Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan
This is the 19th Saturday puzzle by Dr. Dolan I have blogged. My first one was on May 26, 2018 and every one of his constructions has been a delight. This one was no exception as even Thimmamma Marrimanu in Anantapur was only a minor annoyance. 😀
As you can tell by the colorful graphic, Kyle had a great many unique or nearly unique fills!
Across:
1. "Hold on to that one": IT'S A KEEPER - This occurred to me right off the bat and I was so 16. Confident: SURE I immediately put it in.11. Periods: ERAS.
15. Have a heart-to-heart exchange?: FALL IN LOVE - Awww...❤️
17. Healthy dessert option: FRUIT SALAD.
18. "Whatcha waitin' for?": CMON.
19. Purple __: YAM.
20. Magnate: TITAN.
21. Rodeo circuit?: LASSO 😀
22. Second-largest landlocked country in Africa: NIGER - Yup, Chad is the largest
23. Jay-Z or Cardi B: RAPPER.
24. Glossy fabric: SATEEN.
27. German car, informally: BEEMER.
29. Hybrid since 1997: PRIUS.
30. Sense of achievement: SELF PRIDE.
33. Slangy contraction: AIN'T - Top 11 songs with AIN'T in the title. Bill Wither's song is my fav.
34. Dockers fabric: KHAKI.
35. "Can do!": ON IT.
36. Weak six-packs?: NEAR BEERS - LITE BEERS fit first.
38. Forum garb: TOGAS.
39. Line dance movement: TOE TAP - We all did it, didn't we?
40. Numerous: SO MANY.
41. Verbal shrug: I DUNNO.
43. Secret spots: LAIRS.
45. Ancient seafaring people: NORSE - Seeing them on the horizon did not usually engender joy!
46. Zest: GUSTO.
47. Closest one, briefly: BFF.
50. Family member: AUNT - I had four AUNTS I never got to meet.
51. Thimmamma Marrimanu in Anantapur, notably: BANYAN TREE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Thimmamma Marrimanu is a BANYAN TREE in Anantapur, India. I filled it in and then looked it up.
53. Subject of a deal, say: PLEA.
54. Ad hoc groups of specialists: TIGER TEAMS - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ A tiger team is a specialized, cross-functional team brought together to solve or investigate a specific problem or critical issue.
55. Catherine who outlived Henry VIII: PARR.
56. Some ranch dressing: STETSON HAT 😀 Yes, I suppose someone dressing in ranch attire might wear a STETSON HAT.
Down:
1. Touch and go: IFFY.
2. Hill of __: historical site associated with the High Kings of Ireland: TARA More
3. Neglected area: SLUM.
4. Arabic name that means "elevated": ALI.
7. Fill with joy: ELATE.
8. One way to break the ice?: POLAR BEAR PLUNGE - When a blizzard knocked out our power for three days in March, I couldn't even take a cold shower! 🥶
8. One way to break the ice?: POLAR BEAR PLUNGE - When a blizzard knocked out our power for three days in March, I couldn't even take a cold shower! 🥶
9. __ Rachel Wood of "Mildred Pierce": EVAN ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
10. Color of diamonds: RED - I overthought this for a while
11. Activities that require exit strategies?: ESCAPE ROOMS.
12. Amish rite of passage: RUMSPRINGA - Rumspringa is a rite of passage in some Amish communities where teenagers, typically around 16, experience a period of relative freedom from traditional Amish restrictions before committing to that life as an adult.
13. Got up: AROSE.
14. Caballero title: SENOR.
21. Prize in "A Christmas Story": LAMP.
22. Supernova remnant: NEUTRON STAR.
23. APR adjustment: REFI - REFInancing a loan.
24. Go over: SPAN - After you...
26. Aunty Entity player in "Mad Max 3": TINA TURNER - TINA was 45 when she did this film in 1985.
28. Edmonton CFL team: ELKS.
30. __ butter: SHEA.
