nazca either😶🌫️ - maybe it will have “learned” it by the time I finish this post🙄. (My autocorrect does know dromedary - but not bactrian - nor Rice-A-Roni.) Okay, enough of my uncensored silliness. To all - have a great 2025! Oh, and maybe watch the Rose Parade, which passes near my front door - well, a little east, where the floats are parked for a day or two after for closer viewing. Enjoy. & again - thanks.
On My - so uncensored (& long) 🤭
Happy to hear someone else shares my taste, be it good or bad! 😉
Sophia, nothing wrong with your brain nor your light-hearted attitude! Your post was neither too long nor silly. It was perfectly delightful. Best wishes to you in 2025! Let us hear from you often!
Looked at all the names and almost didn't try. Shoulda stuck with that, as a lot of time later I had to TITT anyway. Just far too much I DNK. Saturdays are generally out of my ability, but every once in a while I get a Saturday FIR. Not today. I did manage to fill about half, before TITT. Even then, I had NASCA, not NAZCA, which gave me SOMCOM, which, since I never heard of "Shaun of the Dead", I still shoulda figured ZOM as in ZOMBIE. But didn't. So even what I did fill I had mistakes. Oy. Ya got me, AB&KH. Over my head. Thanx HG for the informative write-up.
Copy, were you at the Morning News when Randy Galloway was there? I read his columns, but I really liked his sports talk radio show. I remember that at the end of the Troy Aikman / Emmitt Smith glory days, when Jerry Jones was extending contracts left and right to get more room in the current salary cap, Randy opined that Jerry was trading the foreseeable future for the possibility of one more Super Bowl. The Cowboys were trounced in the Super Bowl, and have been mediocre ever since.
Skip Bayless used to be the relief talent when Randy was away from the (crossword favorite) mic. I felt that Skip was a big step down from Randy, but it was Skip who made the big time with ESPN.
Anyone who thinks that this CW was unfair or too difficult ~ try the one on dictionary.com today. Let me know how you did 🤣.
Ditto Pentel Twist-Erase, but mine are .9 mm lead. I have a heavy hand, and the .7s break too easily for me. I must have about 10, because it seems like every time I'm camping someplace without office supplies stores (or only a Staples) I run out of lead or eraser. I can usually find a combo set with a couple of pencils and refills of lead and erasers.
I required a lot of help to finish this puzzle.
Gary nailed it in his intro: “some of the clueing...” — and Irish Miss put it all into focus.
The theme fills weren’t that hard, really, so that part was fun; but that central N section was a real mo-fo, to say the least. And I just could not pull NAZCA out of the memory bank…so this guy went down in flames (not to mention the paper puzzle was a disaster thanks to multiple ink-overs…). Typical Saturday. I must be some level of masochist, since I keep trying stubbornly to solve these!
====> Darren / L.A.
Sent your picture to him and Ru Paul is very interested in you entering the next competiton!
😀
Ray-O-Sunshine Thanks! Solstice was started by gays and that edge has remained even among those of us who are not.
That’s cool. Remember a gay bud telling me he was part of a group celebrating the Winter Solstice where he felt more welcomed instead of the proximate holidays
SMU (and the rest of the SW Conference's) problems began long before Bobby Collins was head coach. He was just the fall guy and the millionaire oilmen just found other ways around it.
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