Saturday Themeless by Rebecca Goldstein and Rafael Musa
I had a mostly pleasant slog through Rebecca and Rafel's puzzle. The right side went quickly but the rest took some real mental gymnastics. Getting one decent fill in an area seemed to unlock large portions around it. I finished at the middle of the left side where a lot unknowns, ambiguities and oh so clever fills resided.
Here is lovely interview of Rebecca and Rafael. You can choose as much or as little as you would like of this 37 min video that is full of a lot of great cwd constructing info (skip the chatty 3-minute opening by the interviewer).
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| Use hot link in the paragraph above for interview video |
1. Game that involves drawing: LOTTO - I thought of a drawing game like Pictionary or draw poker but no, it is the state-sponsored regressive tax.
6. VGK org.: NHL - It had to be but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Saturday cluing for NHL
9. Network airing 6-Across games: ESPN - We stream YouTube TV and until they and Disney negotiate a settlement we will be without ESPN and ABC which is are Disney properties.
13. City known as the Rubber Capital of the World: AKRON.
14. Roll-call call: HERE or Yo!
15. Eagle sport: GOLF.
16. Common threads?: GROUP TEXTS - Our family finds these very useful
18. Part of a dark cloud: GNAT.
19. Piece of holiday party attire: SANTA HAT 🎅
20. Check all the boxes, say: OPT IN.
22. Light rain: SPIT - _ _ _ T seemed to call for MIST instead of this unpleasant metaphor
23. Floor beneath the roof: ATTIC 😀
24. Local greens org.: CSA - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Jefferson Davis' 1861 group was not clued here.
27. Environment that reinforces existing biases: ECHO CHAMBER.
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| A nifty slogan that did not work in 1964 |
31. On-site: AT WORK.
33. Near miss: CLOSE ONE.
34. "Veep" actor __ Scott: REID ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Seen below with star Julia Louis-Dreyfus
35. Sounds of sympathy: AHS - OHS/AHS coin flip
36. Korma side: ROTI - I've never eaten ROTI or naan but they are served frequently in cwds. A korma is a rich, aromatic curry originating from the Mughal empire in Indian and Pakistan, know for it mild creamy, gravy made with your, cream and ground nuts like cashews or almonds. You're welcome.
36. Korma side: ROTI - I've never eaten ROTI or naan but they are served frequently in cwds. A korma is a rich, aromatic curry originating from the Mughal empire in Indian and Pakistan, know for it mild creamy, gravy made with your, cream and ground nuts like cashews or almonds. You're welcome.
37. Cake, for one: BAND NAME - I encountered this a few Saturdays where the bands Cream, which I knew, and Cake, which I did not, were featured in a clue for BANDS. So I get two brownie points for remembering the latter one.
40. Dudes whose gender identity aligns with their sex assigned at birth: CIS MEN.
42. It may be full of baloney: SLICED BREAD - I got BREAD quickly and then struggled to make the adjective fit with the other clues in this area. Getting SLICED helped a lot in this part of the puzzle.
44. Commencement attendees, for short: SRS.
45. "Ditto": SO AM I - Having ME TOO first was, uh, not helpful
46. Release: DROP - A famous one
48. Nobel-winning physicist Wolfgang: PAULI - I'd tell you why he got the prize but I don't have a real grasp of it either.
49. Double-breasted outerwear: PEA COATS.
53. Stare, to a Brit: GAWP - GAPE, GAWK and GAWP? The last one sounded the most British.
54. Record holders?: TURNTABLES 😀 - Grampa, what are records and TURNTABLES?
56. Not good at all: EVIL.
57. Goddess depicted with an ankh: ISIS - Two cwd friends
58. Like Mars and Jupiter: ROMAN.
59. "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Leakes: NENE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
61. Fact checks?: EXAMS - Rote learning can serve as fact checks but not necessarily concept checks
Down:
1. Wrinkles in time: LAGS - When I want to listen to the Omaha radio based broadcast of a Husker game on TV, there is always a LAG between that narration and the network video.
