Saturday Themeless by Emily Biegas
Across:
1. Easily moved?: HOT HEADED π
10. Streetcars: TRAMS.
15. Minimum word count?: ONE OR MORE.π
16. Swiss namesake of an international series of art fairs: BASEL - ¯\_(γ)_/¯ Founded in BASEL, Switzerland in 1970, this one is in Miami
17. Scheduled delivery?: TAX RETURN - Some TAX RETURNS require filing many tax schedules, perhaps with a 46. 17-Across pro: CPA.
18. Editorialize: OPINE.
19. "__ Is Betta Than Evvah!": ETTA.
20. C-section docs: OBS.
21. Kept inside: UNSAID - Advice I should have taken many times in my life
22. Island chain: LEI.
23. Primary fig.: POL.
24. Hosp. gear: PPE.
23. Primary fig.: POL.
24. Hosp. gear: PPE.
26. Actress Hayek Pinault: SALMA - Salma Valgarma Hayek Pinault is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. We have seen her name as only Salma Hayek in puzzles before.
28. Israeli airline: EL AL.
30. Only: SOLE.
31. "How could you be so insensitive!": READ THE ROOM.
34. Roadside snacks: STREET TACOS - How are they different? BTW, granola bars fit too.
36. Spoiler alerts?: SELL BY DATES π
38. Skirt in a Degas painting: TUTU - Duh, a TUTU can be called a skirt!
38. Skirt in a Degas painting: TUTU - Duh, a TUTU can be called a skirt!
41. Fictions: LIES.
42. Percolate: LEACH.
44. Supplementary medical benefit: Abbr.: HSA - Health Savings Account
45. Perturb: VEX.
48. Big name in pasta sauce: RAO.
49. Melt down: RENDER - My DW's mother used to render animal byproducts on the farm into lard for cooking. That was the foundation for the best apple pie ever made anywhere.
51. Comic Margaret: CHO.
52. Prefix with -core for a style inspired by hiking: GORP ¯\_(γ)_/¯
54. Spot where sharks gather: POOL TABLE π Bonus points - Name this classic movie about pool sharks. *answer below.
56. Vessel implant: STENT.
57. "My regrets": APOLOGIES.
58. Redfin listings: HOMES.
59. Smudging ceremony tool: PALO SANTO - ¯\_(γ)_/¯ I can see PALO as wood (Palo Alto/high stick) and SANTO as holy. Smudging is simply the practice of lighting these wood pieces on fire and letting smoke and fume cleanse an area.
Down:
1. Lodging options: HOTELS.
2. Going nonstop: ON A TEAR.
3. Leather and lace, e.g.: TEXTILES.
4. "Hava Nagila" dance: HORA.
5. Poetic preposition: ERE.
6. Playground retort: AM TOO or in a TV sitcom
7. Natural structure?: DOUBLE HELIX.
8. Isn't perfect: ERRS.
9. Sofa bed spot: DEN.
10. Chophouse order: T-BONE.
11. Knocks: RAPS.
12. Bagel option: ASIAGO.
13. Low-level: MENIAL.
14. "When a Man Loves a Woman" singer: SLEDGE - Emily throws us boomers a musical bone with the fabulous Percy SLEDGE
21. Transfer, in a way: UPLOAD.
23. "Slam Diego" player: PADRE - This is new to me but was coined when the Padres hit grand slams four days in a row
24. Dubious label from The Princeton Review until 2022: PARTY SCHOOL -
The "dubious label" from The Princeton Review referring to a "Party School" until around 2022. It was a controversial ranking based on student surveys about alcohol/drug use, criticized by groups like the
AMA for potentially encouraging risky drinking.27. __ Islands: archipelago in the East China Sea: MATSU - I remember when these two islands were in the news when I was in junior high.
29. Didn't bother: LET BE.
30. Didst wallop: SMOTE.
32. "Fool Us" co-host: TELLER - A prize is awarded to magicians who can fool these masters.
