Saturday February 1, 2025 by Adrian Johnson & Will Nediger
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| Adrian |
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| Will |
I had a nice 14-minute trip through Adrian and Will's puzzle. I wrote to Adrian about this puzzle he co-authored with Will and this was his gracious reply.
Hi Gary,
Great to hear from you. Will and I are good friends that have collaborated a few times on puzzles, most recently co-organizing a charity pack to support humanitarian relief efforts in Palestine (https://www.
This puzzle was a stunt of sorts to see how many 12-letter entries we could fix into a 15x grid. I sent Will the layout last year, he helped lock much of the center into place, I polished off the corners, and we were off! Thanks as always for the work you do.
Cheers,
Adrian
1. Attach: TIE ON.
6. Pickle: SCRAPE - Origin of the phrase
12. "You're getting ahead of yourself": DON'T BE SO HASTY.
15. Vaudeville singer Smith: MAMIE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
16. __ bran: OAT - Love this variety
17. Break stuff?: ADS 😀
18. Like: AKIN TO.
20. Car mirror's view: REAR - Not what you want to see
24. When all's been said and done, to a Brit: AFTERWARDS.
30. Gifts that might be made with kukui: LEIS - A LEI made with Ti leaves and kukui nuts
32. Joplin's "Treemonisha," e.g.: OPERA.
34. Newspaper that covers Congress: THE HILL.
36. __ canto: BEL - Bel canto, Italian for beautiful singing is both a style of singing and a style of opera.
37. "Julia" star Swinton: TILDA.
39. TV explorer Márquez: DORA The Explorer
40. School house, informally?: FRAT 😀
41. One might be on a roll: SESAME SEED - Yes, I'm embarrassed I can still sing this song from memory!
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| RAMI Freddie |
44. Audition dismissal: NEXT.
45. Basil who designed England's Coventry Cathedral: SPENCE.
47. "That's the spot": AAH.
50. Question for a magician: HOW.
52. Planet-mapping tool: RADAR - An artist's concept of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mapping the red planet.
53. Highly stressful situation: PRESSURE COOKER - If they pay you millions...
58. "You've been up too long": IT'S TIME FOR BED.
59. Promise: ASSURE.
60. Coarse cloth: TWEED - I'll bet you know who this prof in a TWEED coat is. (* answer at bottom.)
Down:
1. Big name in pizza rolls: TOTINOS.
2. Like some jewels: INSET
3. "There's more," briefly: ETC.
4. Letters with a negotiable price: OBO - Or Best Offer - A cool name for a thrift shop in Spokane, Wa
5. Nautilus captain: NEMO - James Mason played the good captain in this Disney movie. BTW, 20,000 leagues is approximately 60,000 miles. Jules Vernes' book referred to how far the Nautilus travelled while under the sea not how deep the sea was. You're welcome.
6. Recycling-plant worker: SORTER.
7. Margaret of "Fire Island": CHO.
9. Home of most of Turkey: ASIA.
10. Condition that may be treated with EMDR therapy: PTSD - A very interesting 3-minute video about Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reoricessubg therapy for treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
11. Socket sets: EYES 😀
12. People who partially identify as female: DEMIGIRLS.
13. Blowout remedy: SPARE TIRE - Where it was in my Uncle Virgil's pickup
14. Endpoint of the Detroit River: LAKE ERIE - I was pleased to learn that Lake Huron flows into a Lake St. Claire and then the Detroit River takes that water down to LAKE ERIE.
