Themeless Saturday by Rafael Musa & Geoffrey Schorkopf
BRICK went in immediately and then I raced down the eastern seaboard with just Florida to fill in. That did take a little doing but I came back and finished there. Cutesy cluing and modern slang provided some speed bumps but I did get a satisfying Congratulations message when I "got 'er done".
As the graphic shows, Rafael (A software engineer for Airbnb in S.F.) and Geoffrey (a software engineer at Fastly in Atlanta) had a lot of unique fill including all of a triple horizontal stack of 9's in the NW. Its matching triple stack in the SE had one unique fill and the symmetric double vertical 10's each had one.
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| Rafael |
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| Geoffrey |
Across:
1. Showers with affection in a manipulative way: LOVE BOMBS - I was happy to learn this. It seems to be an example of "too much, too soon".
15. Option at a Mediterranean bakery: OLIVE ROLL - Unknown to me but makes perfect sense.
16. Art print, for short: LITHO - A very nice one minute video about the LITHO (rock) GRAPHY (picture) process.
17. Hero in a 2018 Thai rescue operation: CAVE DIVER.
18. Photographer Adams: ANSEL.
19. Fertility clinic donations: OVA.
20. Piggy back?: LOIN - I had _ O I N and thought GO IN as you piggy back on someone else's idea or gift purchase and GO IN on it. 😀
21. Not spotted: UNSEEN.
22. People taking steps together: LINE DANCERS 😀
24. Pro pitcher, perhaps: AD MAN - Pitcher is one of those clue words that warn you this is might not be a baseball player or a container of lemonade.
27. Symbol of statistical deviation: SIGMA - Yes, 𝛔 is a lower case SIGMA. 𝜇 is the mean or average.
30. Host who fielded many, many questions: TREBEK - It just ain't the same without him
32. New beginning?: NEO.
33. Aura: VIBE.
34. Water under the bridge: BYGONES.
36. Medium for pop art?: SODA CAN - Andy Warhol's Campbell's SOUP CAN came to me first
38. Cracked: AJAR - This door can be said to be slightly cracked or AJAR
39. Long-nosed fish: GAR.
41. Fights off: REPELS.
42. Primary ingredient in the Nigerian dish āmālā: YAM - When I saw it wasn't OCA I entered YAM
43. Conceive: BEGET - The Book Of Matthew chronicles 40 generations of BEGETTING!
45. Church walkway: AISLE.
46. Butler honor: NEBULA AWARD.
50. Coin featuring Hagia Sophia: LIRA.
51. Interior designer's deg.: BFA - This is the degree my youngest granddaughter is currently pursuing
54. Parties hearty: RAGES.
57. Goddess of peace: IRENE.
58. Departing words: ALL ABOARD before they 21. Cast off: UNMOOR.
59. Guy Fawkes Night structures: PYRES - What is this all about?
60. Updos that might be carefully arranged to appear casual: MESSY BUNS.
Down:
1. Set into -motion?: LOCO - I never miss a chance for some great 60's rock 'n roll!
2. Norwegian ruler known as Folkekongen, "the people's king": OLAV.
3. " ¡__ la fiesta!": VIVA - "Long live the party!" or "Hooray for the festival!"
5. Set for retirement?: BED LINEN 😀 Set is a noun
6. Spacecraft of NASA's Artemis program: ORION - Yeah, I knew it! The ORION spacecraft that will carry astronauts sits high atop this massive rocket. The vast majority of rocket below the ORION craft simply carries fuel and two boosters.
6. Spacecraft of NASA's Artemis program: ORION - Yeah, I knew it! The ORION spacecraft that will carry astronauts sits high atop this massive rocket. The vast majority of rocket below the ORION craft simply carries fuel and two boosters.
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| Hint to find Waldo at bottom of write-up |
9. Snap decision, for short?: SLR - Yes, you can use a Single Lens Reflex camera to take a snap (photo)
10. Bahía __: city whose name means "White Bay": BLANCA.
11. Dishwasher setting: RINSE.
12. Field for one with their head in the cloud?: IT SERVICES - Uh, the virtual cloud (singular in the clue)
13. Lacking taste: CHEESE BALL - He is so CHEESE BALL
14. City on the Rhein: KOLN - In Germany they say KURN in English we say Kuh LOWN. Koln or Cologne?
22. When one might hope for same-day delivery?: LABOR 😀
23. Quite a stretch: AGES.
24. No longer dangerous: AT BAY.
25. Nondrinking age?: DRY JANUARY.
26. Very big deal: MEGA MERGER.
29. All knotted up: TENSE.
31. Pelvic exercises: KEGELS.
33. Jejune: VAPID.
35. Hardly a digest: SAGA.
37. Advice column with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: DEAR ABBY.
40. Cask beer in traditional British pubs: REAL ALE.
43. Kisses: BUSSES.
44. Shows off a new dress, say: TWIRLS 47. Geoffrey of fashion: BEENE. Here is a TWIRL in a Geoffrey Beene dress.
ee49. Stalactite origin: DRIP - The DRIP can make them grow as fast as 1" per 100 years.
