Saturday Themeless by Rachel Fabi & Lewis Rothlein
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Rachel is a bioethics and humanities associate professor at SUNY. Lewis is a yoga instructor in Asheville, N.C.
Do you know how you can really make a connection with constructors and fly through their puzzles? Well, this was not one of those for me. I struggled mightily with foreign words, beyond obscure cluing for less common usage of common words and words that worked only in my imagination. I'll take a couple of bad cells and try to keep a stiff upper lip. You'll also see a few 😀's for some clever cluing.
Across:
1. Account shortcut: ETC ETC.
7. Subatomic particle in the world's largest collider: HADRON - This physics teacher had 13. [Shrug]: NO IDEA.
7. Subatomic particle in the world's largest collider: HADRON - This physics teacher had 13. [Shrug]: NO IDEA.
14. Mitigate: RELIEVE - RESOLVE fit but...
15. Not rare: NORMAL.
16. Beverage also called Silver Needle: WHITE TEA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
17. Michael Jordan's sch.: UNC.
18. __ wit: RAPIER - Robin Williams leapt to my mind.
20. Mouth-squinching: TART - Sour - not so much.
21. Observation observation: I SAW 😀
23. Certain guest permits: VISAS 😀
24. Heat from a vent: IRE - If you are venting, your IRE may generate some heat
25. Tweaks: AMENDS.
27. Extra-ordinary mark?: C-PLUS 😀 A C is an ordinary mark but I suppose adding a + makes it somewhat extra-ordinary.
29. From both sides, in a way: STEREO 😀
30. Bring up: PARENT.
31. Spy glasses?: ONE WAY MIRRORS - I called this as a two-way mirror when I taught this concept
33. Some mats: SNARLS 😀
34. Doctors or nurses: TREATS 😀 - Doctors and nurses are trained to TREAT whatever ailment you have. I remember Hawkeye saying to Father Mulcahy who had to help out in the OR, "Father, nurse is also a verb!"
35. Best Play awards: ESPYS - Tonys did not get it. This is the award for best Play in sports for the year.
36. Addresses: SEES TO.
37. Salsa, or a salsa move: DIP 😀
38. Vales: GLENS - Dells and Dales, uh, no.
39. "Open at your own risk" indicator: NSFW - No Safe For Work. Quick, switch back to that spreadsheet!!
43. Protected, in a way: ALEE.
45. Like no films released to theaters in 2023: RATED-G - I attended many Disney RATED-G movies during my yute. and 2. Some in a cel block: TOONS 😀 This is now an obsolete art
47. DeLaria of "Orange Is the New Black": LEA - In character and in real life
38. Vales: GLENS - Dells and Dales, uh, no.
39. "Open at your own risk" indicator: NSFW - No Safe For Work. Quick, switch back to that spreadsheet!!
43. Protected, in a way: ALEE.
45. Like no films released to theaters in 2023: RATED-G - I attended many Disney RATED-G movies during my yute. and 2. Some in a cel block: TOONS 😀 This is now an obsolete art
47. DeLaria of "Orange Is the New Black": LEA - In character and in real life
48. Plague in a Poe tale: RED DEATH ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
50. "Well, dang!": OH RATS.
52. Dramatic: INTENSE.
53. Thin: WEAKEN - Another word that can be used as two different parts of speech.
54. Skippers on a lake: STONES.
55. Youngest, as a family member: NEWEST - I guess...
Down:
1. Languor: ENNUI - Who else but Cole Porter could put this word in a lyric. Here's the intro to I Get A Kick Out Of You.
My story is much too sad to be toldBut practically everything leaves me totally coldThe only exception I know is the caseWhen I'm out on a quiet spreeFighting vainly the old ENNUIAnd I suddenly turn and see your fabulous face
4. Percussive genre, for short: EDM.
5. Make the rent?: TEAR - Anything you TEAR or rend has been rent.
6. Día de los Muertos skulls: CALAVERAS
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| Day of the DEAD skulls |
7. Whodunit suspects, often: HEIRS 😀 Where there's a will...
8. __ text: ALT -ALT text, also known as an alt attribute, alt description or alt tag, is a snippet of detailed information describing what an image shows.
Bad - Skiing
Good - Add ALT text to a picture, which is what I try to do
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| SKIING! |
9. Inflation reduction act?: DIET 😀
10. Chain components: RETAILERS 😀
10. Chain components: RETAILERS 😀
11. Surpasses: OVERRUNS.
12. Clearest, as a note: NEATEST - People die every year from lack of neatness here
16. Some molars: WISDOM TEETH.
19. Like the fragrance of many wreaths: PINEY 😀
22. Thin: WATERY.
26. Kitty litter sound?: MEWLS - Ah, it's from a litter of kitties not kitty litter! 😀
22. Thin: WATERY.
26. Kitty litter sound?: MEWLS - Ah, it's from a litter of kitties not kitty litter! 😀
27. Ice mass unit: CARAT - Ice can be slang for diamonds
28. Element element: PROTON - Every science teacher has had kids make a Bohr model of an atom.
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| This model has 6 PROTONS and so it is Carbon - At# = 6 |
29. Abruptly became alert: SNAPPED TO. 42. "__ expecting that": WASN'T.
30. Triceps exercise: PRESS DOWN.
32. Nobel laureate Joliot-Curie: IRENE - Irène Joliot-Curie (1897-1956) was a French scientist and, like her mother, won a Nobel Prize.
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| Pierre Irene Marie |
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| Receiving her award |
36. Ticket: SLATE - A candidate can be put on the party's ticket or SLATE.
38. Rough stuff?: GRASS 😀 I tried DROSS, GROSS and DRAFT (I thought rough daft was clever at _ R A _ _)
40. Satisfy, as curiosity: SLAKE - Did anyone else SLAKE their thirst in this manner as I did as a child?
41. Honors in a big way: FETES.
44. Plot with a shameless beginning: EDEN 😀 Adam and Eve had no shame until...
46. Shelf-stable butter: GHEE.
49. Not quite 70°, for short: ENE 😀 This bedeviled me until it hit me! ENE on a compass is 67.5° which is not quite 70°.
33 comments:
Well, it took me a long time (over an hour) but I got it! Once I uncovered “wisdom teeth” and “one way mirrors” it all started falling into place. Even “calaveras” which, of course, was all perps. Anyway, FIR, so I am happy. Very much so.
DNF. Filled 20, 17 correctly. My hat is doffed to those who finished it.
I hope that Lewis has recovered from hurricane Helene. The TV trucks have mostly gone, but the people of the area are still struggling.
Took 22:30 today to luckily finish.
I didn't know today's actress (Lea), today's foreign language lesson (I really wanted some form of "cadavers", but relented to "calaveras"), and the Nobel laureate.
I was unfamiliar with this meaning of "rent" until HG explained it to me.
Thankfully, I've read a couple David Sedaris books, which was a big help in the lower-left. And, I vaguely remember hearing about the Large Hadron Collider.
I don't care for these two clues: "heat from a vent" and "extra-ordinary mark". They overran their attempt at being cutesy.
Good Morning:
There is an art to cluing a puzzle, especially a Saturday which, by tradition, is usually more challenging to the solver, both on fill and cluing and, therefore requires a balance of fairness vs obscurity. If the majority of the cluing is difficult and lacking some helpful toeholds, the solver is going to be frustrated and, ultimately, unsuccessful. This about sums up my opinion and experience with today’s offering.
Thanks, HG, for your honest and fair assessment of this offering.
Have a great day.
One Way Mirror is utterly wrong, IMO. Otherwise, lousy puzzle.
DNF. The top half of this puzzle completely baffled me and I went down in flames. Ironically the long answers, wisdom teeth and one-way mirrors, fell into place easily. The center and bottom got done with the goodness of perps. But the top remained white till I threw in the towel.
I hate to give up on a challenge, but today I just thought I have better things to do.
That one took a while. Tough puzzle.
Me too, HG. 2 errors: Dec 7 Puzzle Result
Should have noted the plural in the 6d clue: Día de los Muertos skulls. I knew exactly what the clue referred to, but could not come up with the word despite the letters I had from perps.
Oh well
Last week, I decided to try doing the Saturday puzzle on line with the so called red letters. Well, that does make a difference because I finished this CW correctly, whereas on paper I’m sure I would have failed, but, but, I didn’t have fun at all. I prefer not finishing, because this way feels more like trying out letters in slots.
There were some clever clues, I knew CALAVERAS, yet I agree way too much misdirection . I did find the use of CEL and CELL clever.
Thank you HG for a useful recap.
Today is the anniversary of that infamous day in PearlHarbor.
Monkey, I could not have articulated my feelings about this puzzle better than you just did. But that’s okay. It’s time to get on with the day. I’m going to drag my butt into the shower. Then I’m heading to beautiful downtown Concord, New Hampshire to do some Christmas shopping.
A submission worthy of induction into the Crossword Hall of Fame. Yep, straight into the "Worst of the Worst" wing.
Another vanity project full of obscurities, beyond-the-pale misdirection, and "look at how tricky I can be" clues.
A completely unenjoyable waste of time.
DNF w/o help. And, got most of it done before looking. The SW quadrant resolved once I looked here and saw spy-mirror is ONE-way (I put two 🤦🏼♀️). I hate-love Saturday puzzles for testing my trivia store and my ability to shift perspective. Thx for the challenge, and for the review!
Hand up this was really difficult. HADRON was a gimme as I have been to the LARGE HADRON COLLIDER. Many of the key researchers are actually from here at UC Santa Barbara.
So many misdirections that fooled me. Was ready to give up, but I FIR. Favorites were ONE WAY MIRROR and ON SILENT. Did not understand NEATEST until Husker Gary explained it. As a musician I was thinking of those NOTEs.
Here Merlie and I posed with some CALAVERAS.
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS is a big thing in Santa Barbara.
Thank you for this Saturday treat, Rachel and Lewis--a bit tough (as Saturdays are supposed to be) but still very enjoyable. And your commentary is always a pleasure, thanks for that too, Gary.
Well, I had NO IDEA where to go at first with this puzzle, though I was soon RELIEVED that we were offered some WHITE TEA (never heard of that kind) along with some other TREATS that I hoped wouldn't hurt my WISDOM TEETH. In the end this puzzle wasn't too INTENSE or too WATERY, and so I totally enjoyed it. Hope you all did too.
And have a delightful weekend, everybody.
It's very rare that I give up on a puzzle. I usually can get some traction and after a while get most, if not all, of the hardest ones. This one beat me up and stole my lunch money! An hour flew by with little progress and I finally threw in the pencil.
TITT. Ya gotta be kiddin' me. NO IDEA sums it up if one also adds "no fun" and "unenjoyable". Turned my morning into a "Day of Infamy".
Still confused by SNARLS.
A DNF for me today, the bottom 3/4 filled successfully (SEDARIS requiring all perps), I was done in on the top 1/4 by the likes of CALAVERAS, RAPIER and HADRON, gave up after 45 minutes when I knew I was a little out of my league on this one. Thank you Lewis and Racheal, I always enjoy a challenge, just couldn’t rise up to this one. Thank you HG for another splendid review.
Matted hair?
I was also until I figured out that "mats" was referring to clumps of matted, or snarled, hair, and not some rectangular foam piece used for exercises
Well, I’ve been sick. Thursday’s incremental procedure for my twin dental implants, coupled with nausea (perhaps brought on by my new eye disorder), laid me low, like a migraine, starting Friday afternoon.
Getting out of a sickbed was no way to confront this monster Saturday puzzle, which I finished with LOTS of red-letter help.
Almost all of the cleverness in the puzzle was based on vague or misleading clues, which is not my idea of good construction. Too many of them were of the noun-is-actually-a-verb variety. Irish Miss really nailed why this sort of cluing not a good thing.
So, I’ll move on to my toeholds and entries I enjoyed: RAPIER wit; NSFW; RETAILERS (franchises didn’t fit); WISDOM TEETH, PINEY; PROTON; IRENE; SEDARIS; and GHEE.
I got TART early on, despite the unknown “squinching” in the clue, which gave me a T for the end of a four-letter answer to “inflation-reduction act.” My first response, probably unfit for a family newspaper, was not DIET. Perhaps that initial response was appropriate for the entire puzzle.
Having grown up in Pasadena, California, I'd noted that many streets in that area used Spanish words or phrases, such as Los Robles (the oak trees), El Molino (the mill), and Calaveras (skulls). My memory of the latter provided the answer that gave me a toehold in the NW corner. Still, this was one tough puzzle that was a challenge to solve.
Hola! I had NO IDEA what i was doing with this puzzle. Even CALAVERAS wasn't my first choice. I had SKELETON first and only after VISAS, AMENDS and WHITE TEA surfaced did I realize that it would have to change. HEDRON emerged because it was prominent in a book I read about trying to sabotage it. Of course I was ignorant of its real capacity and function.
Yes, this was VERY misleading in almost every clue and I cheated to finish. It leaves me with a bad tast but congratulations to Rachel and Lewis on their construction. And thank you, Gary, for leading us to the finish line. Have a lovely day, everyone! Happy birthday to my youngest granddaughter.
Ugh. That shoudl be "bad taste".
I haven’t been on this site for a few weeks (usually skip it lately when I know I FIR. But today was too much for me.
I tried to find some shortcut for Higgs Bosun instead of Hadron. Don’t know Calaveras; had A plus at first; also tried to make two way mirror work; perps helped with press down; not familiar with silver needle either, but perps to the rescue again; and I understand’treats’ but feel like it’s a lousy clue! And I went from Obies to Tony’s. Snarls was another bridge too far and not fair in my mind. Theres more issues but you get the idea. Think I had as much as nine clues unfinished - but more time than a couple hours wasn’t going to happen.
Thanks for the answers.
Was utterly unable to solve this puzzle.
Wow! Just wow!
I don't know why, but I had some extra time today. So I just didn't give up like I usually would on a Saturday. 1st pass I think I only revealed skipping stones. But 46 minutes later, I somehow sussed out the whole dang thingie.
Don't get me wrong, it was red letters, test the vowels first, and try fitting all 26 letters into every space like a jigsaw puzzle kind of day.
But honestly, I cannot find any clue answer combo that I would object to. With the possible nose wrinkle at whatever was clued for "overrun."
Heat from a vent=ire was very clever, and I really didn't get cplus as an extra ordinary mark until an Anon complained and wrote it extra-ordinary mark. Well I guess a cee might be an ordinary mark, with the plus making it extra-ordinary... clever in its own way.
All in all, a very satisfying 46 minutes...
I thought that I finally remembered SEDARIS, but it was actually Andy SiDARIS I remembered. He was the king of sexploitation drive-in and late-night TV movies. I ran across him and crew while he was shooting Malibu Express in Marina del Rey (not Malibu) one Tuesday evening after my club's after-work sailboat race. He was filming on the public picnic dock, where we always gathered after the race. Those interested were able to observe a scene being filmed aboard a very large motor yacht. The observers were treated to the through-the-porthole sight of a very naked Playboy Playmate acting her level best. Couldn't hear anything, so to figure out what was going on, observers had to wait for the movie to come out.
By coincidence I’m reading a book review of “The Stars Turned Inside Out” á mystery in which a murder takes place at the HADRON Collider.
This was everything a crossword should not be. Too much misdirection, too much deliberately trying to dupe the puzzlers. We have had this nonsense from this lady too many times in the past. Enough already. This is supposed to be a learning experience, but it is also supposed to be fun. Nuff said.
Ah yesss…the usual “Obscure Saturday” fare — some of these clues raised my IRE (including the clue for that) but the “smiley” clues made up for the “grrr” ones for the most part. At first run-through, I thought I was headed for a REDDEATH, but I got a toe-hold when WISDOMTEETH fell into place.
Still, a real grinder, with the expected obscure proper names (just looked ‘em up) and a couple of real WTFs to add to the cheap entertainment. Somehow managed to pull a FIR, so I guess a ”quitcherbitchin” is in order… 🤣
====> Darren / L.A.
This puzzle required some break times, and I finally FIR on paper, no cheating, after going out for most of the day.
Nevertheless, I agree with HG about the mirror, and got a big laugh from Anonymous at 9:29 AM: "One Way Mirror is utterly wrong, IMO. Otherwise, lousy puzzle."
Since I squeaked out a win, I liked it. Thanks, Rachel, Lewis, and Husker Gary!
All I can figure for 3D, 'Dating convenience,' is that dates can have approximate times, or in Latin, circa. (Or I could just have BeerAnemia.)
I believe CORDOVA is the preferred spelling; CORDOBA is an alternate one and the actual pronunciation of it.
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