31. Primatologist Fossey: DIAN.
32. Creative outlet?: ETSY.
34. Atkins variant: KETO.
37. Nota __: BENE - or N.B. which means "note well"
38. City founded as York in 1793: TORONTO - Look closely and you can see York which has been incorporated into the greater TORONTO municipality
40. Instruments that date to the Mughal Empire: SITARS - The empire ran from 1525 - 1857.
41. Like some purchases made on a phone: IN APP.
42. Help for a new mother: DOULA - New to me
46. Run, e.g.: GAIT.
47. "My guy!": BRAH.
48. Storm recovery org.: FEMA.
49. Big do: FEST.
51. J-Hope's K-pop band: BTS.
52. Carl Lewis's Olympic medal count: TEN.
33 comments:
This was a pretty tough
puzzle, as Saturdays usually are, but I thought it was fair, for the most part. Even the “?” clues were very gettable.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
If it weren't for RED (I've seen that "diamond" trick in the Stumper, except the clue was just [Like diamonds], with no mention of color), I would've confidently typed in TRANSPLANT at 15A. It even works crossing ELATE, the only easy answer in the NW. And I don't really get the clue, what kind of "exchange" does FALLing IN LOVE entail? FALLing IN LOVE isn't necessarily mutual, you know.
In general I found the NW to be the only Saturday-tough section of the puzzle. I did know RUMSPRINGA but it doesn't really matter, the crossings are fair and the short answer in the NE are so much easier to get than the ones in the NW.
Good morning!
I often don't stick with the Saturday puzzles, but today there was enough LHF to whet my appetite. I was familiar with the concept of RUMSPRINGA, but not the name. My SCAN had to morph into a SPAN. In the end it came to an alphabet run to determine the A at the TARA/YAM cross. It was a short run. Thanx, Kyle and Husker.
Shoot. I lost my comments just before posting. I know what I'm doing wrong - when I pick up my laptop by the upper-right corner, it closes the browser without warning.
Anyway, I FIR and enjoyed the puzzle and writeup.
Happy Saturday, this is my all-time favorite Kyle Dolan puzzle. This is not because it was easy, it had some big unknowns as clued. BANYAN TREE the clue meant nothing but the letters I filled led me to the answer. Gary's picture looks like it has Thai writing, I will have to ask Oo. TIGER TEAMS still means nothing to me. HILLS OF TARA never came up in my reading and I do not recall a reference in the OUTLANDER series. The perps were all fair and I finished this which I can't say for all of Kyle's puzzles.
I started on the wrong foot putting in HE'S A KEEPER which because of the aforementioned TARA was not an easy fix. There were many words that relate to my life, CHAD from a trip I had with my eldest brother to visit his literary agency in New York City and discovering the Chad embassy was in the same building. BEER mentions since both of my sons have worked in that field (despite my not liking or drinking beer). DOULA as my local grandson was born at home with the help of one. PURPLE YAMS are a regular part of our diet, and Oo loves line dancing (and toe tapping) which I learned on our first date. Add to the joy of the puzzle HG's always great write-up and the weekend is off to a great start. Thank you, Kyle, and Gary.
I had to resort to red letters to complete the SE section of the grid, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this challenging but fair Saturday puzzle.
Tonight we’re going to have our first BLT of the summer tomato season. It’s always the highlight of every year.
Took 11:38 today to escape.
I did enter "transplant" before "fallinlove", as "elate" worked for both. Then, one of the Actresses of the Day (Evan) showed me the folly of my way. The other actress (Tina Turner) helped largely in the lower-left.
Never heard of "rumspringa", "tiger teams," or that banyan tree. I recalled the football team being the "Edmonton Eskimos", but evidently, they've changed their name about 4 years ago to "Elks."
Despite the obscurity of several answers, the crosses were fair. Good puzzle, and as always, a good review.
This might be my best ever Saturday puzzle performance - near perfect, only two wrong letters, from inattention, quickly corrected by perps. And some clues also sparked remembrances: My hubby worked in aerospace - so heard of the forming of many “tiger teams”. I lived in Cambodia 1974-75 and became acquainted with “banyan tree(s)” (and jacarandas - which, 10years later, I moved onto a street in California lined for blocks with jacarandas). And, finally, in 2011 we journeyed to Ireland, and were on The Hill of “Tara” for the summer solstice, along with the druids; some places really do feel “thin” to an “alternate” “reality” …. Thanks for a great Saturday puzzle experience
I finally completed a Saturday puzzle but I had to keep looking at RUMSPRINGA. TARA hill, TIGER TEAMS, EVAN, ELKS- unknowns. BTS and TORONTO were just guesses.
DIAN is the name on my wife's birth certificate. It was written in script and whoever wrote it didn't spell it correctly. Diane didn't notice it until we got married.
I learned of DOULA a few years when our state legislature started reimbursing them through Medicaid.
TINA TURNER- "Bust the deal, face the wheel"
Carl Lewis' 9 golds is a more impressive feat than the Michael Phelps' 28 by a long shot. Everybody in the world runs and jumps but the competition in swimming is very limited. He wasn't wearing Keds but he could "Run faster, Jump farther" than anybody.
The "Mildred Pierce" reference at 9-Down brought to mind the 1945 Warner Bros. classic directed by Michael Curtiz. Joan Crawford had left MGM, and this was her first Warners film--in the title role, no less--so the pressure was on her. She came through, winning the Best Actress Oscar. She had a couple unforgettable slapping scenes with her daughter, played by Ann Blyth, and Curtiz made clear there would be no pulling punches here. So the women dutifully clobbered each other, with Crawford being the slapper in one scene, and the slappee in the other.
If you haven't seen this film, it holds up quite well despite being 80 years old (!). In addition to Curtiz directing, the music is by Max Steiner, and the supporting cast--besides Blyth--includes Eve Arden and Zachary Scott.
Ann Blyth, by the way, is still alive.
FIR. I must have been on the constructor's wavelength because I didn't find this to be that hard. And for a Saturday that's saying a lot.
The cluing was quite fair. My only complete unknown was rumspringa. And my only major misstep was throwing down banana tree before banyan tree. And considering I have one in my backyard, that says a lot.
Overall a quite enjoyable puzzle.
Good Morning:
I think Kyle struck a perfect balance today of difficulty vs fairness. The cluing was clever and misleading but decipherable, and the perps were helpful throughout the grid. The fill was fresh and lively, e.g., Polar Bear Plunge, Rumspringa, Tiger Teams, Stetson Hat, Neutron Star, Fall In Love, Fruit Salad, etc. There were no obscurities, no dreck, and minuscule pop culture references. All in all, a challenging but satisfying and enjoyable Saturday solve.
Thanks, Kyle, and thanks, HG, for the lovely visuals and always enjoyable commentary and asides.
Have a great day.
PS to HG-I thoroughly enjoyed the Hill of Tara article, brief though it was. ☘️
Started out relatively easy for a Saturday but as I was patting myself on the back I hit a roadblock in the SSE. Lotsa white staring me in the face
“Have a heart to heart exchange”: cardiac transplant wouldn’t fit
NIGER (“NY-jur” or “Nee ZHAIR “?)
Inkovers: ESCAPE house/route/ROOMS, gala/BASH,
Anywho
Have to leave for for a two hour drive to Saratoga for a HS grad party of the GD of a good friend of DW so I’ll take the DNF
Enjoy the weekend 😀
By the time I reached the SSE, I ran out of steam. One impediment in that area was hanging on to verve for GUSTO and verb for GAIT.
I got the unknown RUMSPRINGA but couldn’t figure out how á ROOM could be an activity.
I assume FEST is an abbreviated festivity?
Clever clues like NEAR BEERS and POLAR BEAR PLUNGE which would feel good right about now, but not in the winter.
TARA was also the name of Scarlett O’Hara’s plantation.
Thank you HG. Great review.
