Themeless Puzzle by David Karp
Hi Gary,
Glad you enjoyed the puzzle! And sorry to trip you up -- I was a bit worried about how that crossing would play out.
Glad you enjoyed the puzzle! And sorry to trip you up -- I was a bit worried about how that crossing would play out.This one is a pretty open grid so it was challenging getting clean yet interesting fill throughout -- it went through a few revisions with the editors, particularly in the bottom right corner. But I'm particularly happy that MUSIC BINGO (I enjoy playing it), ZAMBONI RIDE (I'm a Canadian/hockey fan) and EGG MATZOS (my dad's side of the family is Jewish) made it through.
I can't believe it's been a couple years since my last LA Times themeless puzzle. I've had three crosswords in the LA Times since then (including a couple collaborations with friends and family), but they've all been Mondays, funnily enough. I feel most in my element doing challenging themeless puzzles though so it's nice to be back with a themeless.
Not much to update in the way of my current activities; I still work for the provincial government, enjoy making crossword puzzles in my spare time (I recently published my 50th puzzle -- this one is #52) as well as playing ball hockey and soccer.
1. Rank denied to Anakin Skywalker: JEDI MASTER ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ He never became a Jedi Master. He became a Jedi Knight close to the beginning of the clone wars. Knights were also given padawans to train during the unprecedented times in the final years of the Republic. Even after he became a force ghost he was still known more as the Chosen One than a true Jedi Master.
11. Pollutants phased out by the Montreal Protocol, for short: CFCS - Chlorofluorocarbons were identified as destroying the ozone layer and were outlawed in 1987.
15. "Count me in!": I AM SO THERE.
16. Baseball dynasty name: ALOU - They had a lot of talent and vowels.
17. Game whose object is to get lots of hits: MUSIC BINGO - A fav game of David's. Players receive bingo cards with song titles or artists listed in a grid. The host plays short clips of songs. Players identify the songs and mark them off on their cards. Five in a row, column or diagonal wins.
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| Sample Card |
18. Gamer who lacks game: NOOB.
19. 1971 cult classic: SHAFT - The fabulous Isaac Hayes theme song below has the lyrics start at 1:48
20. Startles: SPOOKS.
22. Celeb gossip site: TMZ - It stands for the Thirty Mile Zone surrounding Los Angeles and the entertainment business. Here's the latest edition
25. Story that may remain unfinished: ATTIC 😀 An unfinished top story ATTIC would get pretty toasty around here.
27. Spine-tingling: EERIE.
28. Treats: HEALS.
30. "What a bore!": SNORE.
32. "Wanna __?": BET - TV's most famous BET!
34. Crispy kosher snack: EGG MATZOS.
36. Clouds of gas and dust: NEBULAE.
38. "They'll never catch me!": MWAHAHA and 31. Noise made while curling one's fingers, perhaps: RAWR the crossing of these two cost me a "got 'er done".
40. Debate figure: MODERATOR.
42. Layered sandwich: OREO.
43. Actor Chaney: LON.
44. Blacksmith garb: APRON.
45. "Paul Bunyan" librettist: AUDEN.
46. __ coffee: IRISH - IRISH is also a beloved member or our community
48. Networks, for short: SYSTS.
50. Fr. holy title: STE - French abbreviation for SAINTE the female form for Saint
51. Some adoptees: STRAYS - God bless those that do this
53. One of the three R's: REUSE - Oh, those 3 R's. I first tried "RITIN'"
55. Duck out early: BAIL - We did BAIL on a Husker FB game once when it looked like they would lose. The cheering we heard on the street told us we made a mistake.
56. Unlikely to show mercy: IRON FISTED - These leap to mind: Stalin, Lenin, Putin in Russia. Idi Amin in Uganda. Fidel Castro in Cuba. Daniel Noriega in Nicaragua. Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Hafez Assad in Syria. Hitler in Germany.
