Saturday Themeless by Ed Sessa
Seeing Dr. Sessa's byline made me feel confident that I would have a pleasant and engaging solve and that proved to be true for my 13th Sessa puzzle blog. Anything that was new or unusual had plenty of escape avenues and after a lovely 17 minute excursion I earned a "got 'er done".
1. Farmer's dozen: FRESH EGGS.
10. Brightly colored Arita ware: IMARI - IMARI porcelain is made in the town of Arita in Japan, though it is named after the port of Imari where the wares were historically shipped.
10. Brightly colored Arita ware: IMARI - IMARI porcelain is made in the town of Arita in Japan, though it is named after the port of Imari where the wares were historically shipped.
15. Bubble Wrap alternative: AIR PILLOW.
16. Violet shade: LILAC.
17. Memorabilia from the Great White North: CANADIANA - We have Americana and Canada has Canadiana, a term used to describe things (e.g., books, historical documents, works of art, music and artifacts), ideas, or activities that concern or are distinctive of Canada, its peoples, and/or its culture, especially works of literature and other cultural products.
18. Guitar legend Van Halen: EDDIE.
19. Jolly pair?: ELS - Meta cluing, Jolly has two "L's"
20. "Mad Men" types: AD REPS.
22. Fuse with heat: WELD.
23. Popeye's __'Pea: SWEE - The original characters
26. Bouquets: AROMAS.
29. Some military caps: KEPIS - I always think of this guy
30. Pass on: RELAY - Sometimes it comes back to you
31. Near-perfect ballgame: ONE HITTER - In 1995 Paul Menhart of the Toronto Blue Jays pitched a ONE-HITTER but lost the game 1- 0 as the only hit was a home run by Oriole Harold Baines.
35. Day of March madness: IDES.
36. Russian refusals: NYETS.
37. Sine qua non: NEED.
38. Shelties' shelters: DOG HOUSES.
40. One-named singer dubbed the "First Lady of Crunk & B": CIARA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
41. __ in: intrudes: BUTTS.
42. Software shortcuts: MACROS.
43. Figure in the knight time?: SQUIRE 😀
45. Give credit to: CITE.
46. Figure on many a flag: STAR - Of course Texas features a lone star
47. Leafy spots: ARBORS - An ARBOR at the home of J. Sterling Morton, the founder of ARBOR Day, in Nebraska City, NE.
49. Tallahassee inst.: FSU.
52. Argentine dance: TANGO.
54. Folks who are rotten to the core: BAD APPLES.
56. Tribal leader: ELDER.
57. Rare blood type: A-NEGATIVE.
56. Tribal leader: ELDER.
57. Rare blood type: A-NEGATIVE.
58. Oft-poached fruit: PEARS.
59. Floral additive to Turkish delight and gulab jamun: ROSE WATER.
Down:
1. Portrait subject: FACE - Legend has it that this FACE belonged to Mona (my lady) Lisa (del Giocondo)
2. Capital of Oman: RIAL - $2.60
3. Gray sea eagles: ERNS.
4. Massage center: SPA.
5. Secreted: HID AWAY.
6. Says "coulda, woulda, shoulda," say: ELIDES 😀
7. Intimidating look: GLARE.
8. Used up: GONE.
9. Free trade zones?: SWAP MEETS 😀
10. __-de-France: ILE - Literally, the name "Island of France" for the territory of Paris. It was derived from its being bordered by the rivers Seine, Oise and Marne (tributaries of the Seine) and Beuvronne (a tributary of the Marne), which surround it like an island.
11. Stereotype associated with a region of the United States: MIDWEST NICE - We tend to be that way
12. Tree with catkins: ALDER.
13. Small wading birds: RAILS - Miraculously, I recalled RAILS which kept me out of the possible natick at IMARI/RAILS. Hmmm... I wonder how many RIALS RAILS cost? 😀
14. Frosted: ICED.
21. Former frosh: SOPHS.
23. Order that requires a superhot griddle: SMASH BURGER - It starts as a round ball and then...
21. Former frosh: SOPHS.
23. Order that requires a superhot griddle: SMASH BURGER - It starts as a round ball and then...
25. Nintendo game console: WII - WII golf in a nursing home
26. Saharan: ARID.
27. Let result, in tennis: REDO - If a serve hits but gets over the net in VB play continues and there is no REDO.
28. Cassini of fashion: OLEG - OLEG was Jackie's official designer but this suit she wore 62 years ago today was by Chanel. This famous pink dress is stored in the National Archives and will not be on display until 2103. Her pillbox hat has been lost.
29. End of a lap: KNEES 😀
31. Spot to order Kumamotos: OYSTER BAR - At 10 o'clock below
32. Rend: TEAR.
33. Architect Saarinen: EERO - Some of his many designs
34. Iron reqs., e.g.: RDAS.
36. Dietary product prefix: NUTRA -
"Nutra" is a common abbreviation for nutraceuticals
, which are products derived from food sources that provide extra health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease
40. Dupe: CATS PAW - A fable where a monkey tricks the CAT into using his PAW to retrieve chestnuts from the fire while he eats them as they come out.
42. Sleight of land?: MIRAGE 😀 A nice play on words land/hand
43. Like many bad jokes: STALE.
44. Post-lecture sesh: Q AND A - A Q AND A session with 7th graders will yield many hands. With seniors, not so much.
45. Programs: CODES - We have many CODERS in our merry little cwd bunch.
46. March part: STEP.
48. Baja bath: BAÑO - Sometimes you don't really need a bath...
49. Move like a monarch: FLIT 😀
50. Golf legend Ballesteros: SEVE - Seve Ballesteros est un golfeur professionnel espagnol.
51. One logging on: USER.
53. Scrubs ctrs.: ORS.
55. School org.: PTA.
7 comments:
No doubt, the crossing
of “Ciara” and “Eero” will cause comments, and, indeed, I only got that after exhausting many other alternatives in order to get the success “flip.”
But get it I eventually did, and so
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
I often skip Saturdays, but seeing Dr. Ed's byline, I decided to give it a try. Glad I did. Only went sideways at 4d, expecting the "Massage center" to be ESS. Oops. D-o has A-NEGATIVE blood, even though the Navy put A+ on my dogtags. It may be a rare type, but the blood center doesn't want it. They always want me to donate plasma or packed cells rather than whole blood. Thanx, Dr. Ed and Husker. (Methinks you meant to type "2103.")
FIR. This was a workout, but one expects that on a Saturday. It was very tough, but very doable.
The crossing of RDAs, cats paw, and Ciara required a major WAG, but today my guesser was working.
Overall, for a Saturday, an enjoyable puzzle.
I knew EERO but the only "Ciera" was an Oldsmobile, not spelled CIARA. EERO is an old SW staple 4-letter fill. He does not show up much anymore.
Took 11:03 today to guess luckily at imari crossing ile & rails. Many letters would've looked just as right/wrong.
I didn't know Ciara, the Oman capital, and rose water (or it's clue).
I sussed the French (oui) and Spanish (bano).
At first, "coulda, woulda, shoulda" for me was "rhymes."
I didn't like the top-right section (imari), but overall nice puzzle.
FIR! Saturday! My dumb mass! Only one erasure, dog pounds->DOG HOUSES.
The toughest part for me was not knowing how CATS PAW=dupe, crossed with the unknowable (to me) CIARA. If I don't understand the clue (crunk R&B) I have a somewhat harder time getting the fill.
SEVE is respected by pro golfers, even those who weren't yet born when he died from brain cancer at 54. For Spanish golfers (most notable Sergio Garcia and John Rahm) his legend is their inspiration. SEVE was a lot like our Phil Mickelson in Phil's prime. Long hitter, but not particularly accurate. What made both special was their ability to make seemingly miraculous recovery shots time after time.
There are two events that I'll never forget where I was and what I was doing when I learned about them. One was the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks; the other was JFK's assassination. I was in sixth grade, and was watching our little town's Thanksgiving parade with my mother and father. Someone in the crowd had one of those new-fangled transistor radios, and the word quickly spread that the president had been shot. A short time later they announced that he had been given his last rites, something my dad had to explain to me.
Thanks to Ed for another fun puzzle. And thanks to H.Gary for the interesting tour. I'll be watching for the date clarification. And in the spirit of the season, thanks to Patti for not messing up this work of art.
Dr. Ed always presents a tough but solvable puzzle and today's was no exception. The NE took a guess to FIR at the cross of the unknown pottery IMARI and tree- ALDER- that does not grow down her. It could have been IMERI and ELDER, because I really didn't know. ELDER showed up later in the puzzle, just not the tree.
CANADIANA was an easy fill for a term that was not known to me.
KEPI- an old SW fill, but I've never heard of Captain Gallant but Buster Crabbe was an Olympic Champion and Flash Gordon.
A-NEGATIVE- that's my blood type and two competing blood banks called me regularly for donations every couple of months. I had to quit donating after getting a melanoma removed.
I live in oyster country but have no idea about the names of different types. I had to go from my OYSTER BED to the BAR to complete the clue.
CATS PAW- I have heard it said but really didn't know anything about what it was. CIARA was also all perps.
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