51. Main squeeze: BEAU.
52. Scottish comedian Brady: FERN - She's a hoot who says, "I am an intelligent woman trapped in a Scottish accent". Here's a 29 second clip.
53. Does the math: ADDS.
55. Mac spec: RAM.
56. Hold up: ROB.
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| Here's Waldo! |
33 comments:
Well, I got it. Took me almost an hour, but
“slow and steady wins the race” I guess.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
With only a handful of gimmes, it was a very slow start, after about 25 minutes I only had about 40% filled, took about an hour break, came back and slogged my way to a FIR w/out any help in just under 43, a very challenging Saturday puzzle as it should be. Total unknowns = LOVE BOMBS, DRY JANUARY, NEBULA AWARD, MESSY BUNS etc… In my circle nobody ever says jejune or VAPID, and I didn’t know the meaning of either. Thanks Rafael and Geoffrey ( I saw the SO to yourself with the BEENE clue). Thanks to HG for yet another stellar review!
FIR. Saturday. Jinx. FIR. Somehow those things don't seem to go together. ribs->LOIN, dream->BEGET, raves->RAGES, inert->AT BAY, models->TWIRLS, beane->BEENE, and mate->BEAU.
As a caregiver, I dread MESSY BUNS.
KEGELS should have been taught in home ec classes, or at least in health. Ben Wa balls make the exercises fun and easy (or so I've been told.)
"Nondrinking age?" for DRY JANUARY? I don't get it. I've heard "haven't seen you in AGEs," but that surely doesn't apply to one month a year (and don't call me Shirley.) JANUARY Jones played Betty Draper, but I'm pretty sure she imbibed nearly as much as Don.
Thanks to Rafael and Geoffrey for a Saturday puzzle that even my dumb mass could conquer. And thanks to H.Gary for another fine review.
Good Morning:
I finished sans help in 39 minutes, not too far off the usual Saturday time. Actually, I had little hope of finishing, early on, due to the numerous unknowns: Cheese Ball, Love Bombs, Nebula Award, Real Ale, plus the tricky cluing for many of the longer entries. However, with P and P and eventual perp help, I got the TADA! For the most part, the cluing avoided the too cutesy trend and leaned more toward cleverly misleading.
Thanks, Rafael and Geoffrey, and thanks, HG, for the informative review and commentary and, as always, the eye-pleasing visuals.
Have a great day.
Shirley you jest! I guess an "age" is a non-defined period of time so it falls under the "close enough for crosswords" umbrella. But it's a stretch.
Took 12:26 today, despite many unknowns, and a lucky guess of the "F" at the intersection of BFA & Fern.
I didn't know today's writer (Butler) or prize, but had enough perps to go with "award". It's not a Saturday puzzle without an obscure foreign food Nigerian amala (yam), a foreign city or two (Blanca & Koln), and something like "viva."
HG, I originally went with "coin" for the piggy back. I also was trying "olive loaf" before ceding to "roll." Also, I wanted "prohibition" where "dry January" eventually went.
Dry January is a term for when people give up alcohol after the holidays.
A tough but fair outing from Rafael and Geoffrey made for a pleasant Saturday.
Thanks, Gary (no relation to RealBrain!). I knew Carole King wrote "Locomotion" and it was covered by Grand Funk, but your Little Eva link eventually led me to wiki and other versions and a half hour later...
FIR. I had a real struggle with this one. At one point I was ready to throw in the proverbial towel.
Last to fall was the NE. I desperately tried to work with sleaseball instead of cheeseball (?) and had no luck at all. Then suddenly "it services" showed up in my head and I got the win.
There were a lot of WAG's along the way. So many unknowns, too many to mention. But as SubG said, slow and steady won the race.
But overall not a very enjoyable puzzle.
FIR and thoroughly enjoyed this challenging puzzle. Many unknowns that were fun to guess. I much prefer this type of CW that doesn’t rely on proper names.
Thank you HG for the revealing info.
I FIR after a long, arduous struggle, so of course I liked it, but there were some ridiculous obstacles.
The worst four – one for each corner – were LOVE BOMBS, crossing the contrived clue for LOCO; CHEESEBALL, as clued; DRY JANUARY, which mystified me until H.G. and Anon explained it; and MESSY BUNS. I wasn’t fond of REAL ALE, the unknown NEBULA AWARD with the cryptic Butler clue, and the specificity of CAVE DIVER. I also don’t think BRICK is a surface for the Indy 500 anymore, despite the venue’s history and nickname, and I’m not familiar with being able to toggle in and out of single-lens reflex, so it’s not a “snap decision.”
The good stuff was good, though. Clever clues for BED LINENS, MOVIES, and LABOR were not overly labored. KOLN and BLANCA rewarded my foreign-language knowledge. DEAR ABBY was a gimme. I knew KEGEL exercises, and if that means I should turn in my man card, that goes double to any guy who got MESSY BUNS without perps.
I got about 60% before I just had to hit reveal word for the stumpers and clues that were completely clueless. All in all a very fair puzzle, no nits. But I got hung up on things like stalactite source ending in P. (Seep seems a better choice) and roll after olive. (Thanks for the pic, never seen one...)
And I still cannot find Waldo! The more I enlarge the picture, the more fuzzy that supposed Waldo area gets!
And real ale is just beer brewed with traditional ingredients aged in a wooden keg. In fact, I think I found a new friend to taste test it with...
I required a lot of help to finish solving this puzzle. I think the fact that I can't decide whether I liked it or not must mean I didn't particularly like it. It might be because even after filling the answers I didn't understand many of them.
I don’t understand 43 down… how does the clue “kisses” = the answer “busses?” Please help!
Oooh, tough one! FIR and liked it! DNK about the BRICK, Ms FERN Brady, and a few others, but found it doable. For instance, a three letter primary ingredient for an unknown dish in Nigeria is very likely a YAM. YAMs are an African staple food -- and are not sweet potatoes. My favorite clue, and one of the last for me to crack, was "water under the bridge" for BYGONES. Bravi, Rafael and Geoffrey!
Excellent explication, HG! Thanks so much.
Anonymous at 11:26 AM -- "buss" means exactly the same thing as "kiss," and like "kiss," can be used as a verb or noun. It's old, and rarely used, and perhaps more common in Britain.
“Buss” is an archaic word for “Kiss”. Nothing to do with a school bus which is standardly pluralized as “buses”.
As an Indiana resident I can say that there is a section of brick surface just after the finish line at thenIndianapolismSpeedway.
I am so sorry. My comment at 11:31 am should have been Indianapolis Speedway without the extra n and m. Proofreading needs practice in my life, evidently.
Super Saturday. Thanks for the fun, Rafael and Geoffrey, and HuskerG (I knew you would know ORION, and I found Waldo in two seconds having had lots of experience finding him when my son was young).
I was thrilled to have some success with a Saturday CW. I was held up but not ROBbed by having BRanD before BREED. A visit to Google for FERN cleared that up.
But KEGaL and sWIRL held up BEGET.
I arrived her to see that my Indy 500 tRaCK should have been BRICK. That makes sense of the Downs BLANCA and IT.
We had BEGET, OVA and LABOR (labour for me!)
Do MESSY BUNS go with OLIVE ROLLs?
CHEESEBALL was a head scratcher for me.
I am not familiar with the NEBULA AWARD.
Favourites today were the clues for LABOR and DRY JANUARY.
Wishing you all a great day.
The BRICK clue did say “CLASSIC surface”, which would refer to BYGONE.
Wow. Tough, but eventually do-able puzzle. Had to walk away several times, but it eventually came together. Didn't know Butler, bur NEBULA AWARD popped out with perp help. CHEESEBALL still doesn't make much sense to me, but on the whole, I got a nice feeling of accomplishment on completion. Nice recap, HG! I always connected "ALL ABOARD!" with a railroad conductor, though. Just before a ship unmoors, they holler out "All ashore that's goin' ashore!"
Yeah, I think NEBULA AWARD is rather Nebulous.
Interesting Saturday puzzle, Rafael and Geoffrey, many thanks for that. And your commentary and pictures are always a pleasure, thanks for those too, Gary.
When a puzzle starts off with LOVE BOMBS, you can always expect a lot of positive human activity ahead. So it's important not to get distracted by the
CAVE DIVER, who doesn't sound like he'd be a kind companion. Let's just start back off in the morning with an OLIVE ROLL for breakfast, before we fold up the BED LINENS and do some other chores. Then it might be time to enjoy a CHEESE BALL with a sip from the SODA CAN. Then back to the LABOR, which after a while may cause a bit of DURESS. Now might be a good time to get some KEGEL exercise before we join the LINE DANCERS who are ALL ABOARD with their skillful routines. Do they all give each other BUSSES after finishing their performances, and go to get some MESSY BUNS before they head off to the MOVIES? Sounds like a pretty interesting morning, doesn't it.