61. "Balladz" poet Sharon: OLDS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Her bio
62. Tale that may be told with a fire in one's eyes: GHOST STORY 😀
63. On a cruise: ASEA.
64. Easy wins for presidential candidates, often: HOME STATES - Most do but in 1972 George McGovern, among others, even lost his home state of South Dakota in the Nixon landslide.
Down:
1. Actor Parsons: JIM - He was a big reason The Big Bang Theory was a huge hit.
2. Evian, e.g.: EAU.
3. Private convos: DMS - Direct MessageS
4. Mother of Horus: ISIS.
5. Drinks made from two kinds of beans: MOCHAS - A mixture of cocoa and coffee beans
6. Rockie start?: AT BAT - 😀 Their AT BATs have not been very productive as the Colorado Rockies have the worst record in MLB (30 - 85).
7. Takes a turn: SHIFTS GEARS - I really liked this clue as it references a turn in a conversation or strategy not in a car.
8. Part of a nomad's lifestyle, perhaps: TENTING.
9. Work unit: ERG - I love this definition of an ERG: It's the equivalent of an ant doing one push up
10. Some classic cars: REOS - Ransom Eli Oldsmobile invented the Oldsmobile Car and then, after a falling out with a partner, stopped that and started building the REO
11. __ Journey: annual event for Pacific Northwest Indigenous peoples: CANOE.
12. They may be swept under the rug: FLOOR BOARDS - There is a difference between actually doing this and the sense of ignoring a bad topic
13. Need for one who's rolling in dough?: COOKIE SHEET 😀
14. Part of the whole: SUBSET - We crossword solvers are a SUBSET of the general population
21. "The Hunger Games" boy: PEETA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
22. Scarce: THIN.
23. They're only human: MERE MORTALS.
24. Hockey fan's intermission experience, perhaps: ZAMBONI RIDE.
26. Sound track?: COMMON SENSE 😀
29. Credit: LAUD.
34. Tombstone name: EARP - Despite his adventures in Tombstone, AZ, Wyatt's actual, uh, tombstone, along with his wife's, is in Colma, CA near San Francisco.
35. Dynasty before the Qin: ZHOU.
37. __ Law: human rights measure named for the third-longest-serving U.S. senator: LEAHY.
41. Place for kidding around at home?: TOY ROOM 😀
43. Capital city in Província da Estremadura: LISBOA - Portuguese in clue means the city will be spelled in that language
45. One of 3,234 for Sue Bird: ASSIST.
47. Verde or roja topping: SALSA - Even I knew green and red
49. Boston university: TUFTS.
52. [Not this again!]: SIGH.
54. Spanish pronoun: ESTA.
57. Density symbol, in physics: RHO - Density = Mass/Volume
58. Threenager, e.g.: TOT 😀
59. Bard's before: ERE.
60. Start to function?: DYS.
Notes from C.C.:
Wishing Ray O. and his wife a joyful celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary - what a wonderful milestone!
39 comments:
For a Saturday
crossword this wasn’t too bad; at least, not impossible. I did wonder about “rawr” but what could that “fiendish” chuckle be but “mwa ha ha” I thought. And I was right! Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
DNF. Filled 20, 18 correctly. I erased GHOST STORY to accommodate nino, not that it made much difference. I stuck with ritin, which didn't help. Figured it couldn't be readin or rithmatic, thems too long.
Congrats to those who conquered this one, or even came close.
Well, I knew my fairly long string of LAT FIRs wouldn’t go on forever, and it came to an end today, TITT with 92% filled an hour into it, the top left triple stack of tens ultimately did me in. Never heard of MUSIC BINGO, couldn’t remember SHAFT or Horus’s mother. Don’t know what a finger curl is or why I would say RAWR. LISBOA and AUDEN perped, the clues being no help, librettist? I’ve been to a lot of hockey games, but none ever offered a ZAMBONI RIDE, there’s only one seat for the driver. Anyway, I’ll accept defeat in today’s game, thanks David for the challenge and HG for your informative write-up.
Rawr???
Hard to believe - another Saturday and another trivia-laden slogfest. Start us off with Star Wars, a random actor, a foreign language play, some mythology and if that clue for AT BAT is an attempt to be cute with the Rockies baseball team, well then the editor should be sent to her room for a week.
Then, it gets worse. This is an alleged Crossword Puzzle with MWAHAHA actually crossing RAWR: omg, wtf is that all about? Compounding the insult to the solvers in that section, it goes on to cross a Chinese dynasty which crosses someone named AUDEN.
Give them credit for stamina. Even after all of that nonsense, they were still able to come up with LISBOA and crossed it with a Balladz poet for good measure. Kind of hard to fathom how something this atrocious could make its way to a major publication.
Took 20:05 today to guess wrong with "Aiden" instead of "Auden" crossing the unknown "Zhou" when "Zhoi" looked acceptable. All that after luckily sussing "rawr".
I didn't know the Greek mythological figure or her son, the Greek letter (rho), the French water, the clue for Lisboa (and originally put "Lisbon," but "nsea" had to be wrong), and the aforementioned crossing of Zhou and Auden.
Initially, with "SH___" in place, I entered "Shane." Eventually the "ne" gave way to "ft".
Personally, I find "at bat" for "Rockie start" way too cutesy, and I continue to abhor an alleged clue that consists of "foreign language" + "part of speech" (e.g., "Spanish pronoun"). What's next, "English noun"?
Can I confess something
to you, crossword friends? I used four or five “ red letters “ today to totally solve the puzzle, all centered around “rawr.”
And I have often done this in the past. At times, when I haven’t got the “ flip” that indicates success, I have used one or two red letters to completely solve the puzzle, and not “copped “ to the fact that I have done this.
So I may not be the “genius” some of you apparently think I am!
I’m just sayin’.
Thanks for listening
Your friend,
Darryl (“Subgenius “)
DNF. The rawr and bwahaha was not to be for me. And really seems unfair. Also insisting on sign instead of sigh confused the SE to the point where I threw in the towel.
I had hopes of finishing today's puzzle since the left side presented no problems filling, but it was not to be.
Overall this was not an enjoyable puzzle.
The editor should have been replaced a long time ago.
I dunno, this puzzle made me curl my fingers...
(And 52 down too...)
happy anniversary Ray-O!
Good Morning:
Although lots of P and P rewarded me with a FIR, I can’t say I enjoyed the solve. Despite the abundance of fresh, vibrant fill, questionable entries like Rawr and Mwahaha, and niche references, i.e., Music Bingo, Peeta, Zhou, Egg Matzos, Leahy, etc. put a damper on the entire grid. Compounding these negatives was some of the way too cutesy cluing, IMO. Saturdays should be difficult and challenging, but not discouraging and confounding.
Thanks, David, and thanks, HG, for the background info on David, and the usual sparkling visuals. And thanks for that CSO!
Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary to Ray O and Mrs. Ray O!
Have a great day.
I agree with every single point you've made. Ridiculous puzzle.
I really should just wait for Irish Miss to post each day, and simply reply "ditto." Her review of this puzzle is spot-on.
I worked my way to a FIR, but mostly as an act of defiance. I did not enjoy the solve at all but was stubbornly determined to finish it out of spite.
So much of the clueing was ridiculous that I will not waste any more of my Saturday morning by itemizing them here.
I can usually tell when a crossword is just not going to go my way, and today’s was one. I tried to complete by looking up the ones I knew I didn’t know but got frustrated with the esoteric nature of it and finally gave up. Better things to do on a Saturday anyway.😀 After reading these solves, pretty sure it was me, not the puzzle.
The clue for ATBAT was not only too cutesy, it's grammatically questionable. An individual Colorado ballplayer would be a Rocky.
I'm with you. Anyone who can FIR with no help is way beyond my skill level. Odd spelling like NOOB (I tried NUBE, NEWB before cheating to get the first O) are disappointing. SYSTS? Really? Is there a more obscure work of Auden's than Paul Bunyan?
Exactly!
After the first pass, I stared at a nearly blank grid. Added letters here and there until I got a toehold and eventually landed the thing - although I missed by one letter. Gary, nice to hear from you, but if you were worried about the infamous "W" why did you leave it in? Trust your instincts.
Great write up, HG, and I'm glad you contacted the constructor to clarify. Unfortunately, I took the L (not the W!).
I came within one letter of an FIR for this absurdly unfair puzzle. It came down to the last letter of the Hunger Games boy’s name crossing the arbitrary spelling of the non-word MWxHAHA. I guessed wrong. I did get RAWR, though.
The number of annoyances (unknowns, bad clues, or simply ridiculous), was 25, but what really irked me were the proximities of several. The aforementioned Natick had the second non-word, RAWR, which could be spelled almost any way you want. . . . The vague clues for HEALS and THINS, along with the unknown IRMA, killed any chance this puzzle had for artistic success. . . .SYSTS, TOY ROOM (SIGH), and the cryptic meaning of RE-USE also dragged David astray.
OTHER UNKNOWNS: MUSIC BINGO, CANOE JOURNEY (and I’m FROM the Pacific Northwest), Horis, and the ZHOU Dynasty, although C.C.’s name reassured me that I was right about the latter.
OTHER AWFUL CLUES: NOOB, the obscure opera clue for AUDEN, the TOY ROOM clue itself, and “threenager.” And a quibble: TUFTS is in suburban Medford (with a branch now in Somerville), so the clue should have said Boston-area.
OTHER LAMENESS: The entire “I AM SO THERE” entry; EGG MATZOS as a snack; the bizarre Rockie/AT BAT entry; and calling the mainstream hit SHAFT a “cult classic.” Now, Harold and Maude – that was a 1971 cult classic.
LIKES: The ZAMBONI RIDE entry, which was my first toehold; the ATTIC clue; and the appearance by Patrick LEAHY.
Exactly!
I’m sorry folks were frustrated by this puzzle. Truly.
And - isn’t it kinda the point of Saturday themeless to dive deep into the less (un-) known? At least that’s how I’ve experienced the crossword world.
So, my Saturday mindset has become more “learner” than “solver”
I liked “mwahaha” (which I got) & “rawr” (& did not get - til I saw the GIF! [thx for that]: “ah, I was curling my fingers the wrong way!”)
I learned: egg matzos, music bingo, Zhou dynasty, Auden & Britten, Canoe Journey, Zamboni ride [that would be fun!], Sue Bird “assists” [a lot, I’m guessing?!], and Peeta [I read the first book - too dark for me; and didn’t remember the name, at all].
Thanks to all for this puzzle, the many puzzles, info, community!
And - 50 years married! Tis truly an achievement! Congrats!
“Thoughts too deep for tears….”
Quit yer whining. Saturdays are challenging. By now you shoulda heard of Auden:)
Tossed the towel on this "look how clever I am" stinker after 20 minutes of aggravation. After reading HGs review, I realized that this was at least 15 minutes longer than I should have waited. I'll Echo Irish Miss and many others on this one. Tough or crunchy is one thing, incomprehensible is something else. AHA!s should always far outnumber WTF?s for a puzzle to spark enjoyment.
Interesting Saturday puzzle, many thanks, David. And your comments are always a help, especially on a tough day, so thanks for those too, Gary.
Well, it looked to me like maybe an early reader of the puzzle saw the JEDI MASTER and cheered I AM SO THERE-- but that sure wasn't me. I realized early on I'd need to SHIFT GEARS and take a CANOE with solid FLOOR BOARDS that could take me to a place where I could get a COOKIE SHEET full of EGG MATZOS (whatever they are) and a dozen OREOS. After that I might be ready to play some MUSIC BINGO and listen to a GHOST STORY about MERE MORTALS, and play games in the TOY ROOM. No "SIGH' from me about this journey, even if it didn't visit any of my HOME STATES.