15. Marimba strikers: MALLETS - Lionel Hampton used those MALLETS on xylophones, vibraphones and marimbas.
19. Promise: OATH.
21. Rotten to the Corps, perhaps: AWOL 😀
22. Genre for Flo Milli and Flau'jae: RAP - Not familiar with either of them but RAP made sense
25. Business offering stock options?: FEED STORE.
26. Sugar Bowl home: TAHOE - Yeah, I tried every variation for New Orleans I could but...
27. Handled better?: REBRANDED.
28. Ideal wheels: DREAM CAR - I'll take a '57 red and white Vette convertible!
29. More coarse, in a way: SALTIER not 34. Not at all ferocious: TAME.
38. Dojo level: DAN.
40. Flipped out: FREAKED.
42. Dig up: EXHUME.
46. Europa Clipper, for one: PROBE - Surveying the surface of the Jupiter moon of Europa.
47. Capital of Samoa: APIA - 5hr 35min flight SSW of Honolulu
48. Poetry, weaving, et al.: ARTS.
49. Pianist Myra: HESS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
51. Warp counterpart: WEFT.
54. Stampede Wrestling co-founder Hart: STU.
55. Military title: SIR.
56. Interrupting animal in a classic knock-knock joke: COW - I laughed really hard the first time I heard this joke.
57. City-building resource in Catan: ORE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don't play.
*That of course is Dr. Henry (aka Indiana) Jones
11 comments:
I went through this one fast! I didn’t time myself, but it was definitely under 10 minutes! Definitely unusual for a Saturday! I’m going to have to go get a Washington Post today and make a paper copy of this one! I don’t keep a record of my failures usually, but I do of my successes! FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Methinks there'll be plenty of complaints about this one -- too easy for a Saturday. Even d-o managed to complete it with only a minimal application of Wite-Out: Farm/FEED. "...see how many 12-letter entries we could fix into a 15x grid." There were plenty of long answers in this one, but I couldn't find a single 12-letter one. Hmmmmm. Thanx, Adrian, Will, and Husker.
Finished it! Wrong, but I finished it! I had rilta for teh equally unknown TILDA. I was certain that the belt would be tAN, and didn't know what a marimba was. But I do know my WEFT from my warp, so I got that goin' for me. Which is nice. (Had to include a Bill Murray reference this Pebble Beach Pro-Am weekend.)
The only MASTERS I care about is the PGA event that starts on Thursday of the first full week in April, which is the 10th this year.
I'm probably the only red-blooded American who has no idea what a pizza roll is. I was thinking it might be something like mud wrestling.
I was certain that the Sugar Bowl home had to be "Superdome" or "NOLA," but neither fit.
Thanks to Adrian and Will for letting me play with the smart kids today, and to H.Gary for another fine review. Still thinking about the knock-knock joke.
WoW! HG comes it at 14 minutes, SubG under 10, I guess my FIR time of 21:34 isn’t so stellar after all. Must be the several gimmes and a big assist from perps that made this puzzle seem easier than most themeless. Unknowns included DEMIGIRLS, HESS, SPENCE, STU, WEFT, and TAHOE as clued. MAMIE was not at all a given as Vaudeville preceded all of us, the second M was my finishing WAG. I liked the clue for REBRANDED one I understood it. I don’t think AFTERWARDS is confined to Britspeak, I hear it often. First day of the month and already a couple nominations for worst clue ; “Stampede Wrestling co-founder Hart” and “Basil” who designed England’s Coventry Cathedral”. I’ve learned from CWs that any three letter Margaret is going to be CHO. A nice doable Saturday grid, nice collaboration Will and Adrian.
HG ~ thanks for explaining it all today, and giving us one of the authors insights as to the creation. The hydrology of the Great Lakes is interesting, starting at 600 feet above sea level, Lake Superior feeds all the lower Lakes and rivers, gradually descending till the 167 foot drop at Niagara Falls, through Lake Ontario on to the St. Lawrence River, eventually reaching sea level.
43. Freddie portrayer in "Bohemian Rhapsody": RAMI.
Methinks the pics / names have been swapped? Or, maybe it's my eyes...
I think you may be right about the pics, Rami’s resemblance to Freddie made him perfect for the role.
Definitely agree re: role perfection - enjoyed the movie greatly. Freddie's famous overbite made the pic switch jump out at me. He refused to have it "fixed" for fear it would negatively affect his singing. He was a real star.
Took 10:40 today to finish this non-pressure cooker of a Saturday puzzle.
Good job, SubG, on your speed run.
I knew today's actresses (Tilda & Cho), but not: Stu, the Vaudeville singer, bel canto, Basil Spence/Spence Basil, dan, demigirls, the Tahoe Sugar Bowl, weft, or the pianist.
I also thought the Rami and Freddie pics may be reversed.
I agree with YooperPhil about the early nominations.
Excellent checking/counting by d-o.
FIR. For a Saturday puzzle this was a walk in the park. I sped through this as though it were a Wednesday puzzle.
There were a few unknowns for me, and a few proper names which I never like, but for the most part the perps were fair.
Overall a most enjoyable puzzle.
Hola! I can't believe I finished a Saturday puzzle and though i don't time myself, it did not take too long. THE HILL started me successfully and I built on from there. It was not a PRESSURE COOKER. However, I did ask ALEXA about SPENCE and that helped to finish FREAKED. I vaguely recalled RAMI. FRAT was tricky. Instead of TILDA Swinton I was thinking of Talia Shire but LAKE ERIE found my error. Very nice experience this morning. Thank ;you Adrian, Will and Gary. Enjoy your day, everyone!
Demigirl? Is that a thing? Spellcheck doesn’t seem to think so, but what the heck does spellcheck know? I finished this one in less than 30 minutes, which is highly, highly unusual for me. All in all an enjoyable start to the weekend. Alas, now it’s time to drag my lazy butt to the gym. Alas…
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