Saturday Themeless by Chandi Deitmer and Erik Agard
Chandi wrote, I am a full-time puzzler out of Cambridge, MA with a love of nice people, spicy food, and (whatever entry POWER CLASHING is!). Hmmm...I wonder who came up with that clue/fill? π
I had a lovely trip through this collaboration but POWER CLASHING, BURBLE and MOCHI DONUT were speed bumps. Also, 46, 47 and 53 Down were just devious. I got the fill and then wracked what little brain power I had to make sense of them.
1. Take off: STRIP.
6. Book jacket blurbs: BIOS.
10. Cover one's tracks?: DUB π - Did you enjoy the "singing" of Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. Marni Nixon was the actual performer who glorious singing voice was DUBBED over for these famous roles.
13. African capital with a City of the Dead: CAIRO - More info
16. Attorney-__: AT LAW.
17. Boxing titles?: RING NAMES - Take a guess at the RING NAME of this boxing great Walker Smith Jr.. Answer at bottom of write-up *.
18. Greta of "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse": LEE ¯\_(γ)_/¯ She voiced a character named Layla
19. GPS figs.: ETAS - My GPS does not consider detours and construction zones or my tendency to drive 4mph over the speed limit so my Estimated Time of Arrival is not always so accurate.
21. Echelons: TIERS.
22. Magnetic presence in a classroom?: DRY-ERASE BOARD - My classroom board was home to many NASA and Disney magnetic "stickers"
26. Retired players?: VCRS - Failure to expand the idea of "players" made this take more time than necessary. At first I thought of baseball and OUTS.
21. Echelons: TIERS.
22. Magnetic presence in a classroom?: DRY-ERASE BOARD - My classroom board was home to many NASA and Disney magnetic "stickers"
26. Retired players?: VCRS - Failure to expand the idea of "players" made this take more time than necessary. At first I thought of baseball and OUTS.
27. Screenwriter's creations: ARCS - Those of us with a few miles on our tires will remember the name of the show whose story ARC was the search for the one-armed-man killer. Show is named below**
28. Halyard attachments: SAILS - This land lubber confused halyard with lanyard which is where we coaches carry our whistle and convention goers wear their ID'S. π
30. Dose holder: VIAL.
31. Pewter element: TIN.
34. Setting for some of "Pachinko": KOREA ¯\_(γ)_/¯
35. Participate in story time: TELL A TALE.
37. GPS fig.: LAT - This screen shot shows you the LAT and LONG of the White House.
38. Catch: SNAG.
40. Stream-ing music?: BURBLE - Not a common word to me but exchanging it for BUBBLE gave me TRANCHE
41. Increases: UPS.
42. Some social circles?: HORAS. π
44. Standard intro course: SALAD π the course was "intro" not "first". I wonder if this was a product of Chandi or Erik.
45. Rice flour pastry: MOCHI DONUT ¯\_(γ)_/¯
40. Stream-ing music?: BURBLE - Not a common word to me but exchanging it for BUBBLE gave me TRANCHE
41. Increases: UPS.
42. Some social circles?: HORAS. π
44. Standard intro course: SALAD π the course was "intro" not "first". I wonder if this was a product of Chandi or Erik.
45. Rice flour pastry: MOCHI DONUT ¯\_(γ)_/¯
48. Team whose logo is a basketball with a B: NETS.
49. In some cases, it won't break: PHONE π My iPhone is in an Otter Box case and has been saved several times
50. Surprisingly good event?: MIRACLE - The 1980 Lake Placid Olympics is truly one
52. Conductor Solti who held the record for most Grammys before BeyoncΓ©: GEORG.
53. Slayer player: METAL HEAD.
55. Classic Monopoly token: IRON.
56. Ticket line?: ONE PLEASE.
57. Misses: GALS - Noun not verb
58. Worked into a lather: SUDSY
59. Word with chosen or precious: FEW.
Down:
1. Prep, as milk for custard: SCALD.
2. Spud: TATER.
3. B.B. King's given name: RILEY.
4. SIMPLE __: IRA.
5. Looks in two different directions at once?: POWER CLASHING ¯\_(γ)_/¯ It's a fashion "thing". Chandi's note to me said she did not enter this. π
