Saturday Themeless by Matthew Stock and Willa Angel Chen Miller
This collaboration was a real challenge and I was very happy when I got the Congratulations message. I cherry picked some fill, some of which took some real linguistic gymnastics, and then, as usual, the long fills were the key to finishing. I had no shot at Peter Pan BUS STATION but it had to be after I sussed out NEWB and INTERNET FAMOUS. Matthew told me he is still pursuing a Master's Degree in Florida. He said he made a connection with Willa through mentoring and he has enjoyed working with her on several puzzles.
Willa lives across the country from Matthew in the S.F. Bay Area and is a software managing engineer for Google. She listed Matthew, Robyn Weintraub and Erik Agard as great mentors.
1. Low growth: TOE NAIL 😀
8. Green party?: NEWB - NEWB, NOOB, NEWBIE, etc.
12. Shared loads?: INTERNET FAMOUS - I had never heard of this term but know there are people who are INTERNET FAMOUS. Matthew told me I was right in thinking it means these people get their post shared loads of times. "Loads is used as an adjectival phrase". Matthew said this was all Ella! 😀
16. Game that's over in the blink of an eye: STARING CONTEST 😀
17. Bit of sign language?: OLDE
18. Moves quickly?: RELOS.
19. Made a lap: SAT 😀 Yeah, I put RAN first too.
21. Small plates of fish: SCALES - Fish have these small plates called scales.
19. Made a lap: SAT 😀 Yeah, I put RAN first too.
21. Small plates of fish: SCALES - Fish have these small plates called scales.
23. Argentine "other": OTRO.
24. "Watch this space" letters: TBA - To Be Announced
27. Oscar nominee Gladstone: LILY ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
28. Penchant: KNACK.
29. Go badly?: TRESPASS 😀
31. Fume: SEETHE.
32. Fried fish at the Minnesota State Fair: WALLEYE.
33. Long-haired cat breed: PERSIAN - Irish will love this picture.
34. Minor keys?: ISLETS 😀 Keys and ISLETS are both small islands
35. Curry and others: WARRIORS - No thought of a spice for me
36. Bob Marley's "__ Little Birds": THREE.
37. Macro type: CARB.
38. Medical discipline with a five-year residency, for short: ENT.
39. Round in a poker tournament: CHIP 😀
40. Tandoori flatbread: LAVASH - LAVASH cooking in a tandoor
42. Lady bird: HEN.
43. Classic rock singer: SIREN - Below is a rock formation on the Rhine River from which the songs of the Lorelei or SIRENS lured sailors to their deaths as chronicled in Homer's Odyssey.
44. Literature Nobelist Tokarczuk: OLGA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
48. Not too dirty: AGE APPROPRIATE.
52. Paperwork to let someone go: PERMISSION SLIP - After 58 years in schools I've signed thousands of these.
53. Hungrily rummage through: RAID.
54. Class with a mean teacher?: AP STATS - Mean, median and mode
Down:
1. "Verily!": TIS.
2. Atop: ONTO.
3. Name-dropping abbr.: ET AL.
4. Bite on a rope or cluster: NERD 😀
6. Holiday __: INN.
7. Pilates movement: LEG RAISE.
8. Some models with click wheels: NANOS - Here a click wheel is being replaced on an iPod NANO
9. AED experts: EMTS.
10. Rhyme of "Romeo" in the last couplet of "Romeo and Juliet": WOE.
11. Peter Pan's destination: BUS STATION ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Never Never Land? Not so much.
13. Immune system components: T-CELLS.
14. Matt who lived in a van down by the river on "SNL": FOLEY - Featuring the brilliant Chris Farley
15. Picture with a lot of space: STAR CHART.
20. Arcade handful: TOKENS.
22. They're fired before being sent home: CLAYS.
23. Pajama Day attire: ONESIE.
24. What a load of junk!: TRASH HEAP.
25. Salvation Army volunteer: BELL RINGER.
26. Out: ASLEEP.
28. Australian model Miranda: KERR.
31. Balkan natives: SERBS.
33. "Beau Is Afraid" theme: PARANOIA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
35. Has second thoughts: WAVERS.
37. Moans and groans: CARPS - We have been known to CARP about some words we see here.
40. Oily compound: LIPID.
41. Animal butters?: HORNS 😀
43. Indigenous people known for reindeer herding: SAMI.
45. Bullet train?: LIST - Here is a bulleted LIST I use before I give my NASA presentation.
46. Blowout: GALA.
47. Grinding along: AT IT.
49. New __: cap brand: ERA.
I am so proud to tell you that we attended our grandson's "White Coat" ceremony yesterday at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha. Hudson will be starting Med School at the prestigious University Of Nebraska Medical School where he was one of 145 candidates chosen from 2,300 applicants.
3 comments:
Three Saturdays in a row I’ve come up a bit short, the last two I had to TITT, today I at least got a FIW. Out of 188 spaces I was correct except for 2, 99% so I’ll give myself an A for effort. When I hit “reveal word” on hErB it changed it to NEWB and I got the congratulatory message, amazingly all my WAGs proved correct. SAMI, OLGA, LILY, and KERR were just a few of the many unknowns. The answers for Peter Pan, Bite on a rope, and Bullet train made no sense till the expo. A definite challenge today, cluing and fill fitting for a Saturday, thanks Matthew and Willa for the construction, and to HG for the very enlightening write-up. Not sure if WALLEYE are prevalent in Nebraska, but they are a huge sport fish here in the Upper Midwest, and quite delectable as table fare.
Nope.
Sorry I’m a bit late today . I got caught up doing my laundry and forgot to post !
Well, I got it. But not without turning on a
whole bunch of red letters to help me. So I finished it right, but with help. So, should I say FIRWH? In any case, I’m happy. (Happy just to complete it, that is.)
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