Saturday Themeless by Dr. Kyle Dolan
This is the 21st themeless Saturday puzzle by Dr. Dolan I have blogged. As per my usual M.O. for Saturday puzzles I struggled with some small fills until the very gettable long entries shouted, "C'mon, Gary, you know this." This reduced Kyle's puzzle to manageable proportions.
1. 2013 memoir that was followed in 2025 by "Finding My Way": I AM MALALA - The true story of Malala Yousafzai, the girl who survived an assassination attempt after standing up to the Taliban over education. More on this heroic woman.
10. Passing muster?: AWOL - Muster is when troops are assembled and if someone has 38. Left: GONE, he's AWOL.
14. Interns, at times: FREE LABOR.
15. Birds whose collective noun is chime: WRENS - A group of wrens is called a chime. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
16. Shared pleasantries: SMALL TALK - Confidently filling in GREETINGS was my first, but not the last, misstep in Kyle's puzzle.
17. Sank, in a way: HOLED - Success in golf in when the ball is HOLED. In pool, it's when the ball is pocketed.
18. Olive often found with spinach: OYL 😀 This toon usually featured Olive being saved by her boyfriend Popeye who has "hulked out" on Spinach.
19. Word on a green helmet: JETS - The entire helmet was not green when the JETS won their only Super Bowl.
 |
| 1969 |
 |
| 2025 |
21. Essential: CORE.
22. Destiny: LOT.
25. Haterade: FLAK - Haterade is a pseudo-word (a play on Gatorade) for what is said by mean people who give others FLAK
27. Two pieces?: DUETS - Hey, I loved the Everly Brothers but this is magic
29. Thai's neighbor: LAO.
30. Physical location: CLINIC 😀 The physical location of where you get a, uh, physical
32. Drops from above: RAIN 😀
33. Fine print, e.g.: ART.
34. Question asked by a fan?: HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU? 😀 A fine example of anthropomorphism
37. Wonder: AWE.
39. Prepares (oneself): STEELS.
39. Prepares (oneself): STEELS.
40. Big mo. for florists: FEB.
41. Top-tier: A-LIST.
43. Rundgren in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: TODD - He's now 77 years old.
44. Be wrong: ERR.
45. First perfect number: SIX - The next two are 28 and 496
46. Olympic archer?: EROS.
48. Pop by: VISIT.
50. Giveaway: TELL - Dr. Winchester of M*A*S*H got cleaned out because he starting whistling every time he had nothing.
51. "Fancy!": OOH.
54. Saw: DATED. 😀
55. Scenario just before a board takeover?: MATE IN TWO - The solution is at the bottom of the write-up.
57. Volunteer's offer: USE ME.
58. Sharp kicks?: ICE SKATES - 😀 Kicks are slang for footwear and skates are sharp so...
59. From South Asia, perhaps: DESI - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Originating from the Sanskrit word desa, meaning "land" or "country," desi historically meant "local" or "indigenous".
60. Namesakes of some days in English: NORSE GODS - Not so for Saturday
Down:
1. "In that case ... ": IF SO.
2. Theater group?: ARMY - Several divisions of the U.S. ARMY fought in WWII's European Theater of Operations.
3. Series of courses: MEAL 😀
4. Former "The Great British Baking Show" co-host Giedroyc: MEL ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Mr. Ott sits the bench today
3. Series of courses: MEAL 😀
4. Former "The Great British Baking Show" co-host Giedroyc: MEL ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Mr. Ott sits the bench today
5. "Seriously ... ": ALL JOKING ASIDE.
6. Down the road: LATER.
7. Let up: ABATED.
8. Chuckles at a gif, say: LOLS.
9. Sanctuary: ARK.
10. Nickname of the slugger who holds the MLB record for most career grand slams: A-ROD - I thought this was a very interesting chart
12. No longer a foal: ONE YEAR OLD.
13. Drug needed for some trips: LSD
15. Rhetorical expression of approval: WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE - A lovely puzzle by Kyle
20. Characteristic patterns: MOTIFS.
21. Support staff?: CANE 😀
22. "Queen of Creole Cuisine" Chase: LEAH. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
24. C in C: POTUS - This filled in automatically and then I eventually saw Commander in Chief
25. Spot for getting one's buds together?: FLOWER VASE.
26. Classic toys with colorful pegs: LITE BRITES - I spent many an hour with our girls playing with this
28. Pushes: URGES. Goads, dares, prods
30. Rub the wrong way?: CHAFE 😀
31. "Simmer down!": COOL IT.
35. Early operating system: UNIX.
36. Some vintage cars: REOS.
42. Rock: TEETER.
47. Like May through August: R-LESS - This is not necessarily so these days.
49. 50% up front?: SEMI - 😀 I guess that presumes the other 50% is behind
50. Birria order: TACO.
51. "The Simpsons" character whose surname is Mann: OTTO.
52. Due: OWED.
53. Informal ride: HOSS - Also Ben Cartwright's son
54. Lemon: DUD.
55. Hr. division: MIN.
56. Hound: NAG - Persistent reminding?
* White queen to F5
* Black pawn to H5 is black's only move
* White queen takes pawn at H5 and it is checkmate
40 comments:
I guess for this puzzle
I would have to say. “What’s not to like?” Especially since I solved it in good time.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Gave it a shot. Glad I did. Never heard of LITE BRITES and entered JOKES where JOKING needed to go. The perps straightened me out. Thanx, Kyle and Husker.
Off to a guided bird-watching nature hike at an area park this morning...
As I get older it seems Saturday puzzles are getting stiffer.
19:24. A bit crunchier than most Saturdays but everything was pretty fair. I know some people will kvetch about 1A.
Nice puzzle overall.
DNF. Filled 26, 22 correctly. About average for me on Saturday.
Took 15:57 today to get back into the routine after having been awol for a little while.
I didn't know the former British co-host (Mel), the creole chef (Leah), how to spell "Malala", and whatever "desi" is.
"Fine print" was my favorite clue.
I spent the past several days visiting Iceland. Anyone else here ever been? If so, please let me know if you loved it too - or even if you didn't.
What a gauntlet!
If “vaguest clues ever” is a compliment, then Kyle’s puzzle is one of the best ever. If you like that kind of thing, this was a Saturday puzzle that resembled the New York Times’ Saturday puzzles, a gold standard for erudite solvers.
I FIR in more than an hour, but after 15 minutes I was ready to TITT. TODD Rundgren, Olive OYL, AROD, FEB, and LAO were the only gimmes unless you thought I AM MALALA was one.
The TELL/TACO combo was an early guess that proved right, but who could be sure? Other entries that paved the way were WRENS, DESI, SEMI, NORSE GODS, and ONE YEAR OLD. Those gleaned after much hand-wringing included HOLED, the muster clue for AWOL, the theater/ARMY entry, ARK as sanctuary, down the road/LATER, the ICE SKATES clue, two pieces/DUETS, and C in C/POTUS. Oh, and R-LESS. Several of those should have flagged as too I’m-In Mensa, and even the chess clue was a bit too hard if you don’t play chess.
The paraphrases – HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU, ALL JOKING ASIDE, WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE, and WELL-PLAYED, weren’t bad, but the clues for MEL and LEAH were nearly infuriating, and so was LOLs as a pluralized noun. With all the subterfuge in this puzzle, those were the signs that Kyle is too clever by half, and I don’t blame those of you who got no satisfaction.
Kyle Dolan has provided us with another of his skillful pieces of construction, featuring stacked 9's in the NW and SE; a grid spanner at the equator; two sets of vertical 10's in the SW and NE; and two vertical 14's. The fact that the resulting cross-fill does not consist of a pile of rubbish--but entirely plausible words and phrases--is impressive.
And as a lover of misdirection, I appreciate all his misdirected and clever clues (some of which, I realize, may be Patti's handiwork).
We're only a Q and Z short of a pangram.
Thanks, Kyle, for a sparkling and satisfying Saturday morning challenge. And thanks, HGary, for a colorful (literally and figuratively) recap that as usual proved to be helpful and entertaining.
FIR, but it was a super workout. I took a WAG at the crossing of Mel and Mahala to clear that corner. Several other areas also needed a WAG as well.
There was an awful lot of white squares until "all joking aside" appeared. Then things fell into place.
Overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
Welcome back, SS, my old friend!
-SubG
Loved the chess and grand slam illustrations! What’s not to like about Iceland? In the summer…
Many WELLPLAYED Saturday worthy clues. Needed to look way outside the box: “physical location”/CLINIC. “Theater”(of war)/ARMY, “passing” muster (missing?)/AWOL.” “Fine print”/ART.
“Sank”/ HOLED is a golf term? “holed the ball”? (really what you duffers say?🤨)
CHIME: Who comes up with these collective names? “Haterade”? Seems like a lot of folks have been drinking this kyna Kool-Aid lately
Thought DESI was derogatory but have heard my Pakistani colleagues use it, just LIU. Guess not.
NORSE GOD. Except today is named for the planet Saturn, from a Roman deity actually identified with the Greek Titan Cronus (says Googulus)
“HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?” Why hasn’t anyone invented a talking fan?
Noah’s wife, Joan of ___ ARK.
The ______ HOSS was heard singing “What kind of foal am I?” ONE YEAR OLD.
Olive OYL plans to pop by Popeye’s for a short ____ and a spinach salad …. VISIT
Heading north to the Adirondack place today. Hoping the roof is holding up under the weight of snow. ❄️❄️❄️
After a very slow start, things started falling into place and I FIR. Enough of a challenge to make it fun.
Good Morning :
Props to the constructor for craftsmanship and outstanding fill. Boos, hisses, and rotten tomatoes to the constructor for the over the top, show-offy and too cute by more-than-half cluing. I might soften my critique if there had been some helpful footholds here and there, but no such solver consideration was given, IMO.
Thanks, HG, for always giving an honest and fair assessment of these Saturday challenges, even though I often disagree with you. You’re far less critical than I, Charlie Brown! 😉
Have a great day.
Fortunately, not all internships are slave labor. I began my career as a Legal Intern with the Department of Health and Human Services as a paid intern back when Ronald Reagan was President. My take home pay was a little more than $150.00 per week. But that led to my first attorney position, then another, then another and finally the position I’m in now after nearly 40 years.
As for the puzzle, I completed about 1/3 of the grid before hitting the proverbial brick wall. I then turned on the red letters and saw that about 1/3 of my fill was wrong. I finished the grid correctly after a little more than 45 minutes later, but only because I left the red letters on.
I was questioning my own take on this puzzle as I scrolled through the laudatory summations of those who posted before me.
Luckily, as she has countless times, Irish Miss validated my opinion with her own spot-on assessment of this "show-offy" puzzle.
IM, if you have any more of those rotten tomatoes to spare, please pass me a bucket.
I’m exhausted. This was a workout where perps and WAGS were hard at work, and still, I flubbed the SE. I didn’t know birria, couldn’t come up with RLESS, what is HOSS?, etc.
Most names were unknowns like TODD, DESI, MEL, LEAH, and LITE BRITES. I had no idea what to do with haterade until perps gave me FLAK.
Some clues I really liked such as spot for our buds and namesake for days in English.
Thank you HG for your usual even-handed review.
DNF. Stuck with it way too long. Pretty much what Irish Miss said. How is SEMi half? The perps gave little help, and my Sanskrit is pretty rusty. Enjoyed the recap, HG! I wouldn't have come close. Too clever by SEMI for me this morning.
Irish, you often disagree with me? Say it ain't so! :-(
Fairly rare that I TITT, but it felt like I was headed in that direction after a half hour and only 50% filled, the NW and SE were pretty bare. I took a much needed break, came back and hacked away at it and was rewarded with a FIR w/out help in just under an hour. As usual on a Saturday, the gimmes were few and the unknowns abundant. Is there another type of VASE than one made for FLOWERS (my mom used to pronounce it ‘vahz’). I AM MALALA and DESI (as clued) are about as obscure as it gets for me. A definite challenge today, thanks Dr. Kyle for that, and to HG for today’s review and the previous 400+, often the highlight of the day.
Fir but never heard of hoss
It seems the only puzzles from Kyle are on Saturdays and I TITT after one pass. My only success was in the SW from FLAK and CLINIC down. Other an I AM MALALA and MATE IN TWO (I would have never filled), everything else was reasonable, but not on my wavelength.
In addition to the SW, I did fill EROS, TODD, TELL, A-ROD, STEELS, RAIN, LAO, AWOL, PEP, DUD, MIN, and DUETS on my first pass but they weren't enough to get toeholds to finish in a reasonable amount of time. I won't waste more than 30 minutes on any puzzle. My NW had MEAL; that's all.
