Saturday Themeless by Doug Peterson and Samuel A. Donaldson
I had a collaborative puzzle by these two veterans a year ago. This one was just as much fun as that one. This beautiful grid only had 29 blocks amid the 98 open squares comprising a lot of white space. Symmetric grid spanners adds to the puzzles skill level. I got a hard-earned a "got 'er done"  |
| Sam Donaldson |
 |
| Doug Peterson |
Across
1. Technique employed by funk artists: SLAP BASS.
9. Many group chat texts: MEMES
14. Garbage genre: ALTERNATIVE ROCK - Garbage is an alternative rock band. Their incorporates elements of electronic rock, electropop, trip hop, post-grunge and industrial rock. ¯\_(γ)_/¯
17. "What are you even saying?": MAKE IT MAKE SENSE - What I would say about the description of the music played by the group above.
18. On Signal, say: IMING - Internet MessagING on a private messaging service known as Signal
19. Ketanji colleague: ELENA and 28. Ketanji colleague: SONIA - Amy Coney Barrett, SONIA Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown and ELENA Kagan,
20. Processed food: ATE.
21. Salon offerings: TANS.
22. Google crossword clues, some say: CHEAT - If you Google (verb) a crossword clue, it is not a CHEATING, it is learning. Constructor Malaika Handa said, "Also, when you’re solving, look up entries that you don’t know! It’s a game, not a test."
23. Gazebo board: SLAT.
24. Count ender?: ESS.
21. Salon offerings: TANS.
22. Google crossword clues, some say: CHEAT - If you Google (verb) a crossword clue, it is not a CHEATING, it is learning. Constructor Malaika Handa said, "Also, when you’re solving, look up entries that you don’t know! It’s a game, not a test."
23. Gazebo board: SLAT.
24. Count ender?: ESS.
 |
| Violet Crawley the Dowager COUNTESS of Grantham |
25. 25-Down, in Toledo: TRES 25. 25-Across, in Toledo: THREE The first one applies in Toledo, Spain. The second one is in Toledo, Ohio. π
26. Like most Iraqis: SHIITE.
28. Wiring problem: SHORT - An electrical SHORT in the Service Module provided the spark for the explosion on Apollo 13.
29. Norse pantheon: AESIR.
30. Launch-related stress: G-FORCE - Jet pilots launched off an aircraft carrier go from 0 - 140 mph to two seconds and feel 3-4 G's of FORCE.
32. Tool used to go suck a lemon?: CARVAC π I use a CARVAC in my non-lemon car ! My last fill!
34. Queeg's ship: CAINE - Was Queeg mentally ill?
35. County, across the pond: SHIRE - Robin Hood "lived" in NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.
36. Jumps on board?: OLLIES.
38. Hard to grab hold of: EELY.
39. Lotion letters: SPF.
42. Jessica of "Sin City": ALBA.
43. Coward's offerings: PLAYS π
45. 2020 Pixar film: SOUL.
46. Act excused with crossed fingers: LIE.
47. Working stiff: PROLE.
48. Atlantic capital: ACCRA.
49. Negotiation assets: BARGAINING CHIPS - One mom's opinion
52. Free pass from a manager: INTENTIONAL WALK - The pitcher no longer has to throw four balls. The manager can just choose to put a batter on base via an INTENTIONAL WALK
53. They may get thumbed: NOSES π
54. Royalty figure: NET SALES - Noel Coward accumulated millions in royalties on NET SALES of his work before his death in 1973 and his foundation administers that income now.
Down:
1. Silky fabric that dates to the Middle Ages: SAMITE.
2. Characters in Anna Dewdney books: LLAMAS ¯\_(γ)_/¯
3. Big name in middle management?: ATKINS π
4. Hammer heads?: PEENS.
5. Ocean cooler: BRIG - π I finally saw that cooler was another word for jail which on a boat on the ocean it is called a BRIG.
6. Colony toiler: ANT - The city name of Accra comes from Akan word Nkran meaning ant because of all the ant hills in Ghana.
7. "Ditto": SAME HERE.
8. Most like a chestnut: STALEST.
9. Home of Arizona's idea Museum: MESA.
11. Work in the Louvre's Salle des Γtats: MONA LISA π - I loved this clue/fill once it became obvious. The MONA LISA is in the Louvre's "States Room"
12. Stoked: ECSTATIC.
13. Pesky little sucker: SKEETER - I had some on the course recently and I put on my Absorbing Jr and they were gone.
15. Shopper's "maze with meatballs": IKEA.
16. Lets off steam: VENTS.
22. Gator kin: CROC.
23. Mesh in the kitchen: SIEVE.
27. Styles with many cuts: HARRY - The old common/proper noun switch for the many coifs of singer HARRY Styles
30. Vanilla liqueur: GALLIANO.
31. Hazelnuts: FILBERTS.
33. Feels off: AILS.
34. Container for seamy material?: COAL BIN π Coal is found in seams in the Earth
35. Beach barker: SEA LION.
37. Mast attachment: SPRIT.
39. Phishing target, informally: SOCIAL.
40. Crayola's wild orchid, e.g.: PURPLE.
41. Glassware in labs: FLASKS.
44. "The Real" co-host Love: LONI - Second from the left
45. Either side of Alaska?: SCHWA π Ζ las kΙ
47. Parts of a balance scale: PANS - The most famous ones are held by a lady with a blindfold.
48. Bands that may be strained on courts, briefly: ACLS.
50. [low whistle]: GEE.
51. Noir piece: GAT - The man below in this film noir scene is wielding a GAT or rod
23 comments:
The fact that those
grid spanning answers were not impossible to get helped me solve this challenging puzzle. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
I often pass on Saturdays, but I'm familiar with the work of both Doug and Samuel, so I gave it a shot. Glad I did. It took most of my allotted solving time, but it finally came together. [Whew] I thought of Harry Styles' recordings ("cuts") rather than his hairy styles. The four grid spanners were very nice. Thanx, guys. Thanx, too, to Husker for the elucidation.
A typically tough Saturday puzzle for me, both a game AND a test IMO. Google or any other form of help is a no-no for me, but I do look stuff up post solve, things I wanna learn more about from the puzzle, or mentioned in the blog or comments. I was temporarily befuddled in the NW with unknowns 1,2, and 3D, the grid spanners helped to solve those. Had to change berg to BRIG. TRES/THREE were all perps since there was no clue. The Ketanji clue made a gimme of the other Justices, “Amy” wouldn’t have. Maine became CAINE for my last fill and the FIR in 44:22. I associate GALLIANO with a Harvey Wallbanger, neither of which I’ve heard of in years. Unfamiliar with the chestnut reference. Thanks Doug and Samuel for your fine collaboration, and to HG for your informative blog!
IM☘️ ~ I see from the synonyms of prole, pleb is there, without an E at the end. π€·♂️
DNF, filling 29 answers, 24 correctly. Could have spent days on it and still not gotten it right.
Around here, OLLIES is a chain of stores featuring distress merchandise, like toys that didn't sell last year, books that didn't hit the big time, and discontinued clothing styles. The also sell off-branded commodities such as spices, coffee, pots and pans and carpets. Motto: "Good Stuff Cheap!"
I'm so glad I divorced Major League Baseball. First it was the DH, which took away a lot of the manager's strategy decisions. Now the automatic intentional walk is a way of excusing the pitcher and catcher from doing their jobs. It wasn't unheard of for a wild pitch or a passed ball to occur on an intentional walk. And who can forget the fake intentional walk in the 1972 World Series when Raleigh Fingers struck out Johnny Bench? To me, watching golf these days is more exciting than watching MLB.
Thanks to Doug and Sam for the challenge, and to H.Gary for explaining it all.
Took 24:56 today.
Lots of unknowns. Especially the lower-left (galliano, filberts, etc.).
Short on time again. I'm sure YooperPhil will pick up my slack again.
FIR after about an hour and wanted to throw in the towel multiple times. Wow, this was the hardest puzzle I've seen in a while
DNF. The NW got me, starting with samite and, for the life of me, not being able to come up with Atkins. I knew the gist of the clue but my brain just fogged up. I knew it had to be weight related. Oh well!
The rest of the puzzle was extremely challenging and there were times when the towel looked like it was going to be thrown in.
But overall a decent puzzle.
Good Morning:
Like KS, the NW was my downfall, although I did have Atkins. That wasn’t enough, though, to bring forth Samite, IMing, or the correct Brig vs Berg. It was quite the challenging solve, though, especially with those grid-spanning double stacks. Not getting an FIR was disappointing, but the effort was its own reward.
Nice job, Doug and Sam, and nice review, HG, particularly all of those great photos.
Have a great day.
YP, pleb refers to the common man, while plebe refers to a freshman cadet at a military institute, according to Mr. G. Mystery solved! π
Not a fan of this puzzle, although I did FIR (albeit in 25 minutes, twice my usual Saturday solve time).
So many worthy candidates for submission to the Worst Clue Hall of Fame, but today’s prize goes to the clue for CARVAC.
Others seem to have enjoyed the puzzle, so maybe I just wasn’t on my game today.
Rollie
23:25. Good puzzle but took me much longer than usual. Top was easy--bottom not so much...
DNF - never heard of Samite - and on Signal, the answer should be DMing. Schwa and soul also got me in SE! And I don’t understand phishing target as social for an answer? Yes I get social media, but is that really an informal target word…?
It refers to your SOCIAL Security Number.
DNF. Waaay above my pay grade today. TITT about half-way through.
Challenging Saturday puzzle, but still very clever and fun--many thanks, Doug and Samuel. And your commentaries are always helpful, Gary, so thanks for this one too.
I might have gotten SLAP BASS at the start of this puzzle, if I had any idea what a funk artist does. So although this puzzle was really very clever, I had to CHEAT to figure out how to MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. But that's what makes weekend puzzles ECSTATIC for a lot of the solvers. So what did I love most about this puzzle? Finding the MONA LISA in it--what a treat! Now it's time for me to get some CHIPS (certainly not 'bargaining CHIPS). And maybe I'll take an INTENTIONAL WALK after lunch. That would be good exercise, wouldn't it?
Have a good afternoon and evening, everybody.
I also though of record cuts. Fortunately, the outcome of either was the same.
Red letters and alphabet runs galore!
Doug and Samuel served us a doubly difficult puzzle. After my first attempt, I had only half filled in. Went and did some things while letting it percolate. Came back and certain words and phrases popped into my brain. Funny how that works. Eventually FIR but took double the time.
Today I learned that Cherokee and CHEYENNE have the same number of letters!
Never heard someone say, "MAKE IT MAKE SENSE," but Gary's exposΓ© did just that.
Nope. DNF. Too many DNKs, and clues that sailed way over my head.
Hola! Even my usual grit and determination did not help me today and I threw in the towel. Many clues were just too obscure and too many to mention. I'm proud that I managed a few fills but the increasing use of modern-day terminology makes it hard for this octogenarian to keep up especially since I'm not around young people anymore. After looing at the completed grid I've learned a few things. However, never in all my reading have I heard of SAMITE nor am i familiar with Anna Dewdney's books.
Thank you, Gary, for illuminating me. Have a great day, everyone!
oops, looking
Like Lucina, I have never heard of SAMITE or Anna Dewdney, and like RustyBrain, I have never heard MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. I had "doesn'T MAKE SENSE" and that wasn't helping. Did not realize that ACCRA is on the Atlantic (I'll have to check a map), and not being a baller, I couldn't solve INTENTIONAL __LK. Came back to the puzzle repeatedly but DNF. Ya got me, Doug and Samuel! Husker G, my hat is off to you.
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