I wish you all a busy and cheerful rest of the day, and a lovely weekend ahead.
There is a 3 foot wide stretch of bricks right at the start finish line.
Hola1 Wow! I almost finished a Saturday puzzle. Again! MEGA MATTER deterred me and to my dismay, could not get rid of it. Also, I have not heard of the NEBULA AWARD nor of whom Butler referred. Also, I don't know who si FERN Brady but my trusty companion, ALEXA, knows. She also helped me with ORION which I did not know.
BRICK filled easily though I know nothing about the Indy 500. IT SERVICES made sense, however.
VAPID was a surprising fill as I had a very different idea about the meaning of "jejune".
Thanks to Rafael and Geoffrey for the challenge. I see that Geoffrey managed to fit his name in the clue for Mr. BEENE.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Whoot! I finally got a Saturday!
Hi All!
Thanks Rafael (DW always gets us AirB&Ns) & Geoffrey (if I've heard of Fastly it's only because it's a CDN I've unblocked ;-)) for a doable Saturday. I wonder how many Cornerites will say it was easy and burst my "I'm finally smart!" bubble...
Oh, I thought it cute y'all put your AREA (IT SERVICES) into the puzzle.
Thanks HG for another great Saturday expo. This time I didn’t need any nudges cribbed from your grid.
WOs: tome -> SAGA ++ other random letters (e.g. V thinking cave at DRIP's clue; M-D--S thinking models at TWIRLS's clue)
ESPs: KOLN, BEEN, FARN
Favs: BED LINEN's & MOVIES' clues
Knowing LOVE BOMBS [heard of it on NPR two weeks ago inre a show about narcissists] and BRICKS off the bat, the top-half and east-side filled post-haste. AD MAN & TREBEK | KEG[a|e|l][e|l]S along with 'tome' [SAGA] hung out in a blizzard for a while until the south-east's ink slowly migrated westward. BEENE's first E was last to fill.
Jinx & RustyBrain - I was looking for prohibition as the age of (officially) non-drinking but AD MAN (one of two toe-holds) disagreed.
LOL your new beer buddy, CED.
Y'all have a great Saturday afternoon.
Cheers, -T
Red letters on for the final quarter.
Slowly chipped away until FIR. The Northeast hung me up, since I was sure the Indy surface was track. Then took it out and realized the mistake.
BRICK also went in immediately for me, followed by ANSEL with a toss up between BONN and KOLN. But the NW took some time, a lot of time. LOVE BOMBS - never heard of it. I had OLIVE LOAF (not ROLL) and stuck with it almost until the end. I knew about the CAVE DIVERs but my first guess on Piggy back was the SLOT on a piggybank, not pork LOIN.
LINE DANCERS-My friend from Holland said they call it 'sheep' dancing over there.
NEBULA AWARD was and unknown that filled itself with perps.
Even with the unknown MESSY BUNS, The south was fairly easy, only changing MFA to BFA and RAVES to RAGES. FERN was unknown. The last fill on my paper was the A at the intersection of BLANCA and SIGMA (unknowns). A FIR on a Saturday is a great feat for this person.
CHEESE BALL is a term I've never heard. I guess it's the equivalent of 'cornball' or something similar.
To quote you: "Total unknowns = LOVE BOMBS, DRY JANUARY, NEBULA AWARD, MESSY BUNS etc… In my circle nobody ever says jejune or VAPID, and I didn’t know the meaning of either"
Ditto. Neither did I.
Those KEGELS are not the ones I remember! For women only!
Today i learned a new word: SCUTE. it's the external plate of a turtle or snake. Maybe it will be in the LA Times puzzle in the future. When I saw it in the puzzle I solved, i could not believe it was a word.
(Apologies; late to the party again thanks to yet another working weekend… 🏎️)
First impression of this puzzle: Dread. “Holy scheiß, there are hardly any black squares in this!” But being a motorhead, I knew BRICK immediately (the Speedway was originally paved in that material ) and then it was off to the races to an unexpected FIR. A brilliant build by Musa & Schorkopf (sounds like a law firm 😆) with awesome clueing and lots of fun fill — too many to call out, but my top ones are CHEESEBALL (common term from I think the ‘90s), LINEDANCERS and AJAR. Add to the mix another entertaining recap compliments of HG. Great stuff — thanks, y’all!
I sadly agree that Jeopardy is just not as good without the late great Alex Trebek— his suave demeanor, erudite commentary and sly humor are unmatched by any of the succession of hosts (so far, anyway…).
Jinx, you gotta read more sci-fi; then you’ll appreciate the authors who have won Nebula Awards!
Here’s lookin’ atcha, Sunday
====> Darren / L.A.
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