Saturday Themeless by August Miller
:August really outdid himself for cute cluing (see π's below). I really had to expand my thinking on some words to come to a successful conclusion.
Well, okay, I did not get the "W" at cell block #3. I knew it was a Star Wars clue and JABAS (The Huts π) seemed fine to me but it turned out to be JAWAS.
Across
1. Droid vendors on Tatooine: JAWAS.
6. First band from Sweden to win Eurovision: ABBA - I need very little encouragement to post a video from this fabulous group! Here is their winning performance from Eurovision 1974.
10. TV port letters: HDMI - High Definition Multimedia Interface
14. Sushi order with salmon, crab, and avocado: ALASKA ROLL - ALASKA filled itself in and my limited sushi knowledge told me that it was probably a ROLL.
16. Like Antarctica: ARID - Very little precipitation there and the humidity level is routinely as low as .03%
17. Taking early retirement?: ZONKING OUT π Retirement here means going to bed or at least taking a nap
18. What to say when one doesn't know what to say?: LINE π - LINE? What a stage actor might say when he has forgotten his line so a prompter can tell him his next LINE.
20. "I'm killing it right now!": GO ME.
21. Legitimate: VALID.
22. Pool surface: FELT - Replacing the FELT on a pool table
24. Bounty targets: SPILLS - Not a fugitive reward nor Captain Bligh's boat.
26. "See you!": CIAO.
27. Catch up, maybe: CHAT.
28. Have a bawl: SOB.
30. Comment while washing one's hands?: WHAT MORE CAN I DO π
33. Parking advisory?: SEATS ARE LIMITED - Where you park your rear end.
34. Short stack at a startup, perhaps: PERSONNEL FILES π
36. Flask: VIAL.
37. Model Rau who is an ambassador for L'OrΓ©al Paris: INES.
37. Model Rau who is an ambassador for L'OrΓ©al Paris: INES.
38. The Binghamton Rumble Ponies, for one: AA TEAM - The AA minor league team of the NY Mets
40. Discreetly keeps updated: BCCS.
41. Manhattan's __ Place: ASTOR.
42. Qatari leader: EMIR.
44. Sammy with two spreads: PB&J - My breakfast this morning.
47. Winter Palace figure: TSAR.
48. "As if!": IN A PIG'S EYE - Origin
51. "NFL Live" analyst Kimes: MINA ¯\_(γ)_/¯
52. Living room combo: OTTOMAN SET.
53. Casual get-together: SESH - A SESH or a convo can be where you meet your peeps
54. Drew on: USED - Many constructors have drawn on C.C. to begin
55. Makeup kit item: GLOSS.
Down:
1. Toni Morrison novel set in 1920s Harlem: JAZZ.
2. Plant with tubular flowers: ALOE.
3. Makeup kit item: WAND.
4. Seek answers: ASK.
5. Navigate a slippery slope: SKI.
6. Cant: ARGOT - Huh, Peyton?
5. Navigate a slippery slope: SKI.
6. Cant: ARGOT - Huh, Peyton?
7. Good time: BOOM - We all know what stopped these.
8. Mario Kart projectile that seeks out the lead racer: BLUE SHELL ¯\_(γ)_/¯
9. Flying fig.: ALT.
 |
| Finding your ALTITUDE with an altimeter |
10. Designation at some meat markets: HALAL.
11. Places to dig deep: DRILL SITES.
12. Heavily abridged installments: MINISODES ¯\_(γ)_/¯ Obvs, a portmanteau of MINI and EPISODE
13. Called a name?: IDED.
15. Obsession with all things British: ANGLOMANIA - An epidemic of the 60's!
21. Immune-boosting compound: VITAMIN C.
22. Some Italian imports: FIATS.
23. Tries a friend's cooking, maybe: EATS OVER - I've been to a SLEEP OVER but have never heard of an EAT OVER.
25. Guillermo del Toro franchise with kaiju: PACIFIC RIM ¯\_(γ)_/¯ Apparently the kanju is the monster
26. Falsies?: CHARLATANS - Harry Houdini spent a lot of his time exposing them.
27. Fish hamper: CREEL.
29. Beach __: BOD - My first thought was of Brian Wilson and his Beach BOYS but that didn't cut it
30. Scot's tot: WEE LASSIE.
31. They're often suspended over the holidays: ORNAMENTS π
32. "Frasier" role: NILES - There were so many lines to choose from
33. Place with cucumbers and peels: SPA.
39. Ark scroll: TORAH.
40. Stand on two legs: BIPOD.
39. Ark scroll: TORAH.
40. Stand on two legs: BIPOD.
41. Bodega fixtures: ATMS.
43. King-toppling move: MATE - Black concedes the game
44. Moneda mexicana: PESO - Moneda is currency in Spanish
45. Rounds off?: BYES π - No opponent in a round in a tournament
46. Delta force?: JETS.
48. Indication of shyness?: IOU π Shy of money
49. __ gift: GAG.
50. Sarah Sherman's show, for short: SNL ¯\_(γ)_/¯
38 comments:
You know the puzzle is
going to be a bear when one across and one down is a Natick. Actually, though, I guess it wasn’t a total Natick, if “Natick” is defined as an unsolvable answer, across and down, based on the total obscurity of the two clues. One across was solved for me by ESP, and one down by a WAG, so I guess you can’t call it a Natick. But it was close to it.
The rest of the puzzle was very thorny, too, but rather than go into detail ( I’ve been more wordy than I usually am, already) I’ll just say that somehow I managed to FIR, so I’m happy, not to mention relieved!
Thanks! Great write up.
Welp, with the help of red letters and countless alphabet runs I finally managed to finish this joyless puzzle. And I hated every second of it. My weekend can only go up from here even if I get hit by a bus while leaving my house.
Droid vendors…Mario Kart projectile…Guillermo del Toro franchise with kaiju…amazingly I waded through that gobbledygook with significant perp help and managed a FIW by one letter, had Boon instead of BOOM, thought maybe “gone” was some new slang. Tough challenge for me today, but it’s to be expected on a Saturday themeless. Are the green stalks of aloe considered flowers? I don’t consider them tubular. I had a different idea for “falsies” but it didn’t fit. Thank you August for the puzzle, and to HG for making sense of it all.
My last square was JA_AS/_AND. I know next to nothing about makeup so I guessed B first (thinking of JABBA the Hutt, but that has two Bs), and bAND seemed reasonable.
Either you don't know BLUE SHELL, or (like me) you have dreaded getting hit by a sudden Blue Shell many times.
Took 12:11 today to go from A to Zed.
Luckily, I was familiar with Jawas thanks to my younger days, and the Mario Kart blue shell thanks to my children's younger days. I'm pretty sure I've never been the victim of a blue shell, because I've never been in 1st place. I thought both Jawas and blue shell were pretty obscure.
I didn't know Mina, Ines, kaiju, or the connection between the washing one's hands comment and the answer.
HG, another fine review, but two nits:
1. Is it me, or is the scale way off on the image of the deepest sea holes? One is shown shorter than the Marianna Trench, but has the same depth as the Kola Borehole.
2. Looks like you failed to embed the obligatory "aloe" cartoon....
DNF, not getting a single letter in JAZZ and ALOE. Also had AI TEAM, figuring it must be gamer-speak. Then when I saw it was AA TEAM, I thought "when did ex-boozehounds form a team?" Hand up for boy->BOD.
How the h-e-double-hockey-sticks can an ALSAKA ROLL have avocado? I stubbornly resisted the fill for that reason, but accepting it wouldn't have unlocked the rest.
We Yankees forget that we fought a war to rid ourselves of England every time a Royal gets married, divorced, born, or dies. I don't get it.
Never heard of Sarah Sherman, but Ektorp came to the rescue. No idea what Eurovision is, but again Ektorp provided the answer.
Thanks to August for letting me play with the smart kids today. My favorite was "what to say when one doesn't know what to say" for LINE. Since you clued two makeup kit items and I got both correct, please let me know where we send in our man cards. And thanks to H.Gary for another fine review.
