Saturday August 2, 2025 by Adrian Johnson & Will Nediger
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Adrian
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I had a collaborative puzzle from these two constructors back in February. As you can see by the colorful grid, there was a lot of "Unique" fill in this one! I had to work around some alternate fills that I love to do and, of course, the long horizontal and vertical fills were the real key. This was about a 40-minute excursion to get to an unassisted "got 'er done"
Across:
1. Strategic chess move, casually: SAC - SACrificing a piece so that you can gain an advantage
8. 41-Across developer: SALK and 41. Major medical breakthrough of the 1950s: POLIO
VACCINE - Some of us stood in lines just like this
12. Thin reed: OBOE.
14. Each: A POP.
15. Home of the Nubian Pyramids: SUDAN.
16. Handy navigational aids: ARROW KEYS ๐
18. Came to the surface: AROSE.
19. Chap with chaps, perhaps: RANCHER ๐ - RODEOER? seemed right to me in this part of the world. Yeah, spell checker didn't think much of it either.
20. "Let's meet up then": I'M FREE.
21. Cold draft in the winter, say: SEASONAL BEER.
24. Not altogether in the altogether: SCANTILY CLAD ๐ Not quite naked!
26. Least sanguine: PALEST.
27. Niger neighbor: CHAD - It's a 26-hr drive between their capital cities
28. Opposite of fore: AFT.
31. Org. that accepts returns: IRS ๐ - Amazon does a good job too.
32. Ballpark souvenir: CAP - When we were in D.C. this hat was $29.95 at the Pentagon Mall. I got it for $9.95 from a kiosk across the street from Ford's Theater.
35. Opposing vote: NAY.
36. Brew that might have ice or spice in it: TEA.
37. "Glad and big" protagonist of an e.e. cummings poem: OLAF.
Sunday Sermon: "i sing of Olaf, glad and big"
XXX (by E.E. Cummings)
i sing of OLAF glad and big
whose warmest heart recoiled at war:
a conscientious object-or
43. Places for puffers: SMOKING AREAS - Here's one at Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. I can't imagine...
45. Shell casing?: PIE TIN ๐
46. Tidbits: MORSELS.
49. City west of the Wasatch Mountains: OGDEN.
50. Salvadoran eatery: PUPUSERIA - I had my first PUPUSA in a great El Salvadoran restaurant here in town. PUPUSARIA made sense to me at first.
52. Area of expertise, casually: THING.
53. Brownie point?: OVEN.
54. Home of many a steppe family: YURT ๐ - Home, home on the steppe
55. Fantasy football datum: STAT - Top 10 Fantasy Football Points for running backs for 2024
56. "Charlie's Angels" star Cheryl: LADD.
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| Cheryl Farrah Kate |
Down:
1. Reach great heights: SOAR.
2. Pokรฉmon that ultimately evolves into Alakazam: ABRA ¯\_(ใ)_/¯
3. Summery dip: CORN SALSA.
4. Savors the moment: TAKES IT ALL IN.
5. Liqueur similar to Campari: APEROL ¯\_(ใ)_/¯
6. Dodgers legend Campanella: ROY - A man discovered this decades old program in his basement. It was signed by Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella. Branch made Jackie and ROY the first and sixth black men to play MLB baseball in 1948.
7. Covert __: OPS.
8. Enjoyed the motion of the ocean: SURFED.
9. Crush on: ADORE - Modern slang for "have a crush on"
10. Element of a security grid in many an action film: LASER.
11. Arthroscopy target: KNEE - I have many friends who have gotten relief with this procedure
13. Epoch that produced the earliest primate fossils: EOCENE.
15. Carnival performers: SAMBA DANCERS - I felt so comfortable with GANDY DANCERS but I needed to think of Rio de Janeiro!
17. "Something smells good in here!": WHAT'S COOKING.
20. "Someone in my circle probably knows the answer": I'LL ASK AROUND.
22. Loc. of an annual November marathon: NYC
23. Need kneading, maybe: ACHE ๐
24. Bar tended to at a cookout: SPIT.
25. __ package: CARE. They were a vital operation just after WWII. It is what we used to call "stuff" we sent to our girls when they were in college.
28. Source of immunity: ANTISERUM.
30. "Just My __: A Book About Fonts": TYPE ๐
33. Annoyance: PAIN.
38. Concert stage effect: FOG or other occasions
40. "Juno and the Paycock" playwright: O'CASEY - Set in the 1922 Irish Civil War. Juno is the wife of Captain Boyle who she calls a paycock (Irish for peacock) because he struts around all day.
41. Heady: POTENT - The early 1970's and middle 1990's were heady days for Husker FB
42. Took off at a jazz club: VAMPED - Herbie Hancock's piece to use an intro or to fill time (left, then right and then both hands)
43. Spectacle: SIGHT.
44. __ fast: MEDIA - I could not give up all my media for 21 days.
45. Kitchen stack: POTS.
47. Source of some Turkish delight?: LIRA.
50. D.C. insider: POL.
51. Cavaliers sch.: UVA.
Notes from C. C.:
Today we celebrate the 71st Birthday of Subgenius (Darryl), who is often the very first to post on the blog each morning. Wishing you a beautiful day, Darryl!
13 comments:
Well, it’s a great day.