33. One of three national forests in Florida: OCALA.
35. Bottom-feeding fish also called a gurnard: SEA ROBIN ¯\_(γ)_/¯
37. Shameful tone?: SCARLET - Clever cluing for the SCARLET letter
38. Type of metal: THRASH.
39. No longer troubled by: USED TO.
40. Single file: TANDEM - My first thought
43. "With any luck": HOPE SO.
45. Air returns: VENTS.
47. 34-Across option: POLLO - Yes, you might have chicken in a street taco. I remember the word from Gus Fring's operation in Better Call Saul.
50. Wrapped: DONE.
51. FΓΊtbol prize: COPA - COPA is Spanish for cup or trophy
52. Pop star Lady __: GAGA.
54. Baby food: PAP.
55. Lean-__: TOS.
* That of course is Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman in a scene from 1961 b/w classic The Hustler
47 comments:
Once again, I reserve
the right to comment until I see what a few others have to say. But I will say, at the outset, that I did okay. Now let’s hear from some of the rest of you:
I too struggled in the SE for a DNF. I have never heard of Gorp core (hence struggling in. The SE). But in hindsight, I think the clue is referring to GORP - a home made trail mix used by hikers: Good Old Raisins and Peanuts.
Welp, it took me 45 minutes and change, red letters and a couple of alphabet runs, but I got it done. Now it’s time to shift my attention to football and football food. I see spicy chicken wings, copious amounts of beer, and a win by the Pats in my not too distant future.
Took 24:46 today to git 'er 50D (done).
The lower-left corner took about a 1/3 of my time, as I struggled mightily to get/see: tutu, Matsu (never heard before), HSA, render, and tandem (still don't understand).
I've also never heard of "basel," "palo santo", "sea robin," "copa," and "gorp"-core (I thought it was Granola, Oats, Raisins, & Peanuts), but at least I knew the Actress of the Day (Salma).
Definitely a tough puzzle. As usual lately, some of the ? clues still need improving.
It was a typical Saturday worthy workout which I somehow managed a FIR w/out help in 48:46. Pretty much had to peruse the whole puzzle to find a handful of gimmes and work from there. DNK the islands, the fish, the futbol prize or that “metal” referred to music, so THRASH was all perps, as was PALO SANTO and I didn’t know how that parsed till the expo. I knew SLEDGE but had to wait for perps cuz Bolton also fit. I know what GORP is but not by that clue, (nomination for worst-of-the-month). Later this year DW and I are taking a river cruise up the Rhine which starts in Amsterdam and ends in BASEL. Thank you Emily for the very mentally challenging exercise, and to HG for another stellar review!
Happy 1/2 birthday to NaomiZ! π π
Thought for a while that I might actually have a shot at completing a Saturday puzzle, but nope. Done in by that pesky southeast corner. DNF, but better than my usual Saturday experience, so I can't complain too hard!
Done in by one letter.
I had pollA instead of pollO. ( My Spanish is pretty much non-existent). Oh, well.
I gave it the old college try!
And, by the way, the perp was no help at all!
FIR but had trouble in the SE too.
WAG's went my way today and I learned a few things so it's all good
FIW. The SW did me in. I had no idea about thrash, and frankly I still don't.
This was a real struggle to get through and I almost made it to a win. Ironically the long answers gave me no pause. It was the short ones that had me buffaloed.
But overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
Well, it happened again, another revoltin' development like a few days ago: my comments just up and disappeared. Which reminds me. I had thought that expression--"What a revoltin' development"--was the trademark epithet of Jackie Gleason. Several of you thought it sounded like Jimmy Durante, which is true. Well, I looked it up: it was William Bendix playing Chester Riley in TV's "The Life of Riley."
On to today's puzzle. Emily is an accomplished craftsperson. Today's puzzle was Saturday-tough, sure, but it seemed there were usually well-situated perps or otherwise straightforward Monday-type fill when things got tough.
Emily's construction featured matching triple-stacked 9's in the NW and SE. And the three horizontal 11's in the midsection. It all made for a visually appealing crossword to me.
A personal observation. I grew up spending my summers in Ocean City NJ, and we'd fish from our boat offshore, usually coming home with yummy flounder and bass. But the fish we caught most often was always the sea robin. We considered sea robins a bycatch, aka "throw 'er back." Just not enough meat on them, and what there was, was tough. And they were nasty to clean.
