Saturday Themeless by Jess Rucks
Jess has separated from the Air Force after five years of service where she told me served as an Urdu linguist, not interpreter. She now lives in Colorado Springs with her husband who serves in the U.S. Space Force. This is a picture with her and her then 5-year-old son having a good time on the playground. Jess assures me this is Urdu for, "I hope you enjoyed Jess's puzzle."
مجھے امید ہے کہ آپ نے جیس کی پہیلی کا لطف اٹھایا
1. Music genre with roots in swing: BEBOP.
6. Observation deck?: TAROT 😀 Oh, a deck of TAROT cards!
11. Record label for P!nk and Cat Burns: RCA.
11. Record label for P!nk and Cat Burns: RCA.
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| The RCA logo is in there somewhere. |
14. Vegan beauty brand headquartered in Minnesota: AVEDA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
15. "Should I be worried about us?": ARE WE COOL?
17. Monopoly property based on a historical monopoly: READING RAILROAD - The READING (pronounced redding) RAILROAD became a huge company because it owned the mines in NE Pennsylvania and also the railroad that hauled it to Philadelphia and points south. This monopoly was broken up.
20. Hound: DOG.
21. Instrument whose name comes from the Latin for "heavenly": CELESTA.
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| Celesta are keyboard glockenspiels |
22. Anatomical pouches: SACS.
24. "Mary Poppins" chimney sweep: BERT.
27. Banjo ridge: FRET.
29. Clear for takeoff?: DE-ICE.
31. Pong consoles: ATARIS - I remember being amazed with this "cutting edge" technology in the 70's!
33. Third of a cappuccino: FOAM.
34. Choose: OPT.
37. "Great, now I'm scared of this" hashtag: NEW FEAR UNLOCKED -it implies a sudden realization of a previously unknown vulnerability.
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| MY FIRST THOUGHT! |
41. Once menos ocho: TRES - In Mexico 11 - 8 = 3
42. Lilikoi and lychee: FRUITS - Lilikoi are also know as passion fruit
43. Rips into: HAS AT.
45. Electric __: EELS.
46. Painter Thomas of the Hudson River School: COLE.
49. Entreaty: PLEA.
51. Gin berry: SLOE.
53. Island home of the Ka Hula Piko festival: MOLOKAI - The name intimated Hawaii and I just went through the names of the islands until one fit.
55. Tiny issue: NIT.
57. Coder's concern: BUG.
58. Elaboration intro: AND ANOTHER THING - Ya gotta love Clouseau!
61. "Voilà!": I'VE DONE IT.
62. Best: OUTDO.
63. Scand. land: NOR.
64. Tries out: TESTS.
65. Garlic __: PRESS.
Down:
1. Uncovers: BARES and the opposite 12. Covers: COATS.
2. Drew Barrymore film promoted as "A Cinderella Story": EVER AFTER.
3. Strength exercise done on all fours: BEAR CRAWL.
4. "Huh": ODD.
5. Part of PTO: PAID - Out here in farm country, it will much more likely mean Power Take Off than Paid Time Off
6. Reached a friend on the playground?: TAGGED 😀
7. Timetable abbr.: ARR.
8. Big stink, e.g.: REACTION - George Brett had a bad REACTION when a home run he hit was declared illegal because of too much pine tar on his bat
9. Baby bump, in baby talk: OWIE.
10. Invitation to elaborate: TELL ME MORE - It's a four minute clip but this is a fun song and ear bug where TELL ME MORE is a oft repeated lyric.
11. Crow bar?: ROOST 😀
13. "Clear+Vivid" podcast host Alan: ALDA - Science and Alan ALDA, what's not to like?
16. "Spirit Rangers" voice actress Summer: CREE - She's very big in the voice actor genre
18. Noodle: NOB - Euphemisms for someone's head
23. Peasant: SERF.
25. No: REFUSAL.
28. Join a union?: TIE THE KNOT - Very uniquely in some cases.
30. Leg muscle: CALF.
31. Righteous Babe Records founder DiFranco: ANI.
32. Singer-songwriter Bareilles: SARA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ A Saturday SARA
34. Cautious invitation to elaborate: OK I'LL BITE 😀
35. 1966 pop album with cover art of band members feeding goats: PET SOUNDS.
36. Scores that often result in dances: Abbr.: TDS.
38. Timeouts: RESPITES 😀
39. Signs to act?: CUES.
46. Chat sesh: CONVO - Slang for conversation
48. Mutual fund fee: LOAD.
52. Some quick toasts?: EGGOS 😀
53. Primary: MAIN.
54. Prime: A-ONE.
56. Muscle car roof: T-TOP.
54. Prime: A-ONE.
56. Muscle car roof: T-TOP.
59. Hot single: HIT.
60. "Ben-__": HUR - An 1880 first edition with an autograph - $8,950.
40 comments:
I got this, after I “tweaked” a couple of answers (like changing “celeste” to “celesta” and “Oh” to “Ok”). It didn’t strike me as too difficult a puzzle either, particularly not for a Saturday. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Is it really Saturday? This seemed too easy. Only needed my Wite-Out to correct gOOd to COOL and NOg to NOB. Enjoyed it. Thanx, Jess and Husker. (I thought it was Power Take-Off, too.)
Finished a Saturday! Finished it wrong, but finished it! ARE WE gOOd, AdDe instead of ALDA, and naG instead of DOG were my WAGs gone bad. Just couldn't get away from power take off, even though we've recently had the PTO discussion here. I blame decaf. ODDly, only two erasures - cees for FOAM (c'mon, three of the nine letters are cees. Oh wait - there's ten letters in cappuccino? Never mind.) Also MOLiKAI->MOLOKAI. UNTIE!
Don't quite understand why the METS would retire Say Hey Willy Mays' number.
Haven't we had this discussion about T-TOPS and muscle cars? And a 'Vette has plenty of muscle, but it's not a muscle car.
I really appreciate my RESPITE worker. I was loath to spend the money, but my stepkids convinced me that I couldn't take care of their mom unless I take care of myself. (I think of them as my kids - I'm closer to them than to my own.)
Thanks to Jess for letting me play with the smart kids this Saturday. And thanks to H.Gary for the fun roundup. I see what you did when you snuck in NE.
Took 13:11 today to unlock this one.
I also had "nog" before "nob" as I've heard of neither.
I didn't know today's (or any day's) voice actress (Cree), the painter, celesta, or the Saturday puzzle staple of obscure food (lilikoi).
Good Morning:
On the plus side, I appreciated and enjoyed some of the clever cluing and fresh and lively fill, e.g., Ever After, Bear Crawl, Tie The Knot, Molokai, etc. However, the numerous proper names and conversational phrases detracted from the flow of a smooth and satisfying solve, at least for me. Celesta was unknown, as was Pet Sounds and the never-heard of before New Fear Unlocked. Chat Sesh=Conv=
FIR. But i was really surprised I did. The bottom long answer had me baffled, because what I saw was "and a not her thing" instead of "and another thing".
4D seemed "odd" to me since the clue was "huh". I find that somewhat of a stretch.
But overall this was a lot easier than most Saturday puzzles. Not all that enjoyable, but it's done, so there's that.
Sorry, I hit Publish by error. Anyway, Chat Sesh=Convo=🤐 Also on the plus side, the perps were fair and an enabled a successful, if not enjoyable, completion.
Thanks, Jess, and thanks, HG, for the great photos and the cute Coder’s Bug illustration. Your analysis is always a pleasure to read and our author’s mini bios are, as well. Thanks for going the extra step to provide those personal insights.
Have a great day.
I took a ride on the Reading and passed GO! Please send me $200, thank you.
Pretty easy for a Saturday. Last to fall was 16A Hound which could be DOG or NAG. Couldn't come up with what PTO was so PAIn seemed almost as good, but chose correctly.
Liked the clues Observation deck (TAROT) & Scores that often result in dances (TDS). Baby bump gave me a pregnant pause.
I wanted CEES for cappuccino for a while as well. On Saturdays, I'm on the lookout for misdirection, but this one turned out to be straight forward.
Just worked this week's DAB puzzle. His genius was evidenced by a new way to clue the Ektorp ACAI.
Today's puzzle by Jess was an otherwise worthy Saturday challenge. But I have one or two reservations.
First, the puzzle contained several verbalisms--those annoying and petty conversational nullities like "OK, I'll bite" and "Are we cool?" I do not think they belong in a legitimate crossword puzzle.
Second, 26A is one of the most preposterous and misleading clues ever. Willie Mays is considered one of the greatest baseball players in history. His stellar career (twenty years) was with the NY/San Francisco Giants, except for his last two years, when he was over 40, with the NY Mets.
So this is a baffling clue on two counts:: first, Mays' Hall of Fame career was as a Giant, their franchise icon; and second, there are thousands of legitimate clues for METS. Why not "Amazin'," or mentioning Shea or Citi Field, or one of the great Mets players like Tom Seaver or David Wright or Dwight Gooden?
The majestic statue of Willie Mays is at the Giants' stadium in San Francisco, not in New York.
Back to the positive, and notwithstanding the above, I mostly enjoyed doing Jess' puzzle. It was largely free of gimmicks and cuteness, and the fill was lively and creative. It was entertaining, and I felt comfortable, feeling that this constructor knew what she was doing. It was a challenging puzzle, but I sensed that Jess was attuned to the best interests of the solvers (us) and not just trying to show off.
So thanks, Jess, for an admirable and enjoyable Saturday workout. And thanks, Husker Gary, for your usual amusing and thorough leadership this morning.
Yooper Phil here, reporting from airport ATW awaiting a direct flight to Punta Gorda FL just in time to escape the arctic blast descending on the U.P. and most of the country. As per a typical Saturday puzzle I had my doubts when I couldn’t fill till 19A, but it came together pretty quick after that, FIR in 22:06. Perps were again a big help and I had three blanks which I successfully WAGed on, the intersections of CELESTA/CREE, NOB/BERT and COLE/LOAD. I know ALDA but not by that clue. The vertical 9’s and 10’s required perps. All in all a fun puzzle from Jess and another great review by HG, thank you both!
Hopes dashed when a few letters kept me from a finish in the NW! Right off the bat wanted disco then changed to the equally incorrect tecno completed my downfall with crabCRAWL. The l “write alot” clue which had me baffled. Really obscure, but I guess alls fair on a Saturday 😏
PTO: our hospital refers to it as PDO “paid days off”
With all respect to Mrs Rucks’ DH I didn’t realize that the US Space Force was a thing. But it’s kept us safe from Martian and Venusian invasion.
Inkovers: eta/ARR, milk/FOAM, okay/COOL
Still don’t like ”sesh” or CONVO. Was trying to squeeze PETShopboys into not enuff squares.
Do they grow “lilikoi” on MOLOKAI?. Our own Utica/Syracuse St. Marianne Cope a Franciscan nun canonized in 2012… Once her ministry was done in our area travelled to the leper colony in Hawaii. Became better known as St. Marianne of MOLOKAI. She worked closely with Father Damien (“Damien the Leper” 1937 biopic) who died of the disease she never contracted considered a “miracle” in itself.
DW just plopped her errand list in my lap. Off I go 🚗
This the worst kind of CW for me: loaded with names and verbalisms. Since I was getting frustrated I TITT.
Thanks HG for your nice review. And kudos to those who persevered and FIR.
Very doable Saturday. Got the long answers fairly quickly which helped with the solve.
Our Munson Art museum is home to the Thomas COLE group of four magnificent monumental paintings collectively called “The Journey of Life”
It was OK. No idea about AVEDA, CREE, SARA. Yes, clues for TAROT, FOAM and EGGOS were amusing.
Our Santa Barbara Swing Dance community has many of us named Robert or Bob. One friend calls himself BEBOP Bob for unique identification. He taught me aerial moves.
From Yesterday:
I really enjoyed the snack theme and was impressed with the construction. Except for "AIGHT".