2. Bhindi masala pod: OKRA - Okra is technically a seed pod, and in Indian cuisine (where it is called bhindi), the entire pod is the primary ingredient in the popular dish Bhindi Masala. The dish name translates literally to "okra with spices" You're welcome.
3. Beta follower?: TRON - Seriously, you want to know more?
4. Talks up: TOUTS - A fun song from Guys And Dolls about TOUTS. Ya gotta love Stubby Kaye!
5. Theoretically: ON PAPER - It looked good ON PAPER, but, uh, it didn't quite work out. C'mon, Cracker Barrel 39. "Be honest!": ADMIT IT- It was a big mistake.
7. Perimenopause Rx, for some: HRT Perimenopause
8. Country surrounded by South Africa: LESOTHO.
9. They may wind up in the kitchen: EGG TIMERS 😀
10. High-speed crashes?: SONIC BOOMS 😀
11. "What's the __?": PLAN.
12. Crypto asset, for short: NFT - Non-fungible token ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
14. Desolate landscape: HEATH.
17. Foggy, in a way: THICK 😀 THICK headed or a THICK fog?
21. Fundraising gps.: PTAS.
23. Tissues commonly examined by MRIs: ACLS - Athletic careers have been slowed or ended by injuries to Anterior Cruciate LigamentS
24. Energy-providing macros: CARBS.
25. Take second, say: STEAL 😀 - In 2024, Shohei Ohtani became the first MLB player to both hit at least 50 home runs and steal at least 50 bases. When coupled with his outstanding pitching record, some think he may be the best to have ever played the game
26. Victory speech?: A WIN IS A WIN - Usually said when a win is an ugly one
28. Earth tone: OCHER.
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| These are all variations of OCHRE |
29. "Door's open!": ENTER.
30. Metaphor for control: REINS.
32. Strange bedfellows?: ODD COUPLE 😀
35. Both, at first: AMBI.
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| From Australia |
38. YouTube CEO Mohan: NEAL ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
40. Unit equivalent to 200 mg: CARAT - A one carat diamond weighs exactly 200 mg.
41. "Really, this matters to me!": I DO CARE.
43. Utopias: EDENS.
47. Numbered dest.: PO BOX - In my small hometown, our PO BOX number was 24
48. Smooth (over): PAVE.
49. __ fixe: PRIX - The price is fixed
50. Latin for "nourishing": ALMA - ALMA MATER - Nourishing Mother
51. Lorde's second Top 10 hit: TEAM ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
52. U.S. IDs: SSNS.
53. __ X: GEN.
55. Letters on Sha'Carri Richardson's top: USA.
4 comments:
This was tough, but I
thought the clues were fair, for the most part. And I’ll try to remember HRT (hormone replacement therapy) in the future. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
I can see NHL x HRT tripping people up. The ESPN clue doesn't exacly help and still leaves NFL as an option if you don't know about VGK or HRT.
DNF, filling 49, 44 correctly. Erased ON PAPER because I was dead sure of misT, and fairly sure of party HAT. But I easily got NHL, HRT and NFT, so I got that goin' for me. Which is nice.
Can't help but think of the old middle-school joke whenever ATTIC appears: What did the lady say when she looked down her blouse? "A T T I C."
Thanks to Rebecca and RafaeI for the Saturday stumper. I liked a lot of this one, even though it was too tough for me. It would have been better (IMO) without so much A&E waste products. And thanks to H.Gary for another fine review. I could have named that tune as soon as I read Guys and Dolls.
FLN - Darren, my Saugus days were long ago. My habit was to go to the Saugus Speedway races Friday night, then go back for the flea market Saturday morning. But I used to work at the top of Sepulveda Blvd. Looks like Facey Medical is in the building now. It was GTE when I worked there, and before that it was State Farm Insurance (IIRC.)
Another Saturday meh. DNF.
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