TARA was the seat of the ancient high kings of Ireland, and eponym for the O’Hara plantation in Gone with the Wind.
I saw BANYAN TREES in Honolulu, but I thought the editor fell asleep and her face hit the keyboard when typing the clue
Addendum
-Our new non-grocery IGA fill, Iga Swiatek, will be playing in the women’s finals at Wimbledon today.
DOULAs not only help come into the world, they also provide comfort, guidance and advice to those who are on their way out.
WEES about this solving quickly for a Saturday or at least it felt that way with a rare filling of 1A right off the bat.
A few gimmes:
-I live near Amish & Mennonite communities and so RUMSPRINGA was familiar
- I have a patient who does Filipino catering and she always brings me Yam buns made from purple YAMS also called UBE
- Law enforcement groups across Missouri sponsor annual POLAR BEAR PLUNGEs to raise money for Special Olympics, the largest of which is at the Lake of the Ozarks less than an hour from my home
-We have dear friends who've lived in CHAD for almost 30 years as missionaries and are just about to complete the Kwong language New Testament while also having a nutrition clinic for babies, a radio station, med clinic. Their day to day lives sound draining often in heat regularly in the 100-110s
- My daughter had a DOULA as well as a a midwife with both her children. The DOULA is basically the support person during labor and delivery if the mom doesn't think the dad is going to be up to the task. He is there but isn't coaching her
As Monkey said TARA was the plantation in GWTW- Scarlett's father Gerald O'Hara was an immigrant from Ireland and it was named after the TARA in the clue in Ireland
Thanks Gary for the blog and Kyle for the puzzle!
If a Saturday puzzle seems impossible to solve during the first pass-through but not impossible afterward, that’s sort of what many of us want. So, I guess this puzzle was a keeper, if not memorable.
Names helped, even short ones like Catherine PARR, ARIE Luyendyk, DIAN Fossey, and EVAN Rachel Wood (if you know, you know).
And of course I knew the leg LAMP, although I didn’t see A Christmas Story until years after I had read Jean Shepard’s stories that included that content. My favorite of those stories was the junior-senior prom tour-de-force Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories. The band in that story (and others) was led by one Mickey Eisley, a real person I have seen as a contestant in re-runs of Match Game.
Didn’t know: RUMSPRINGA, TIGER TEAMS.
I should have gotten the TORONTO answer more quickly, but the other Canada entry was tricky. I knew the CFL team was no longer the Eskimos and I must have heard they’re the ELKS now, but they hadn’t penetrated my thickening skull.
A George Harrison documentary taught me that SITAR is pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, so it rhymes with gui-TAR.
I haven’t line-danced much (not sure I’ve done a TOE-TAP), but I’ve been the only white person in an Electric Slide herd and have done the Cotton-Eyed Joe in Texas (with the dancers repeatedly shouting an expletive during the chorus; if you know, you know).
Dr. Dolan presented us with another of his masterworks today. I ditto all the positive comments regarding his creativity, clever misdirections, and fairness. But I want to reemphasize his skill in construction. The grid is a thing of beauty: it is a sea of white, with only 28 black squares, for crying out loud. And in both the NW and SE sections, there are precisely zero black squares, because Kyle effortlessly filled up each of those areas with three 10-spanners on top of each other. And all of the vertical perps running through those 10-spanners were not gibberish!
I always appreciate seeing "doulas" appear in our puzzles. Midwives and doulas are the oft-forgotten heroes of many cultures. Four decades ago both my children were born at home, each with the essential assistance of a midwife.
Thanks. HGary, for your noble and colorful recap. I note your summer crops are beginning to come in, like tomatoes--the indispensable T of a BLT. My triumvirate of fresh summer crops consists of tomatoes, corn on the cob, and peaches. The latter, however, must be freestone peaches, not clingstone.
Have you--or anyone out there--ever had charentais cantaloupes? They are French cantaloupes that are intensely flavorful and tender. I have a local farmer here who supplies me with charentais each summer. They are not quite ripe yet here; all I can do until mid-August is go out in the charentais field and admire the fledgling plants--and drool.