Have a lovely weekend with family and friends, everybody.
Themeless? Methinks Clueless describes it more accurately.
This puzzle included quite á few of my pet peeves, phrases like “count me in”, “what á bore“, “wanna_______?”, “they’ll never catch me”, [not this again]. I would never, or anyone I know, say the answer to the first one, I AM SO THERE, and that’s the problem with these types of clues.
It’s too bad this CW contained so many obscure or niche clues like MUSIC BINGO and EGG MATZOS, answers like RAWR, is that á word?, or AT BAT which I don’t understand still, because there were also some clever fills like COMMON SENSE, FLOOR BOARDS, COOKIE SHEET, ATTIC. Had the GHOST STORY clue been worded less awkwardly, it would have also been á good one.
I would love to go on á ZAMBONI RIDE.
Yesterday we had ALOO, Urdu for potato, this time we have á family name pronounced the same, I think, ALOU.
Thank you HG for the good recap and telling us about the constructor.
Is TENTING a thing? Nomads are known for HERDING. Gave up after filling most of the puzzle when HERDING did not fit. I don't like to complain, but this is probably the worst LA Times puzzle ever.
Early nomads were hunter-gatherers, IIRC. About the time they figured out herding, they also figured out agriculture. That lead those nomads to become sedentary instead of, well, nomads. Food production instead of hunting/gathering led to food surpluses, which supported the start of modern societies. For the first time, man could support leaders, metalsmiths, clergy, full-time leaders, soldiers, shipwrights and the like. From that basis, mankind bettered the quality of life until the invention of disco, after which societies worldwide have been declining.
Thanks to David and congratulations on having 52 puzzles published!
FAVs: the CSO to IRISH the; ATTIC clue; and ZAMBONI is always a fun word (although mine had a RacE before a RIDE).
Sussing "treats" as HEALS was a fun Aha! moment.
I stumbled in the same area as H-Gary but ended up with more than 1 wrong box in that area. I stuck with RoaR for RAWL and switched letters on the MawHAHA fill, which I did like. PEETA was a complete unknown to me. So, yeah, that section did not go so well for me.
Many thanks to H-Gary for his work on this! It is a gift to be able to come to The Corner and see how it was supposed to look.
This puzzle was too hard for me.
I worked on this puzzle on and off throughout the day, and was going to quit with a lot of spaces unfilled, but I thought about how all the brilliant Cornerites would put me to shame, so I tried again and finally FIR on paper, no cheating. You have all mentioned the tough spots. I had "bagel chip" before EGG MATZOS, "rare" before THIN, and was glad to see YooperPhil say that hockey spectators don't ride Zambonis during intermission. Maybe they see the Zamboni come out, but that's not the same. Quite the challenge for my Covid brain! Last night I was awakened by the sound of splashing water. The valve that lets water into the toilet had broken and we had a flood in the house. Fun start to the day, and then this puzzle!
Happy anniversary to Ray-O-Sunshine and to Mrs O-Sunshine.
The Florida Panthers (Stanley Cup Champs!) have an extra seat attached to their Zamboni. It's a popular fan experience, often available through contests, promotions, or as part of special events. Several NHL teams, including the Ottawa Senators, Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, and Tampa Bay Lightning, offer Zamboni rides as well.
Tried HUNTING, too. Has anyone ever heard of TENTING? Other than for termites? It could have been clued that way.
I forgot to say "Happy 50th anniversary!" to Ray-O & his DW.
Lots of people who have heard of Auden don't know he wrote an opera libretto. That was the complaint!
Thanks, RustyBrain at 6:38 PM -- there's a good reason to go to an NHL game.
Completely unsolvable for me. Way too many unknowns.
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