FLN, Picard, we (in LA County) used to call the county "SLO(w) County," but said the full name of the city. I'm sorry to admit that we also called San Joaquin County "San Jack County."
The Jawas hit me with a blue shell on the Pacific rim in a pig's eye. What more can I do?
This was a challenge but with each pass both horizontal and vertical a little more filled in. It felt like I was slogging but final result was around my usual Saturday time
Toni Morrison is such a good writer but JAZZ and Sula and Home are the only 4 letter ones- her most known titles like Beloved, The Bluest Eye, and Song of Solomon all have many more letters.
The W in JAWAS was the last to fill once I had enough letters in the cross to fill in WAND for the makeup item
Learning moment was using CANT as a synonym for argot
Early meeting so time to head out
Thanks Gary for the informative blog and ABBA link and to August for the puzzle
Tough but almost had it. Missed by 1 letter - chose the wrong VITAMIN, b vs C. Dumb when looking back. Grr.
I thought Delta referred to the airline, so their force would be their fleet of JETS. Although delta-winged jets are very cool!
Tough but enjoyable and I liked the review although Queeg was captain of the Caine (cue Bogart) and Bligh of the Bounty (cue Hopkins).
Amen! I'd rather have a migraine than see another puzzle like this one.
Good Morning:
Props to the constructor for the abundance of fresh, lively, and interesting fill. Unlike HG, though, I am not a fan of what I consider too cutesy cluing and today’s offering was top-heavy with it. There is a fine line between creative cluing and contrived cluing, IMO. The solve was of Saturday difficulty with several unknowns: Jawas, Alaska Roll, Mina, Blue Shell, Pacific Rim, etc., but the perps were fair, particularly from those discernible long entries that offered many footholds. Go Me and Eats Over were sore thumbs but small nits considering the overall quality of the fill.
Thanks, August, and thanks, HG, for another outstanding review and commentary. Enjoyed the ABBA tune and all of the striking visuals, especially the PB and J on an English Muffin, a favorite snack!
Have a great day.
I got most of the puzzle but the north west corner did me in. Never read a Toni Morrison book and never watched a Star wars movie. I also have never seen an aloe plant flower. I always thought they reproduced by sending out tendrils that grew into plants.. so, better luck next time for me.
DNF. The NW did me in. I had the last half of each long answer there, and even when Alaska roll filled in, wand, aloe, and Jazz just wouldn't come to me.
Remarkably I had no problems with all the other long answers, of which there were so many. You have to admire a constructor who can make a CW like that. Well done!
And even though Ifailed to finish, I really enjoyed this puzzle
Yikes, I couldn’t get a foothold. Went down too many rabbit holes leading to misguided perps that I couldn’t crawl back out of …. Said to myself “myself, WHAT MORE CAN I DO” and TITT after seeing the reveal .
August Miller nice pic but who is the guy with hat and glasses next to you? BTW; … you really shouldn’t lick your nose in public. π€¨
INES Rau if you turn sideways you’ll disappear π …
ARGOT? MINISODES (as a hard-and-fast devotΓ©e of the boob tube I’ve never heard or seen this term). Had and stuck with Anglophile, “beach” bum mistletoe
You geniuses that FIR, Mensa is looking for new members. π§
Someone mentioned season 2 of Netflix “The Night Agent” yesterday. I had watched season 1 two years ago. Clicked “New season” last night and it took a whole 15 minutes into the episode to finally admit to myself I was rewatching season one π€¨.
Lucina: FLN thanks for the Spanish name explanation. Many Americans with other than WASP last names often use English pronunciation.. It’s usually easier when giving your name verbally for the recipient to spell it. I do it myself.
The puzzle reviewers include pictures with their comments to aid in explaining clues and answers. My blog page is also laced with ads for products. Sometimes I can’t tell them apart. It may take a moment or two to register that what I’m looking at is an ad and not a reviewer’s picture.
Here’s a snapshot of part of my blog page today that includes an ad I thought for a few seconds was part of the review
Contains an obscenity so don’t open if easily offended (so now you know you gotta open rightπ€)
FIR with help from Mr Google. I had to look up the model, the sports analyst and the Binghamton TEAM. Other unknowns filled with perps.
In the 90s I spent five lovely weeks in Binghamton as Γ‘ participant in Γ‘ NEH institute at the university. From there on weekends I was able to explore that part of the state of NY. Wonderful experience.
Thank you HG for Γ‘ nice review.
Ah, Saturday, another red letter day...
Actually, I found this easier than the usual Saturday stumper. And some cleverness made up for any Naticks. Speaking of Naticks, I believe the definition was a perp crossing that "most" people would not know, or someth8ng like that. But I take all Naticks to be personal...
Cant/argot, even with the video, I had to look that up. It doesn't make much sense until you realise that the little ' sign is missing from can't... nope, sorry, too hard for these old eyes that make every rn look like an m...
Ray-O, I'm jealous! Why do you get better Ads than I do?
FIR on paper, no cheating, but didn't feel confident of the win until HG confirmed it. GO ME! This week, there have been calls for more misdirection, and today the folks that wanted it certainly got it, along with some unknowns like ALASKA ROLL and PACIFIC RIM (which I DNK as clued).
All's well that ends well. Thanks to August for the mental gymnastics, and to Husker Gary for making sense of it all. Enjoy the weekend. We're expecting rain in Los Angeles for the first time since last winter!
There was some neat clueing but due to so many unknowns, there was no way I could fill in a sea of white. Not enough footholds.
Not familiar with as clued or heard of any of the following: JAWAS, LINE, MINISODES, JAZZ, WAND, Cant for ARGOT, BLUE SHELL, MINA, ANGLOMANIA, EATS OVER, PACIFIC RIM, INES, Beach BOD (had BUM), WEE LASSIE, AA TEAM, ASTOR.
I do have an expensive pair of OTTOMANs but never hear the term ottoman set.
And speaking of CHARLATANS, a LINE IS not necessary if there is a teleprompter so every politician who has no idea what he will be saying, can sincerely mouth what some speechwriter wrote.
My only thought of "Short stack" was IHOP.
DNF, not even to first base today.
Whew! DNF, TITT and proceeded immediately to Huskers recap for my morning entertainment!
Hand up the NW corner seemed impossible. Stuck with CONKING OUT. Then got WAND and ZED and it had to be JAZZ. FIR, but wow this was tough.
Husker Gary Thanks for the IN A PIG'S EYE bit from the original Star Trek.
Here is a clip of the IN A PIG'S EYE scene with context. The PIG'S EYE line is delivered at the very end.
Jinx Yes, I should have clarified that SLO is pronounced "slow". A lot of businesses and organizations there use that in punny ways. Interesting that you said the full name for the city. I think I just say "San Luis". It is 100 miles from here, but we get a lot of SLO dancers at our swing dances that are anything but slow.
Nope.
I plead guilty to being one of those misdirection-lovers!
Also, as a former drama director, I can relate to "What to say when one doesn't know what to say" (LINE). It works in rehearsal, sure, but when an actor blocks during a live performance, it's another story.
Tough but interesting Saturday offering, many thanks, August. And your commentary is always helpful, Husker Gary, and I too liked enjoying ABBA.
Well, this puzzle does have a bit of negativity here and there, having us ZONKING OUT right at the beginning, and moaning, asking WHAT MORE CAN I DO? before we even get started. I guess the assumption was that we were all CHARLATANS. But at least we got some food here and there, starting with that ALASKA ROLL, and a chance to EATS OVER, hopefully some food with some VITAMIN C for us. So, we'll survive this pretty much okay after all. CIAO, everybody, and have a fun weekend listening to some JAZZ.
As did others, I found this one to be a challenge but solvable (ultimately). It was also an odd combination of clues/answers that brought a smile (e.g. 5 Down) and others that . . . well, let's just say that stuff like ANAGLOMANIA and MINiSODES were not particularly appreciated.
I'll be brief today, and just direct my comments to August, the constructor, and HuskerGary, our reviewer.