Close, but no cigar. That southeast corner came in a bit over my pay grade today. Still, a pretty enjoyable Saturday outing. Tiger team? Sigfield and Roy?
Several years ago I looked forward to Pecos melons that were always perfect, juicy, sweet, and delicious. Unfortunately they have disappeared from supermarkets near me. I read that many Pecos farmers could sell their land for development for more money than they made growing melons.
I felt sorry for Amanda, losing 6-0, 6-0. She was too nervous to play.
Then she had to speak afterward.
Tough, but still very entertaining Saturday puzzle, so, many thanks, Kyle. And your commentary and pictures were a big help, thanks for those too, Husker Gary.
Well, I had to hope we weren't in an IFFY place like a SLUM this morning, because we had a gloomy day and needed something to ELATE us. Things didn't look very promising until that ENSIGN showed up, and finally offered us some YAM and a FRUIT SALAD, and even some NEAR BEERS. And then we got even more help from the DOULA, who lit a LAMP and turned on the radio so that we could hear some SITARS playing. That gave us some GUSTO and made us ready for a bit of TOE TAP. Still, I think I'll get myself a STETSON HAT before we get another toughie like this the next time.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Reading everyone's comments make me feel especially dopey at how thoroughly this CW defeated me. Most commenters managed to FIR. I was not even close. I filled maybe ten then TITT. Too tough for me. Or maybe just on an entirely different wavelength. Whatever, KD you thoroughly defeated me. Coming to the Corner I see what a clever CW it is, so congrats on that. Thanx anyway. And thanx too to HG for the fine write-up, and for all the enlightenment. C'mon, did people REALLY know 51A? Geez.
And why did they make it nearly impossible to print out the puzzle on one page?
I liked this puzzle. I did not get 1A right off the bat as several of you did but a few perps revealed it to me.
Hand up for wanting TRANSPLANT.
NABOB-->TITAN. PAAR-->PARR. GO ON-->CMON.
I thought KHAKI is a color, not a fabric, and a ROOM is not an activity (hello Monkey).
Good reading you all.
Ray-O-Sunshine, I learned during the 2002 trip by Joseph Wilson to Niger to investigate allegations that Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase yellowcake uranium that NIGER is pronounced “Nee ZHAIR.“
Thanks to Kyle and H-Gary for the Saturday learning moments!
W(IM)S
FAVs were Creative outlet? and BANYAN TREE. To read the Smithsonian Magazine's article titled "One Year After a Devastating Fire, Lahaina’s 151-Year-Old Banyan Tree Is Healing",
go here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/one-year-after-a-devastating-fire-lahainas-151-year-old-banyan-tree-is-healing-180984874/
🤣👍🏽 ====> Darren
I remember hearing that pronunciation when the news reported on the 4 US soldiers killed there in 2017. French is one of the official languages , would explain that pronunciation
At first look through the clues, I was like, “ ‘Thimmamma Marrimanu in Anantapur’?? — are you 🤬ing kidding me??”. But in spite of some of the vague clues and esoteric fills, somehow I got to the end with a FIR, truly a minor miracle. Kyle’s assembly gave just enough rope for me to climb out of the white abyss (at first I thought I’d be using it to hang myself…). Husker Gary put down his usual erudite review to save us from any mystery 👍🏽
One major beef, however: being a car guy — and specifically a BMW aficionado — I need to set the constructor (and the rest of the country) straight on what a BEEMER is. It is NOT a German car. It is a Motorrad, a motorcycle; the cars are called “Bimmers” with a short “i”. The Motorrad riders grind their teeth in frustration when they hear the misnomer, an invention of the backwards-ballcap brigade. I’m sure not too many outsiders will care, but it’s kinda like when someone hears a common word mispronunciation — you may as well go scratch your nails on the blackboard for us Bimmerheads!
Okay, done. Off my soapbox… 😆
====> Darren / L.A.
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