Saturday Themeless by Amanda Cook
Amanda is a music critic and digital editor who is a published crossword puzzle constructor that maintains a blog for refined sugar-free dessert recipes, and enjoys taking care of her growing collection of houseplants. Amanda lives in Minnesota with her husband Kenny, and together they enjoy hiking, playing board games, and cheering for the Cleveland Guardians. She added that she had certainly heard of C.C., had met her once and lives in a Minnesota city next to our lovely blogmistress.
Amanda had this to share with us after I asked her if SOCIAL BATTERY was a seed entry like BEIGE FLAG was for her last puzzle:
Hi Gary! You’re correct about SOCIAL BATTERY! I’m very much an introvert, so I’m always conscious of mine when I’m out socializing. I also asked if my take on MINOR ROLE was right. She was shocked happy and replied, Yes!
Across:
1. Grazing spots?: TAPAS BARS.
10. Classic Milwaukee brewer: PABST.
15. Holding back tears, perhaps: EMOTIONAL.
16. Cornmeal cake: AREPA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
17. Final act for a big star: SUPER NOVA 😀
18. Tiptoe: CREEP.
19. Phillies All-Star shortstop Turner: TREA - Here is TREA on the right with our cousin Alec Bohm from Omaha who plays third base next to him.
20. Salon sounds: SNIPS.
22. Squeaks (by): EKES.
23. Hermana de la madre: TIA - Mother's sister (Hermana de la madre) is my aunt (TIA).
25. Scoped out: CASED.
27. Resource that may be recharged with alone time: SOCIAL BATTERY - Amanda's seed entry is a metaphor for explaining how much energy a person has for socializing when recharging is necessary. What's your level today?
32. Alan Ladd Western: SHANE - In a 2005 poll, this was chosen as the 47th best movie line of all time.
34. Sphere: REALM - One sphere of influence has been decreased in size
35. Green shade: PEA.
36. 1990s fad item: POG - These were ubiquitous in my 90's classroom!
37. State gemstone of Minnesota: AGATE.
38. [Raises hand]: I AM.
39. Ferment, perhaps: AGE.
40. Cut back: PRUNE.
41. Alabama and Kansas: BANDS - One of them has a song whose music and lyrics are favs of mine:
43. Unapologetic self-promotion: SHAMELESS PLUG - Celebrities doing this are staples of the TV talk show business.
46. Infer: EDUCE.
47. "__ complicated": IT'S.
48. Big D cagers: MAVS.
53. French head: TETE.
57. Covered in vines: IVIED.
59. Reason to cover a lot of ground quickly?: RAIN DELAY 😀
61. Come and go: RECUR.
62. Nonbillable work?: MINOR ROLE 😀 Harrison Ford's film debut was as a bellboy in Dead Heat On A Merry-Go-Round which was such a MINOR ROLE, his name did not appear on the bill.
64. Local cultural ecosystems: ART SCENES 😀
Down:
1. Exam: TEST.
2. River between Russia and China: AMUR.
3. Vatican City resident: POPE.
4. Carbo-loaded, say: ATE A TON.
5. Military address: SIR.
6. Art with a moyogi style: BONSAI - I thought it was Mr. Miyogi's BONSAI tree from Karate Kid but your humble blogger missed the fact that moyogi is not capitalized. It still would have worked. 🤔
7. Rando on a message board: ANON - Our ANONs on this site are not usually RANDOm
8. Sitarist Shankar: RAVI - He greatly influenced the Beatles, especially George Harrison, but did not play on any of their songs.
10. Campaign gp.: PAC.
11. Mesmerize: ARREST.
12. Sting operation?: BEEKEEPING 😀
13. Cram for book club: SPEED READ.
14. Dances like Savion Glover: TAPS - Saturday cluing for a common word
21. Magnitude: SCALE - The magnitude of the space shuttle and the crawler taking it out to the launch pad is easier to see when you look at the trucks on the crawler way next to them.
24. Water cooler: ICE. 😀
26. Texter's "Currently": ATM - Today, At The Moment replaces our cash dispenser
27. Words from a seasoned pro: SAGE ADVICE.
28. Engage in forensics: ARGUE.
29. Tilts: LEANS.
30. "Matlock" star: BATES - Kathy BATES stars in a reboot of the TV series made famous by Andy Griffith
31. Staple of Nigerian cuisine: YAMS.
32. Beauty spots: SPAS.
33. State of bliss: HOG HEAVEN - Talk about being happy! Humans might seek other avenues for a state of bliss.
37. "Les Alyscamps" city: ARLES - A Roman necropolis in southern France.
41. Club kin: BLT - My two favs!
42. Puritanical: AUSTERE.
44. Institution that may have a repatriation policy: MUSEUM - This happened in 2019
48. Wetland: MIRE.
50. Gospel singer Franklin: ERMA - Not Etta or Ella
51. Burrow: LAIR - As a noun
52. Bread maker: MINT - So many euphemisms for money
54. North Carolina college town: ELON - What a great athletic nickname.
55. Epic: TALE.
56. Emoji reaction to a hot take: EYES. 😳
58. Word with rub or run: DRY - Barbecue seasoning and a test
60. Kinshasa's country, briefly: DRC - Its Atlantic Ocean shoreline is a little over 20 miles long.
37 comments:
I actually got it! It
took quite a bit of time, as might be expected for a Saturday, but actually there weren’t as many obscurities as you might expect of a Saturday puzzle.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Thank you, Amanda and Husker Gary.
Surprisingly, this offering by Amanda wasn't as tough as I thought it might be (and hoped for.) FTW in a few minutes less than Desper-otto's allotted Saturday time.
The only blunder was temporary. Happiness before HOG HEAVEN.
Didn't get BATES at first. Could picture her, but couldn't recall the name.
DNK AMUR. 4 perps and I had it.
A nephew had a large collection of POGs. As did my neighbor's son who we babysat.
What else?
TREA was a gimme.
The phrase SUPER NOVA now reminds me of the song by Oasis.
I liked the clues for REALM and SCALE, as well as MUSEUM.
Wagged ARLES with the A and it nestled in nicely. We usually get a Van Gogh or Gauguin clue that leads to ARLES.
Never read the clue for ARREST.
Never read the clue for TAPS.
A different (and texting) clue for ATM. I would have spelled out the word currently in my text. I'm not that hep to know all of the texting abbreviations and slang.
Good morning!
Started right off grazing at the SALAD BAR. Nope. Tried BAT for that "Club kin." Nope. But no theme, no reveal, that's a lot to like. Thanx, Amanda and Husker.
Fisticuffs in westerns were often corny, especially so in Shane. It's hard to make a 5'6" cowboy look imposing.
Those texting abbrs weren't nearly so important after the 140-character limit was abolished back in 2015. Now you could write a novelette.
Easiest Saturday puzzle I’ve ever done. It helped that I got Tapas bar, Supernova and Emotional right off the bat. From there, everything pretty much fell into place
Took 10:55 today, says this "anon."
I agree that this seemed easier than most Saturdays, and relatedly, contained less obscure stuff and much fewer "?s" clues. Good puzzle, though I would've slated this on a Friday.
Good Morning:
Amur, Trea, and Erma, did me in. Saturday DNF or FIW are becoming all too common for me, sad to say. Maybe my Solving Battery needs a good jolt of recharging. I did enjoy the solve, however, and thought the cluing and fill were mostly Saturday-worthy, with a few exceptions.
Thanks, Amanda, and thanks, HG, for the commentary, graphics, and personal tidbits about the constructor. And, yes, I had Clap before Slap!
Happy Valentine’s Day to all. 💘
DNF, filling all but 7 squares, and having one (TALL) incorrect fill. I would never in a thousand years get AMU_ x T_EA, might have gotten __T S_ENxS with kindler perps, but should have gotten _ _NO_ ROLE instead of the cameo ROLE I erased. Erased bat for BLT, and deal, then clap for SLAP, as well as oven for MINT.
IIRC, our sun is destined to become a red giant, then contract into a white dwarf. Of course all life on earth will be gone by then. Even cockroaches won't make it.
Guessed SELMA. Today's Sheffer crossword has "SELMA director DuVernay" for AVA. Never heard of Oyelowo. Also didn't know they remade Matlock.
Still don't understand how Burpee->PEC. AFAIK Burpee is a seed company, and PEC is a muscle.
I've been wondering what to do with my grand PIANO when I move to Florida. It is a restored 1926 Kranich & Bach, with a PIANOdisc system installed.
Thanks to Amanda for the Saturday challenge that was just a little beyond my reach. And thanks to H.Gary for another fine Saturday-level review.
Finally, an enjoyable Saturday puzzle! Thank you Amanda and HG!
Hmm, I somehow missed burpee/pec. Must have perped. I don't get it either...
Oh, and that laurel and hardy collection missed the piano delivery in the Alps.
DNF. I was really sure I'd finish this one with ease until I got to the SE. I'd never heard of the gospel singer and the movie Selma just wouldn't come to me.
Despite that, overall an enjoyable puzzle.
A challenging and well-crafted offering by Amanda Cook today. A bit over my pay grade in places, but nevertheless an overall admirable job on her part. I loved the large expanses of white in the NW and SE, with those triple-stacked 9's. And two horizontal 13's, including one of Amanda's seed entries.
It was nice to see here the movie "Shane," always voted one of the best westerns in history. The height-challenged Alan Ladd had to wear high-heeled shoes or stand on blocks so his scenes with, say, Jack Palance, wouldn't look ludicrous. And his favorite actress to play opposite him in movies was the 4' 11" Veronica Lake.
Thanks, Amanda, for an adventurous Saturday interlude. And nice job as usual, HGary, for your entertaining recap.
Today’s puzzle had several compound words and two-word expressions for which I came up with the second half more quickly than the first. SOCIAL BATTERY was the one I’d never seen or heard before. It took some WAGs to FIR.
It took a while to settle for ART SCENES, and the clue for MINOR ROLES was misleading (Amanda got a bum steer when she questioned that one). I had BARS before the TAPAS part came to light.
The ARLES entry was frustrating, because the answer occurred to me early but I wanted proof. I was convinced the clue had something to do with Van Gogh. I consider it cheating to look up the clue, but I’m fine with googling ARLES and “French versions of Van Gogh titles.” Nothing yielded Les Alyscamps. It didn’t help that AGATE, which came to me early but seemed wrong, was also difficult to prove until the SOCIAL part of the recharging entry came into focus.
AREPA, TREA Turner, Kathy BATES, and DRC (an educated guess) helped me along.
I still didn’t know what POG was when I had completed the puzzle. I still feel “squeak” is not interchangeable with ‘EKE” unless you’re the sort of person who thinks “sop up” and “soak up” are the same thing. AMUR, Aretha Franklin’s sister ERMA, and the text-speak ATM (isn’t one kind of ATM enough?) also required perps. The “Burpee target” clue seemed like a different kind of “seed” entry, but apparently there are two kinds of Burpee, too.
FIR, and really enjoyed it, in spite of the many unknowns which filled in with help of perps or WAGS. I liked the clues for BEE KEEPING and BLT. I too started with BaT then the PLUG changed my mind.
The Arles clue was familiar to me since I have spent quite a bit of time in Arles.
I was not familiar with AREPA, TREA, ATM as clued. ERMA. BURPEE is a type of exercise and don’t ask me how I knew that but the word was laying dormant somewhere in my brain.
GOOMBA confused me, but ENEMY had to be right. At first I had PIG for the fad, as in pork bellied, that led to my thinking the long vertical would be HiGH something. Untangling that mistake took a while but I finally EDUCEd the correct fills.
Thank you HG. Another great review.
Very rare for me to complete a Saturday, but I made it today!! Only cheating was on Kinshasa’s country. I had it as ROC, for Republic of Congo, because I assumed that the reason for covering ground must involve rELAY. But pAINrELAY didn’t make any sense. When I finally looked Kinshasa up and saw the name was Democratic Republic of Congo, everything fell into place. I got quite a laugh out of the great clueing!
Thanks to Amanda for the entertaining outing, and to HG for the delightful recap! Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.
More than two. Back in 1962, when I was in high school, our PE classes utilized several variations of burpees, one of which involved parallel bars. This burpee was also known as Torture.
FIR on a Saturday! I can't even remember the last time I managed that. Didn't set any speed records, though, as I had to walk away several times to let my "crossword battery" recharge. The clues, while tough, were not as obscure as the usual Saturday. All in all, an enjoyable outing.
I wanted CAMEO ROLE for MINOR ROLE and that hung me up a bit in the SE until I sussed it out
A burpee is a cruel calisthenic that adds a push-up and vertical jump to the classic squat thrust exercise.
Sports name means "random name that you have to guess". TREA is simply not guessable. Crossing it with AMUR? Yes BURPEE clue clearly should be BED as in flower BED.
Hola! I finished a Saturday puzzle! Yea! However, I did have to ask ALEXA about TREA Turner because not in a thousand years would I guess that name. Sting operation was my favorite clue. And I knew Aretha's sister sang gospel, but I couldn't recall her name, so again, ALEXA to the rescue. That cinched the SE for me. ELON was easy as I've passed it often when I visited my sister in Charlotte. Also, I love Kathy BATES in "Matlock" but her memory will be forever etched from "Misery".
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
Re: piano moving. When my parents passed, I investigated moving their piano from Virginia to Fla. The price far exceeded it's value, so we donated it to a local church.
I liked this puzzle a lot.
FLN - sumdaze, no I did not know that whatever day of the week is June 1 will not be the 1st for any other month that year. But then AI helped:
- June and May are the only two months that never share a starting day with any other month in the same year.
- March and November always start on the same day because there are exactly 245 days (35 weeks) between them.
I didn't fully vet those statements from AI, but they held true in the few years I looked at. (And the math works!)
Also, PVX, that BMW Z4 M40i HS is quite the step up from the Miata. Congrats. A friend has the Z3. A beautiful car.
In case anyone missed it yesterday, watch this Black Heron become an umbrella . Beautiful!
Funny how one man's gimmee is another man's downfall. TREA is apparently well know to baseball fans, not so much to everyone else. Just sour grapes because its cross with AMUR was my only error (I never look things up).
NASA's crawler-transporters have a top speed of 1 mph when loaded! Of course, they weigh 18 million pounds with a shuttle on top.
Thanks HG, for the Laurel & Hardy clip!
GOOMBA is a bad guy in the Mario Brothers video game, therefore, ENEMY. A BURPEE is an exercise and one of the muscles that it benefits is a PEC.
YP here ~ just right for Saturday for me, not too easy and required some thought to FIR in 26. Thanks Amanda for the enjoyable solve and to HG for the wrap-up!
A few years back we donated our baby grand to a small immigrant church community that still appreciates acoustic music. They are very grateful - and it sounds lovely in its new home.
Thanks to Amanda! I had a 2-box FIW, guessing ThEA and, yes, hand up for BaT then neglecting to go back and check things. Nevertheless, I enjoyed all the fun fill. Well done, Amanda! FAVs were "Water cooler", DRY clue, BEEKEEPING, and HOG HEAVEN. Oh, and props for getting MN in your AGATE clue.
Thanks to H-Gary for bringing us the deets! MINOR ROLL and "bill". Ah, now I see it. Thank you for that! Yes, I first had cLAP. I enjoyed listening to "Dust In The Wind" while reading through your notes.
Liked "Solving Battery"!
TTP@12:44. I did not know that worked for May, too. I only know about June 1 because that is my cousin's birthday. One of the best things about the corner is when someone shares something then learns more in return.
= )
Thanks, also, for the black heron video. