Saturday, November 1, 2025, Ryan Patrick Smith

 Themeless Saturday by Ryan Patrick Smith

Ryan Patrick Smith lives in Austin, TX and is a writer, editor, gamer and frequent moviegoer who has been constructing word puzzles for over a decade. His work has previously appeared in the NYT and other venues. He and I have been visiting via FaceBook messaging and he is a very nice guy.

I did tell Ryan I had a huge issue in the SE corner where, as the grid shows below, he had a stack of ten unique fills.😳 He replied, Thanks for the kind words, and for giving the puzzle a fair shake! I look forward to your blog post.

Across:

1. "For me? You shouldn't have!": AW HOW SWEET.

11. Froze (out): SHUT - An all too common event in a school lunchrooms and playgrounds 

15. I dropper: THE ROYAL WE - Queen Victoria may or may not have said this but it is usually attributed to her.

16. Antler point: TINE - Makes sense

17. Approximately: MORE OR LESS.

18. Derby, for one: RACE - The most famous one in America and in Britain where they pronounce Derby as Darby.

19. Org chart topper: CEO.

20. Soapstone, largely: TALC.

21. Product line?: SLOGAN.

23. Hardcore: AVID.

25. Red __: HOTS - Red HOTS candy is hot because of cinnamaldehyde, a chemical found in cinnamon bark. It's a skin irritant; when put on the tongue, that's perceived as "hot". It was a favorite in my misspent yute but "burns" my tongue too much now.

27. Youngest sister in the band Haim: ALANA - Taylor Swift considers herself the fourth sister in Haim. I'm sure you know which girl below is Taylor and ALANA is one of the other three.

28. Buy more Time: RENEW 😀

30. With 56-Down, piledriver or Polish hammer: WRESTLING and 56. See 30-Across: MOVE.

                   

Polish Hammer

Pile Driver

32. Milwaukee rival: DREMEL.

34. "Got it": I SEE.

35. "Auld Lang Syne" time, for short: NYE - It is sung on New Year's Eve

36. Plan for a night out?: STAR CHART 😀 Tonight's sky

39. Common thing to clasp behind one's back: BRA 😀 or unclasp

42. Chicken __: KIEV.

43. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" role: MARTHA - Elizabeth Taylor won her second Academy Award for portraying MARTHA. Martha to her husband: I hope that was an empty bottle, George! You can't afford to waste good liquor, not on YOUR salary!

47. Take courses in the evening?: EAT DINNER 😀

50. SoFi Stadium pro: LA RAM.

51. Pays for hand delivery: ANTES 😀

52. Word before or after what: THEN.

54. NOLA squad: PELS.

55. Self-evident observation: TRUISM.

57. Plays that create one-on-one scoring opportunities, in basketball shorthand: ISOS -  All members of the red team have moved to one side of the court so the one red player left is ISOLATED on one defender.

59. Block letters: ABC.

60. Animated musical film set in a theater: SING.

61. Radiohead album with the single "Paranoid Android": OK COMPUTER. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

64. Brand in some bathrooms: MOEN.

65. Phase when one stops being a pushover: VILLAIN ERA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

66. Travel itinerary info: ETDS - When you are departing

67. Cartoon Network series about a trio of similarly named friends: ED EDD N EDDY ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Down:

1. Item that's easy to swipe: ATM CARD. 😀

2. "Anyone'll do": WHOEVER.

3. Captain Marvel, for one: HEROINE.

4. 31-Down material: ORE and 31. Underground band: SEAM.

5. Triumphant cry: WOOT.

6. Red choice: SYRAH.

7. Refuse to move on, say: WALLOW.

8. Quiet ride: ELECTRIC VEHICLE - A nice freebie grid spanner

9. Disgusted chorus: EWS.

10. Novelist Gerritsen: TESS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

11. Mosey: STROLL - I believe we have a poster here who is prone to sashay.

12. Follow-up start: HI AGAIN.

13. Preternatural: UNCANNY.

14. Adolescent: TEENAGE.

22. Rugby pass: LATERAL.

24. Hill side, for short: DEMS - DEMocratS are one side on Capital Hill

26. Meet: SESH - Slang for session

29. Smooch from a pooch: WET KISS - Awww...

33. Edward R. Robinson's "Hymn for Soldiers Who Have __ in the Snow":  Not a pleasant read

37. Number for a letter?: RENT - Let is a synonym for rent so a renter is also a letter

38. "It's a __!": TRAP.

39. [Shrug]: BEATS ME - A symbol I use a lot: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

40. Went berserk: RAN RIOT - Yeah, I put RAN AMOK first too

41. Listening carefully (to): ATTUNED.

44. Got a round, say: TREATED.

45. Renaissance weapon: HALBERD - They all have one

46. "Go jump in a lake!": AMSCRAY - I haven't heard Pig Latin in a long time

48. Condescends: DEIGNS.

49. Like many concert tickets: RESOLD - If you buy a ticket on the secondary market, you are at the mercy of "supply and demand". Some Taylor Swift tickets for her Era Tour went for $14,000.

53. Itinerant: NOMAD.

58. Get around?: SPIN - Very different from "Get a round".

62. Tyke: KID.

63. Article indéfini: UNE - Je conduis UNE Buick (I drive a Buick).