Saturday Themeless by Rafael Musa
I made very good time in this puzzle but there was no way I was going to get the red cell you see below. ¯\_(γ)_/¯
1. Warning on some sauce: ATOMIC.
7. __ Darya river: AMU - ¯\_(γ)_/¯ It is mostly a DaRYa River now and it "flows" into the southern remnants of the Aral Lake.
10. Solidarity leader Walesa: LECH - A true Polish living legend whose courage foreshadowed the fall of the Soviet Union.
14. Place to take a break from the hustle and bustle: URBAN OASIS.
16. Part that helps the wheels on the bus go round and round: AXLE π
17. Words before a gavel banging: GOING TWICE π
18. Fuss: STIR.
19. Doing: UP TO.
20. [Jazz hands]: TADA.
22. Caldo de __: Mexican beef soup: RES.
23. "Was that not enough?": MORE?
24. Plow creation or brow formation: FURROW π
26. Cake or Bread: BAND - I only knew one of them. You?
29. "Shake it off": HATERS GONNA HATE.
34. "No complaining!": I DON'T WANT ANY LIP.
35. Events that only get some coverage?: PARTIAL ECLIPSES π
36. Big primate: APE.
37. 50-Down org.: NBA and 50. Cleveland pro: CAV.
38. Aware of: ONTO.
39. Pitfall! consoles: ATARIS.
41. Be overly maudlin: CLOY - His bleak and jaded worldview is tempered by an unflagging, never cloying faith in love and its ability to transcend the muck and vile.
— Carlos Valladares, SFChronicle.com, 4 Nov. 2019
42. "Golly!": BOY.
45. Work: OPUS.
46. One may thicken over time: PLOT π
47. Like the oxygen in a hyperbaric chamber: PURE - They are believed to promote faster healing by using PURE oxygen under increased pressure.
48. "A Visit From the Goon Squad" novelist: EGAN and 30. Substance in herbal medicine: ADAPTOGEN. - The G where these two intersected was an impossibility for me as you saw in the grid. π
49. Seeing things that aren't natural?: BIONIC EYES - These can restore sight to blind people
51. "Mistakes __ made": WERE.
52. Break in?: STAYCATION - Take a break but stay in town
53. Otorhinolaryngologists, for short: ENTS.
54. Not assume, say: ASK.
55. "Regardless ... ": EVEN SO.
Down:
1. Herald: AUGUR - These clouds in central Nebraska AUGUR some extreme weather
2. Enemies to lovers, e.g.: TROPE - A familiar plot device in TV shows and movies. This fun movie leapt to my mind.
4. Hand for a mariachi band?: MANO - ... or any hand in Spanish
5. English equivalent to the French -ant: ING - Crosswords are amusing (Les mots croisΓ©s sont amusants)
6. Test kit items: COTTON SWABS.
7. Tangent: ASIDE.
10. Surgical tool: LASER.
11. Appearances: EXTERNALS - Front and back of the Hill Valley Courthouse from Back To The Future
13. "I Can't Breathe" singer-songwriter: HER.
 |
| H.E.R. |
15. Occasion to celebrate achievements: AWARD GALA.
21. Habitat for __: HUMANITY - Two famous workers
23. Gin cocktails: MARTINIS.
24. Recourse before pursuing legal action, maybe: FINAL NOTICE.
25. Responds with great emotion: WEEPS.
26. Predisposition: BENT - I have always been a man with a math and science BENT
27. Carpenters' union?: ANT COLONY π π
29. Abbr. on some medical forms: HIPAA.
31. Criticized harshly: TORE APART.
32. Half and half: ONE π
33. Shot provider: HYPO π
40. Old Norse characters: RUNES.
42. Poker fee: BUY IN - Ya gotta pay to play
43. Treat with vanilla creme: OREOS - How do I clue thee, Let me count the ways
44. Binary, in a way: YES NO - If this makes no sense to you, ask a math peep.
46. Centers of drupes: PITS.
47. Mets slugger Alonso: PETE.
49. Org. now known as Scouting America: BSA.
3 comments:
This is one of those occasions where I
hope you friends did better than I did. After about an hour, I got frustrated and turned on the red letters. I just couldn’t get “urban oasis” among others. I finished it finally, but it took a lot of help.
I’m not particularly happy about that, but I am happy to be here and see how the rest of you did. Subgenius out!
As with all Saturdays, this was not easy. Though I did WAG the "G" for EGAN so there was that. I was impressed by all of her awards but never heard of, nor read any of her books. HABITAT FOR HUMANITY for Broward County was a long term client of a law firm I did much work for and attended many builds and openings. I agree that URBAN OASIS was a challenge but the perps eventually filled. I loved the clue for PARTIAL ECLIPSE very witty. not familiar with Caldo de Res this Mexican dish but the fill came from the other words in the corner. BIONIC EYES was inferable but as a legally blind person I will try to get more information. For the baseball fans out there, once again the managers each did their best to lose the Tigers / Mariners game but the pitching overall was amazing. Thanks Gary and Rafael, and old-fashioned biblical name which was my father's Hebrew name.
My experience was about the same. I completed about 3/4 of the grid without help, but I had to resort to red letters and alphabet runs to complete the NW part of the grid. That’s not a complaint. Overall I thought this was a fun, challenging puzzle. A good start to what will be I hope a great weekend.
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