Thanks, Emily, for a satisfying and enjoyable exercise today. And thanks, Gary, for your usual entertaining and helpful excursion.
That's me, above.
Good Morning:
A few days ago, I mentioned that many of the long-standing rules for puzzle construction (both written and unwritten) were either being ignored or watered down. One of those rules was that the fill be familiar to the majority of solvers. Today’s rule breaker, IMO, is Palo Santo, which was the cause of my FWH, rather than a FIR. Copa, Sea Robin, and Thrash were questionable as well, but perps helped, except in the case of Copa. As difficult as the puzzle was, I was enjoying the solve very much, due to the very tricky but very clever cluing, until the aforementioned totally unknown Palo Santo. I seldom resort to red letter help, but today was an exception. Kudos to those who FIR; today just wasn’t my day.
Thanks, Emily, despite my criticism, I loved most of your offering, and thanks, HG, for joining me in the loss column. Enjoyed your review and commentary, as always.
Have a great day.
FIR! Saturday! Stalled early, took ZoΡ for a walk and filled some more, stalled, took a nap, finished. Had to take SWAGs at SEA ROBIN x GORP and PALOSANTO, and COPA x PALOSANTO. Erased steep for LEACH, irk for VEX, selma for SALMA (UNTIE!) and sladge for SLEDGE (UNTIE!)
Nobody wants to link When A Man Loves A Woman? Great tune!
And no link to Leather and Lace? Here's Stevie Nicks and Don Henley.
Uncle Sam won’t let you have a HSA if you are on Medicare.
My local supermarket has a good weekend sale on RAO frozen entrees today. On my to-do list.
I used to winter at an RV park that backed up to the OCALA National Forest. I'm probably going to move to OCALA this year, but not near the forest.
FLN: B&W TVs didn't show Lucy's ginger hair, but The Long, Long Trailer did.
Thanks to Emily for the fun puzzle that even I could finish. My favorite was "island chain" for LEI. And thanks to H.Gary for another fine review.
15:16 for me. Tore through everything except for the SE corner like everyone else. Guessed on gorp because I associate that with hiking. Overall, fairly decent.
The naticks in the lower corners nearly did me in, but I did FIR.
In the SW, THRASH metal seemed unduly obscure, and HSA made it a Natick. In the SE, PALO SANTO and SEA ROBIN were unknown to me, and I’ve never heard of GORP-core either. Although I’m familiar with the Scarlet Letter, I still thought “shameful tone” wasn’t sussable without perps, and even then . . . . That the sharks were POOL TABLE denizens eluded me far too long.
Unlike many Saturday puzzles, this one was easiest in the NW, although “easily moved”/HOT-HEADED seemed a bit of a stretch. TAX RETURN was my first significant fill. I thought TEXTILES was good fill. In the NE, the ASIAGO option for bagels would never have occurred to me without perps. At what point is a bagel not a bagel?
I’ve never heard the Padres referred to as “Slam Diego.” I also didn’t know PPE. The Princeton Review clue for PARTY SCHOOL made it difficult to figure out without perps. The TANDEM clue also threw me.
As for delights, my favorite was Percy SLEDGE, although it took me too long by quiz-show standards to remember his name. I also liked the SMOTE clue and answer; Once I realized SELL-BY DATES was an answer, MATSU (and Quemoy) came to mind at last. I would have liked READ THE ROOM more if the clue hadn’t been limited to the shameful aspects of not doing so. I think of that expression as more about what to do, rather than tongue-lashings about what not to do.
I would have gotten TELLER more easily if a certain earlier Penn & Teller show title were fit for a family newspaper.
I went up and down this CW before finishing, well, not quite, the SW got me. I didn’t get the metal nor HSA.
I had UnLOAD before UPLOAD. I long hesitated at TEXTILES because I don’t think of leather as one. Novel way to clue ETTA. I had to THRASH around in the NE not familiar with ASIAGO bagel, but I knew I was right about SLEDGE.