6. City that can be seen from Table Rock: BOISE.
7. Male equivalent of "bint," in Arabic: IBN.
8. Edu alternative: ORG.
9. Man known for his many gifts: SANTA CLAUS.
10. Like many mosques: DOMED.
11. App opener: USER.
12. TΓ©a's "Madam Secretary" role: BESS.
14. Uncouth: CRASS.
15. Skating event: PAIRS.
20. Paves the way?: TARS.
23. Irish novelist Woods: EVIE ¯\_(γ)_/¯
24. Leave folks hanging: BAIL.
25. Big name in brushes: ORAL-B.
28. Genre originally sponsored by Procter & Gamble: SOAP OPERA.
29. Media training?: ART SCHOOL π
30. Honey-don't list?: VEGAN MENU - I'm a "meat and taters" kind of guy!
31. Dining room section: TABLE LEAF π Ours are stored in the dining table.
32. Unsettled: ILL AT EASE.
33. Maslovian considerations: NEEDS - I studied (read memorized) these for my Master's Degree and then forgot them.
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| Heidi Klum Karlie Kloss |
35. Tropical staple: TARO.
36. Financial term from the French for "slice": TRANCHE - This compelling scene from Margin Call uses the word TRANCHE and gives insight into a big cause of the 2008 financial crisis. It's worth 9:48 of your time.
39. Place to make a connection: NODE - Part of a Local Area Network
43. Apt: SUITED.
46. Lockers in a row?: HORNS - Wow, variations on locker, row and horns! Here we see two kudu locking HORNS during a row (rhymes with cow). People can do the same thing metaphorically.
46. Lockers in a row?: HORNS - Wow, variations on locker, row and horns! Here we see two kudu locking HORNS during a row (rhymes with cow). People can do the same thing metaphorically.
47. Quarry containers: TRAPS - Continuing with animal references, some people use TRAPS to catch whatever quarry they are after.
51. Person to fight with: ALLY - Two ways to go: The person who is with you and fighting on your side is an ally. The person who is not with you is someone you are fighting with/against.
52. Piece of work?: GIG.
53. JASON's five, e.g.: MOS - I got this eventually. JASON stands for the first letters in the MO.'S July through November. All capital letters in the clue put me off the name and MOS is most likely months. Aarrgghh! I asked Erik how he came up with this and he said, "I wish I knew" π
54. __ point: DEW - Recent numbers for Omaha.
*Walker Smith Jr. fought as Sugar Ray Robinson
**Dr. Richard Kimble (Davis Janssen) sought the one-armed-man who killed his wife in The Fugitive
I thought this was a very fine Saturday offering. Just enough crunch to make me work for my supper. Erik has been entertaining for many years now as Gary explained, and Gary probably has been entertaining since he was born. Happy Saturday
ReplyDeleteI did okay on the
ReplyDeletetop two-thirds of this puzzle but couldn’t get any hold on the bottom third. So I did something I rarely do: I TITT.
I’m not happy about that, but I am happy to be on this site and see how the rest of you did. Subgenius out!
Nope! Saw Erik's byline and didn't investigate further.
ReplyDeleteFLN - I'm with Big Easy on "parts is parts." Although some of the stuff doesn't matter, like the plastic clips that hold the body parts and interior panels together, stuff like emissions sensors are better when they are from a big name like Bosch. Getting them from the dealer doesn't make them better, just more expensive.
Worst abuse I've heard about is when a stealership quoted a sparkplug changeout as necessary add-on work to the owner of a diesel pickup truck.
Congrats to all who enjoyed today's offering; I'll try again tomorrow.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteManaged two-thirds, but came to a screeching halt in the SE. Continued to fuss with it until I ran up against my personal time limit. This one goes in the loss column. Thanx for the abuse, Chandi and Erik. Congrats for sticking it out to those of you who completed this one.
way too many?,s
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteI think the clue for Mos (months) says it all about the intentions of at least one of the constructors, which is to be as obtuse and and deceiving as possible to confound, confuse, and frustrate the solver. This results in a constructor placing his desire to showcase his superior knowledge and cunning above providing the solver with a fair, challenging, yet enjoyable and satisfying experience. I, too, TITT, and I, too, am swearing off Eric’s future offerings.
Thanks, HG, for being the Saturday Sherpa through thick and thin. I admire your steadfast equanimity.
Have a great day.
DNF. I struggled through the upper two thirds of the puzzle, actually scratching my head on power clashing but having no alternative, and even managed to fill in the SW. But the SE had me completely flummoxed. 53D was a total mystery to me, and in fact still is in many ways, even after an explanation. And I continued to try to force trams before traps as I was thinking of mining.
ReplyDeleteOverall this was not an enjoyable puzzle for me.