Not only did I solve the puzzle (though it took me a good while) but it’s also my birthday! So, what’s not to like? Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Most of my WAGs were golden, and this one came together in about 14 minutes...until it fell apart. Coming here, I learned that YSA is not a Spanish pronoun -- it should'a been ACHE not ACHy. Bzzzzzzt. Sezst Lah Vye. APEROL sounds more like a drug than a drink. PUPUSERIA was inferable -- Pupusas And More is a roadside fooderia near us. Thanx for the challenge, Adrian and Will, and for the expert guidance, Husker.
HBD, Sub-G. Doing anything memorable today?
Not a fan - I thought the cluing was deceptive - I’ve never heard a chess player refer to a SAC for example. A SAC bunt in baseball would work - why fit a square peg in a round hole ? POTENT for “Heady” looks like another swing and miss - you can lawyer it into submission, but why ?
I also really don’t enjoy “look how smart I am puzzles” and the SE in this one is an abomination - you have PUPUSERIA, OCASEY, YURT, LIRA and the needlessly obtuse ANTISERUM all stuffed into that small section. “Just because you can” is not sufficient justification for that kind of nonsense.
I don’t know what it is about the LaT - but they have this Jekyll and Hyde situation going on, where M-F they pretty much shine, but decent Saturday grids are few and far between. Jeez, recruit Robyn W. to show you guys how to do a tough but fair Saturday-worthy puzzle for heaven’s sake.
FIW. Hand up for missing ACHy x ySA. My alibi is that I was so concerned with SAC x ABRA and PUPUSERIA x LIRA that I forgot about that iffy ySA. Hand up for erasing RodeoER for RANCHER, which didn't make me Jolly. Also pest->PAIN.
Never heard of MEDIA fast, but it sounds healthy.
My cousin got polio. She survived, but it gave her a stunted arm which required her to use a steering wheel knob when she got old enough to drive. I remember "helping" my uncle load up her iron lung into his El Camino to return it to a medical device place. (I was too little to be of any actual help, as I figured out later.) I got the Salk jab and the Sabin sugar cube when they became available.
I'M FREE is a great cut from The Who's rock opera album Tommy.
Thanks to Adrian and Will for a Saturday puzzle that even I can stake a stab at. My favorite, for no particular reason, was SCANTILY CLAD. And thanks to H.Gary for another fine review (except for the 8/1 heading.) HBDTY, Subgenius.
Yeah, but at the LAT Saturdays have long been for people who find weekday puzzles easy. I usually can't finish Saturday LATs, and when I can, there are complaints that it was too easy. I don't mind struggling one day a week, and there are always Cornerites who FIR even the toughest ones. My hat's off to them, and I'm glad that they get a challenge once a week.
FIR. Happy Birthday SubG.
I had to really work at this one. And I was so sure of a quick finish when I threw down polio vaccine and Salk. I was a kid in school when we were part of a test of the vaccine in the 50's. I got the placebo unfortunately.
Was i ever wrong about finishing. From there on everything was a major task. And pupuseria was all perps. Real learning moment for me.
The SW was the last to fall as I tried in vain to work with Aspen and pans in that corner. Sight was the breakout point and ultimate solve.
Overall, for a Saturday, this was an enjoyable puzzle.
Good Morning:
This took 43 minutes to solve, with a good portion of that time spent in the SW corner. I was confident that Not so was the beginning to Fast and until I erased that and started from scratch, I made no progress. Media Fast is not in my vocabulary but, somehow, chipping away here and there, Sight, Ogden, and Potent filled in and led to the finish line, although slowly and painfully, I might add. The cluing was a mixture of clever, but fair, misdirection vs unnecessarily deceptive and too cutesy to be considered clever, IMO.
Thanks, Adrian and Will, and thanks, HG, for your expert guidance and, as usual, beautiful visuals.
Happy Birthday to the early bird, Subgenius. May your day be special. ๐๐๐๐
Have a good day.
Took 26:59 today to finally get this one.
Lots and lots of unknowns, including: pupuseria, aperol, Nigerain food and neighbors, media fast, eocene, Olaf, O'Casey, and the clue for scantily clad. On the flip side, I knew the Actress of the Day (Ladd).
I continue to dispute the validity of any clue that consists of "foreign language" + "part of speech" (e.g., "Spanish pronoun"). That's not a clue.
Happy, Happy Birthday to SubG!
I was also a pioneer. Got the real thing so was exempt for the main event
I was slow, but got it! I really liked this puzzle although i didn’t know รก few answers like APEROL, PUPUSERIA. I’ve never heard of CORN SALSA, but that’s what came up. I knew O’CASEY, but at first the OC threw me off. It’s all on how you parse รก word.
I’m old enough to remember the POLIO scare and the SALK VACCINE breakthrough.
The SW also gave me some PAIN. I held on to scene too long until I finally changed it to SIGHT.
I like the title of the font book.
Thank you HG for รก nice review and for that picture of the early bird. Happy birthday Subgenius. ๐๐๐๐
A Saturday stumper that was doable if you work at it, can't complain at all...
From yest, thanks for splainin the backwards books. I'm relieved to know it's not everyone trying to make a buck, it's just unscrupulous show producers trying to recap their costs...
Happy Birthday SubGenius!
I tried to find a pic of an Einstein cake in a submarine, but google wasn't having it. So just print and cut out the above, and toss it in the bathtub...
Going to lunch at my favorite restaurant with my brother and his wife. Naturally, they are treating me to it since it is my birthday.-SubG
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