During one of my trips to Utah I witnessed a smudge ceremony, ut PALO SANTO took a while to show up. Never heard of SEA ROBIN nor gurnard.
Lots of cute and fun clues like the one for SCARLET, TAX RETURN, HOT HEADED. So to quote sub genius, I’m happy.
Thank you HG for your sincere review. Sorry that CW messed up your perfect score aspirations.
I love a puzzle that seems impossible and then fills bit by bit! Emily's Saturday offering fit the bill for me. I particularly enjoyed "Kept inside" as a clue for UNSAID, "Transfer, in a way" for UPLOAD, and "Shameful tone?" for SCARLET. Favorite clue was "Didst wallop" for SMOTE. I was just lucky not to see the L in "Slam Diego." Thank you, Emily! Thank you, Husker Gary!
YooperPhil, I don't know how you remembered my birthday, and *no one* has ever wished me a happy *half* birthday before, so thank you for that!
I remembered you blogged on your b/day last year, which I share the date with you.
HG! Bonus puzzles in the write up! I love it!
Better than most Saturday Stumpers for me, I was able to suss out some "aha" moments, which makes it all worthwhile. Traditional red letter whack a vowel to fill in blanks (can't call it finished,) but surprised when there were no blanks left. (Kinda disappointed when no blanks were left, so I guess I had lotsa fun...)
Had to, (repeat) had to, visit the Blog because of, (well, you know, I just love the blog...) but, I digress. Rao! Rao is why I had to see this "big name " I never heard of! But, then again, I don't do the shopping, and DW says I have refrigerator blindness.
Had to look deeper in Palo Santo, (dont do it, Google says it might involve witchcraft...)
And what's all this pap about baby food? (Ok, it's legit. I guess I can at least use "pap" in some descriptive sentences from now on...)
Sea Robin was a gimme for me, as I saw one swim under me while pier fishing, and was amazed by the huge side fins that make it look like a flying fish!
its not something you easily forget once you have seen one!
Happy half way NaomiZ!
Yikes a Saturday FIR. SW was last to fall. Realized the clue was “melt down” two words.
I wanted to try SEAroach but perp waited. PALOSANTO, THRASH “metal” no idea. Didn’t think “leather” was a textile but just LIU, Perfesser Google says yes. For “Hayek Pinault” wanted to try Swiss, Swede, Saudi till I realized it was our old CW friend SALMA
“Scheduled delivery” C section wouldn’t fit but referred to the OB clue
CPA provided the long 15a answer
Inkovers: Basil/BASEL, unload/UPLOAD
Last night NETFLIX offered a film on my bucket list, 1997 “Face Off”. Margaret CHO had a serious role. Odd because she is known as an over the top stand up comedian. Now I need to add “The Hustler” to the list.
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta Aka Lady GAGA …whilst….GAG/bits are a type of “bit” for a horse
Never heard the term PPE until Covid. Needed to do a bedside procedure on a COVID patient. Required I don a negative pressure “space”
helmet. Couldn’t breathe so I got the blessing to double up N95 face masks. I was more uncomfortable than the patient but we both survived
Snowy weekend. π¨️
Like Gary, I almost managed to 'git 'er done', by my trouble was the SW, not SE. I'd filled ADD ON, STENT, HOMES, DONE, and VENT but stuck with MINI or MIDI for the dress, filling MATSI for the unknown MATSU. I always thought of TANDEM as double, as a two seater or when two people did something. I never entered my mind that its meaning was 'one behind the other'. Hell would have frozen over before I would have filled THRASH for a 'type of metal', no idea.
I luckily got the SE with two correct WAGS for three unknowns. COPA, PALO SANTO, and SEA ROBIN. Both fish names were unknown and I had no idea what a 'smudging ceremony' was. I guessed COPA was a cup.
STREET TACOS- no way. I'm too old to chance ptomaine poisoning. I don't buy any food at any festival except inside a restaurant never off the street.
PARTY SCHOOL- LSU was historically at the top because the 'legal' drinking age in LA was 18 until it changed a few years ago. So now, like college students nationwide, they all get fake driver's licenses to show they are 21.
Speaking of LSU and Baton Rouge, we are going there today to visit our grandson and I'm sure he has one of those off-the-internet fake IDs. And the late Percy SLEDGE was from Baton Rouge.
Hola! Wow! Great comments from the above posters. And i agree. This was a mostly doable Saturday puzzle. Thank you, Emily Biegas. I got as far as the SE then ran out of time. I never would have known THRASH and still don't understand it. RAO came to me because I've seen it at the grocery store, but I haven't tried it.
PALO SANTO is an interesting concept and another one I had not heard of. POLLO helped finish the SW, that and Lady GAGA. SEA ROBIN is another unknown. COPA was also a given. I first had POOL HALLS, but lean TOS dispelled that notion.
Thank you, Gary, for your unwavering Saturday guidance. Have a great day, everyone!
Agnes, I guess the 'new rules' are 'old rules are made to be broken'. Lately, puzzles have been having all the textspeak abbr. and cutesy definitions that require people to lose 50 years to have any idea.
Saturday puzzles are meant to be tough, but this one was also a pleasure--so, many thanks, Emily. And, Gary, your comments are always a big help, so thanks for those too.
Well, this puzzle started with some unpleasant comments this morning, but they were also countered by happier ones. Someone accused of being HOTHEADED was pretty much told to READ THE ROOM (whatever that means). But he or she soon ended up making APOLOGIES, and enjoyed working on a POOL TABLE, maybe ON A TEAR (whatever that is). And it wasn't clear what a PARTY SCHOOL is until you've had a chance to try some bagels (if that's what ASIAGO means) and then ended up playing with a SEA ROBIN.
Hey, that's not an unpleasant day, is it? I'd say it's actually been a bit of fun.
No one else had DUCTS before VENTS? Is VENTS even correct as clued?
No one else had BEST BY DATES first?
We used RAO-once. Overpriced and neither of us could say it it were better than any other sauce. WalMart has about 8 brands and we've tried them all.
Whole Foods had RAOs priced at $4.59 last week. Bought a bunch!
The RAOs referred to above are frozen entrees, not the sauce.
FWLotsaH. A “red letter” day for me.
We’ve had much worse Saturdays recently, although this one tried with that dreadful PALOSANTO. To compound the problem, they cross it with two Spanish words. Note to the editor, if you are going to include POLLO in your grid, at least give us an idea in the clue that you are looking for a foreign word.
For some reason, the LAT just doesn’t do “difficult” well.
'Twas a struggle but I managed to solve this well-constructed puzzle with some red-letter help. Got tripped up by many of the same snares that tripped many of you up.
The clue says "a style inspired by hiking." I wouldn't think of trail mix as "a style".
Thank you, Emily and Husker Gary.
I ended up really liking all of the long fill in this crossword. Some really great clues and answers, but more than a few were hard to get filled without perp help. SELL BY DATES was one example. The spoiler alerts clue had me thinking about people that used to comment here about Downton Abbey episodes and or the Jeopardy results before the programs aired on the west coast.
In the NE corner, I had minima before MENIAL. But that made BASEL basil. I knew it was BASEL.
It was in the SE corner that I erred. I had PA_ but no idea that it needed another P. I never knew there was a baby food called PAP. I read about it later. Never knew of smudging. Thanks for the explanations, Gary.
Yes, that SW corner was tough for me as well. I had ADD ON, STENT and HOMES easily enough, nut not the three above those. TUTU broke it open. That made THRASH (metal) obvious to me. I pulled dual axle TANDEM trailers with my M818 multifuel tractor truck when I was in the army. Think semi tractor and trailer, except military grade.
There was a clue in another puzzle in the last day or two that asked for the longest running show in Las Vegas. Didn't know it, but the answer worked out to be Penn and Teller, so TELLER was fresh on the mind. TELLER forced a change from irk to HEX, and that also made me change ducts to VENTS. The ending X was also very helpful in getting DOUBLE HELIX.
Off now to read the comments.
See all y'all later n'at!
FWH: Pen on paper first run yielded 12 fills, and lots of DNKs. Went to E-CW, turned on Red Letter help, then still needed several alpha runs.