From Thursday:
I was not so fond of the Ps and Qs theme. I am not so impressed with themes involving the clues.
From Tuesday:
That clue/answer really bugged me:
"One that might get turned into stone?: SCREW."
I found the perfect joke that expresses how annoying it was:
===
What's red, hangs on the wall, and whistles?
A herring
“But a herring isn’t red!”
I painted it red
“But a herring doesn’t hang on the wall!”
I hung it on the wall
“But a herring doesn’t whistle!”
Ohhhh, that was just to confuse you.
I love that joke. It’s á keeper.
Clear sailing! I'm not used to such a smooth ride on a Saturday. Could be a wavelength thing, like, PTO was a no brainer since I have a lawn tractor. But I always had a nose twitch with the use of "PTO," probably because I do everything backwards. To me it's the lever I use to "engage power" to the cutting blades. Since EBP would be even more confusing, (Engage Blade Power) why not just call it the PUP switch, as in Power-UP...
Why are they called Lychee nuts then?
I looked it up, and when the started with the Frawnch background, I lost interest. But, then again, I guess a lot of fruits have something like a nut in them, but the nut in Lychee is inedible...
Oh, and I LOL'd at the pic for coder's bug! There are a few people I would like to send that to...
Speaking of bugs, from last nite, thank you Sumdaze for the Alexa/YouTube suggestion for soothing orchestral music. Sounds like a great idea! So I tried it out, and Alexa goes "searching YouTube..." and never comes back! Just dead silence forever... I tried all different ways of saying it, but Nada... I wonder, did you pay for Ad free YouTube? Or maybe there's a a special App for YouTube to engage with Alexa? I dunno, I have some more research to do...
I just remembered that I have a SWING dance aerials photo with BEBOP Bob.
I am in the center with my then lady friend Barbara. BEBOP Bob is the shaved head guy behind Barbara with his dance partner Nancy highest up in the air. Both of them have moved far away in opposite directions. But, by coincidence, both are in town right now visiting.
Monkey Glad you like that joke that captures the absurdity of the ROCK and SCREW! It is in a wonderful book called "Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar".
Husker Gary Hand up loved the BUG "joke" that is no joke at all.
Delightful Saturday puzzle, many thanks, Jess. And your commentary and pictures are always helpful, Husker Gary, thanks for those too.
I loved all the conversation that went on in this puzzle, starting with "ARE WE COOL?" We sure are, I'd say. "TELL ME MORE," I'd respond with--OK, I'LL BITE. "AND ANOTHER THING"--I would have loved to hear what that other thing she wanted to tell us was. There were a few items that made me laugh or annoyed me a little. I don't ever want to have to watch anyone doing a BEAR CRAWL. But it was cool that after passing all the TESTS, the writer said "I'VE DONE IT." Yes you have, I'd say. And thank you so much for all this lovely effort!
Have a great weekend, everybody.
FIR at breakfast, in spite of half a dozen unknowns (not counting unknowns as clued, like MOLOKAI). okay --> COOL, nag --> DOG. A fair Saturday challenge from Ms Rucks, and an excellent exposition from Husker Gary. Thanks!
I'm glad Jinx is getting some help, with encouragement from the bonus kids. That's what I call the offspring that come free with a second marriage, and they can be a great gift in one's life.
Picard, thanks for the swing dance photo demonstrating aerial moves. I wondered what you meant until I saw that!
Enjoy the weekend, everyone.
Clever puzzle, but too clever for me. Pretty much what IM said about the annoying "verbalism" non-clues. Never heard anyone say " My car has a T-Top". It's T-TOPS, and why anyone would think of any team other than the Giants (NY or SF) with Willie Mays is a wonder to me! Nice try, Jess...but no cigar!
I knew I’d come up with the Monopoly property and the 1966 album cover eventually, and MOLOKAI launched me in the SW, so it didn’t take forever to overcome the extremely convoluted cluing and overabundance of paraphrases in this puzzle.
NEW FEAR UNLOCKED? A ridiculous clue for ODD? Not just “I’ll bite,” but OK, I’LL BITE? The Willie Mays clue would have been “OK” if it had said “A team that retired Willie Mays’ No. 24,” instead of making it sound like “the team” that did so, which was the Giants. Why NOB, instead of knob? CONVO! I could name a dozen other annoyances.
I didn’t see the CELESTA clue early on, so I wonder if I’d have gotten it without perps. A lot of people have heard of BEBOP but don’t really know what it is. I’m on an EGGOS kick this month. I was intrigued by the Hudson River School item, because the Fairbanks-endowed Athenaeum in St. Johnsbury, Vt., my favorite small town, has quite a collection. But I need perps for COLE.
I also had CEES before FOAM, but cappuccino has 10 letters, not nine.
PICARD...Great joke! That herring sure sums up some of the cluing here lately. As far as "verbalisms" go, the latest one from SpaceX is a classic..."Unscheduled rapid disassembly"=EXPLOSION.
NaomiZ Thank you for the kind words about my SWING dance aerials photo with BEBOP Bob. That was a posed still shot at the end of the class. Some of the moves are a lot more "aerial" than that! I wish there were videos of our amazing moves. But this was before shooting video was common. I can probably still do most of the moves, but I would need a partner who weighs about 100 lbs or less.
Charlie Echo Thank you for the appreciation of these absurdities. Yes, here is that official SpaceX statement.
https://youtu.be/bC_Hrt5AjtM?t=69
I’ll take “crosswords” for $2000…
Answer: What a great Saturday crossword!
Question: Something you thought you’d never say.
Totally agree! While parts of this puzzle were moving right along for a Saturday, there were several stretches for answers and the NE corner was killer due to unknown perps crossings! Sure, RCA is well known but there are tons of labels, celesta was unknown as some form of cellos was tried all the while knowing that heavenly equals celestial! No clue that Alan Alda has a podcast and while there must be a ton of great ways to clue the Cree Nation Tribe, instead she finds a voice actress no one knows?! Seriously! If I’ve got Cree everything else falls into place. Nasty perps in that corner IMO.
Agree that odd is a stretch too far for huh!
I think this is probably one of the best Saturday LAT crosswords I've solved in the Patty Varol era. Beautiful long entries, fair perps...thank you so much, Jess Rucks. And thank you, Husker Gary for the fun review!
Hola!
My family is here cleaning my house and changing my sheets! In the meantime, I can solve the puzzle and comment here. For a Saturday, it was almost easy. I finally got Drew's movie, "Evermore" which I've not seen.
BTW, it was fun seeing both Drew Barrymore and Drew Carey on Squares last night. They commented on it, too.
MOLOKAI brings memories of my nephew's wedding there. We all stayed at some very nice condos. One of my nephews cooked for all of us and we met at their place to eat. The wedding took place on the beach. The groom had chartered planes to take us there from Honolulu. A good time was had by all though the marriage did not last.
Amen!! ...to your first paragraph
Saturday puzzle. Couldn’t concentrate….partly solved…maybe later.
Husk guy, I’m sure you understand….FOOTBALL! Go Lions!
Greet the day.
CED@10:54. No, I do not pay for Ad free YouTube. Also, I don't go through alexa. I was talking about directly typing the search into my computer then opening a tab and letting it play in the background. (I have aux speakers so the sound is good.) Here's one to try:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jj5ZSJGB-g
Thanks to Jess for a fun Saturday challenge! I remember liking your puzzle last March. You are now one of my favorite Saturday constructors. Please send us another soon. FAVs: alot for ERR; 2 Hawaii references; and TIE THE KNOT. Last to fill was the middle D in ODD.
AND ANOTHER THING, please say hello to Pikes Peak for me.
Safe travels to YP and enjoy your Bloody Mary upon arrival.
Ray-O@10:16. Not sure if your Space Force comment was a joke or not. You do realize what satellites are capable of, right? I'm pretty sure back in the 1400s they did not realize the potential of radiology.
Thanks to H-Gary for his wonderful recap! I especially liked how you linked the Grease tune and Get Smart meme to the puzzle answers.
Love his free puzzles!
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