August, your puzzle was well-constructed and in my view met the standard of being Saturday-appropriate; i.e., challenging. For one thing, you had the courage and patience and skill to construct a puzzle with an entirely white midsection, composed of a grid-spanner flanked above and below by two 14s.To say nothing of two sets of adjoining 10s elsewhere! Thank you for presenting us with a challenging and satisfying diversion.
HuskerG, your guidance today was on-point: amusing, informative, and lively. Thank you! AND I've checked your Cornhuskers' schedule for next season, and I think they will do alright.
I thought San Jack meant San Jacinto in SoCALese
So many WAGS and educated guesses went into this FIR, which was in doubt until DW returned from her weekly walk with the girls and figured out JAZZ, which was eluding me because I had conking out instead of ZONKING out.
Some of my toeholds in this puzzle probably were trouble spots for others. CREEL, MINA Kimes, HALAL, WEE LASSIE, ASTOR, FIATS, AA TEAM, CHARLATANS, ARGOT, and IN A PIG’S EYE were early triumphs. Nevertheless, I thought MINA was too obscure, AA TEAM was lame, and I was quite unsure about cant/ARGOT.
I don’t have room to elaborate on all 31 annoyances, so I’ll stick to the worst six or seven.
LINE is nearly unknowable if you’ve never been in a play. GO, ME was just awful, especially as clued. The Del Toro clue didn’t scream PACIFIC RIM at me. The moneda/dinero distinction threw me. The clue for BYES was too clever by half. I didn’t know JAWAS (has D-O ever told us? . . .). Didn’t know INES. MINISODES was unknowable. EAT OVER as clued was obtuse. I knew Sarah Sherman, but she isn’t a big enough SNL star to be in a crossword puzzle.
OK, that’s 10.
Ooh, I think you're right. Out by Palm Springs, not in the Central Valley. I was responsibilities for telco switching systems in Banning, Coachella, and Thermal, so I guess I (halfway) remembered it from meetings on them. Maybe I need a new acronym: RIW, for Remembered It Wrong. I'd need to use it a lot.
Saturday puzzle. Late start, should have just read Big E comments at 10:46….need not go further.
Greet the day.
This is exactly the kind of puzzle that will finish the LA Times as a go to crossword. Ridiculous.
Hi All!
A big Nope! I can appreciate August's construction but FIATS over Alfas! Com'on man. :-)
Thanks HG for once again letting me crib off your grid. As always, great expo!
//At least I know Sarah Sherman is on SNL.
Jinx et.al. - San Jac is also a college in Pasadena (part of the Houston area).
Y'all have a good eve.
Cheers, -T
Nope. I refused to give up, and finally managed to fill all the cells, but only with red letter help and a truly embarrassing number of alphabet runs. I have never used makeup, so two makeup clues were no help. WMOS, NW was tough, but for me this entire CW was just way too tough, and ended up being just no fun. Far too many DNKs. AM, others with more ability can say thanx, I can't. I had no fun. HG, thanx for the wonderful write-up. All your time and effort is appreciated.
Thank you, August! FAVs were Delta force? (I thought it meant Delta airlines.) and ZED (That one proved to be the key to the whole NW for me.)
I filled this one via meta thinking but no hurrah at the end. I looked it over and saw I had BIPeD instead of BIPOD, which of course works better with OTTOMAN.
Thanks, also, to H-Gary for his explanations! I look forward to reading your blog with a cup of tea every Saturday afternoon.
I know Pasadena from that movie with John Travolta and Debra Winger. Took place in a fairly big bar with mechanical bulls. Meanwhile, upstate in Ft. Worth, Billy Bob's features REAL bull riding.
A potentially fun puzzle totally ruined by the vast plethora of weird pop-culture names and expressions; even “cheating” by looking up some of the obscure names didn’t help. @YouperPhil and @CopyEditor pretty much echo my sentiments, so I’ll stop now so I don’t get into trouble. I think this constructor is going onto my (very short) “no-fly” list…
====> Darren / L.A.
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