I knew "Swiss art fairs" but filled "BASIL" instead of "BASEL". I guess their art isn't as spicy as I thought, so had a W/O there.
19A never heard that expression.
15 names, DNK 7, so another area of struggle. And as several mentioned, the SE was filled with alpha runs for me.
Learning moment: TANDEM means in line, one-at-a-time. Dopey me thought it meant two-by-two. Another one: leather is considered a textile?? Really??
Overall I did not like this CW, possibly because there is so much I DNK. And even with Red-Letter-Help and alpha runs, it still took 30 minutes to fill. This CW was just too much of a struggle to be fun. Thanx but no thanx, EB.
Thanx though to HG for the terrific write-up, the most fun thing about this CW.
“Big name in pasta sauce” is not the sauce?? π
Thought I was going to conquer this one after getting a coupla the big ones, DOUBLEHELIX and STREETTACOS…but no cee-gar; like many of you, that SE mish-mosh killed any chance of a FIR for me today. Never heard of this SEAROBIN beastie nor the PALOSANTO stuff, even with the perps trying hard to help solve it — and I had POOLTABLE and APOLOGIES! Y’got me good there, Emily π
TEXTILES comes from the Latin “textilis”, meaning “woven”. So how leather fits into that leaves me clueless (pun intended). But being a guitar player, I’ve been around a bit of THRASH metal; not my fave style of music, but I get it. Punk is an offshoot of it.
Anyway, despite going down in flames in this one, it was fun to dig through, augmented by the usual revelations and cheap entertainment from our man Gary ! π€π½π
====> Darren / L.A.
YP, we recently received a mailing from Viking Cruises that I studied. I think you and your wife are going to enjoy it. You are going to cruise right past where I was stationed near Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Cologne's Cathedral is breathtaking. The Black Forest region was among the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
rao not be here, rap don
Prof, $2.97 here, limit 4.
Textile: Any material made of interlacing fibers (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/textile).
In what sense would leather be a material made up of interlacing fibers?
I noticed that D-O did not comment today. I swear that it wasn't because I sent him another TMI email. Although it could be that he's still reading the last one...
Happy anniversary to Jzb and Gloria! It wasn't noted in the blog. I just say it in history.
On this day in Crossword Corner blog history, Jan 17th, 2013 - Blogger takes the Corner blogspot down over night for reasons unknown. Readers don't see Lemonade's review. Instead readers see, "This blog has been removed."
C.C. and Argyle scramble. Argyle built a quick puzzle review and posted it to his blogspot. C.C. then posted it on her Gingerroots blogspot. When Husker Gary learns that the blogspot is down, he sent and email to his list of blog readers to inform them to use the Gingerroots blogspot instead. C.C. notifies everyone that she can.
Later in the day, Blogger restores the Corner, and Lemonade's review is posted. On that day alone, 56 comments were posted to the Gingerroots blog, and another 62 comments were posted to the Corner blog.
That day marked the beginning in a series of troubles for the blogspot over the coming weeks and months. So many of us that were there then are glad that the blogspot survived the issues.
Thanks to Emily for the Saturday brain workout! I did FIR but I am embarrassed to say how long it took. Oof!
FAVs: READ THE ROOM; SELL BY DATES clue; Shameful tone?; and SMOTE.
I have to admit that some of the names gave me the toeholds I needed today: TELLER, GAGA, RAO, CHO, and EL AL. Perhaps it helped that the spellings were straightforward.
The "L" in SLEDGE must have been in the punchbowl. My other WAG was the "P" in PALO SANTO. Sage is often used in smudging ceremonies so I was trying to work in a "G". After I abandoned the "G", I filled it and thought "HOPE SO". I had to look up PAP after the puzzle.
Thanks to H-Gary! I always enjoy your take on these challenging puzzles!
D'oh! Typos and mixed tense in the sentence structure. Note to self: Don't rewrite without thoroughly proofreasing!
YP at 11:04 AM: Ohhhh! Happy half birthday!
CED at 11:25 AM: That cake ain't half bad! Thank you!
Wow! That's probably about the time I discovered the Corner, but I don't remember those woes. Maybe before I "went blue."
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