LEAH Chase as the "Queen on Creole Cuisine"? Give me a break. It's just a media made up term. The late DOOKY Chase's restaurant (now run by descendants) ran the restaurant. I ate there once and the food was mediocre. The place is where black politicians tend to hang out, looking for a free meal.
HG, I will say it ain’t so. I used Often when Sometimes would be more accurate, or Occasionally, which is even better! 😇
“Outside the box”? How about “In an alternate universe”? I’m with Copy Editor, Irish Miss, T-Ken, et al: the vaguest possible clueing that reeked of “Let’s be the most deceptive that is imaginable ”. I mean, a challenge is a good thing…but this kind of falderah is unnecessary. For me, the best part of today’s time-sink was Husker Gary’s charitable recap; you are far too amicable, my good sir 😄.
I will give props for a few of the clues — “Fine print” for ART, the “C in C” quiz, and “Olive often found with spinach” for OYL. But SEMI as “50% up front?”? Nope, no cee-gar, pal. I may have to put the good doctor on my “no-fly” list…sorry, dude!
====> Darren / L.A.
Anon, I think we should just stick with the boos and hisses! 🤣
Duffers may not say it, but announcers say "that was well holed," especially when a pro makes a short but tricky putt.
That's SEMI as in semi-circle. The prefix indicates half.
Wow! An honest attorney!
Hey!
“Informal ride=HOSS”. Usually older than ONE YEAR OLD ie. not a foal but a southern horse! Groan!
I with Irish Miss…the constructor has a case of the Egos - “hey look how smart I am!”
As if
Saturday Stumper. Thanks for the fun, Kyle and HG.
I don’t always have time to even start a Saturday CW, but I have laryngitis today and can’t go anywhere.
After a sea of white on my first pass, I settled in to some of the tricky clues. I expect that when I try to do a Saturday CW. I got OYL, HOLED, DUETS, CLINIC, ARMY, on my own, and smiled.
Instead of TITT, I took a few trips to Google for my unknowns. Thus TODD, MEL, WRENS, LEAH, DESI, and OTTO filled and gave me a grip.
But I came short by one square- the E in RLess and MATE IN TWO. I did not see the chess board.
I will be reading “Finding my Way” shortly when it comes up on my Libby elibrary holds. I read I AM MALALA years ago - impressive story of an impressive young woman.
This Canadian had 24A fill with perps before I got it. I will not comment as it would be too political for our blog.
I smiled at HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU crossing COOL IT.
Wishing you all a great day.
Thanks to Kyle for a puzzle WELL PLAYED! Maybe my FIR makes me like it more than if it was a frustration fest. The long fills helped a lot today. FAVs: clue for OYL; "Physical location"; and the ARMY clue.
"Two pieces?" made me think "bikinis". That got me close. sUiTS ---> DUETS
Learning moment about OTTO. Ottoman footstool, clever!
My final fill was Box 4, a Natic for me. I crossed my fingers and entered M. Tada!
Thanks to H-Gary for the beautiful DUET, Grand Slam chart, explaining DESI, and explaining HOLED.
So, I'm now 3 for 3 in 2026 but I haven't been doing the Sunday puzzles for a few months now. I guess my streak ends tomorrow morning....
C-Eh!@2:52. Nice catch with HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU crossing COOL IT! I always read your posts because you so often find these pearls. Thanks for sharing!
I filled in about half, mostly correct, but then gave it up! Saturdays are always a challenge for me. I enjoy reading your posts, especially from Irish Miss. Thank you all for the entertainment!
I had to take a break from Kyle's puzzle to keep an appointment, and later was able to FIR -- on paper, no cheating -- but what a bear! DNK HATERADE, TODD, MEL, or LEAH, and struggled with other entries like RLESS, not to mention clues like C in C. Square 24, where PEP crosses POTUS, was my last fill. Did not love the experience, but if this is what Saturdays are like in the NYT as someone else said, then it's good for us to be similarly challenged. Thank you, Kyle, and thank you, Husker Gary!
Not my cuppa. I just felt the cluing was too clever by half.
Anarkie, Thank you and welcome to the Corner.
Really! Never heard that before, and I live in the south.
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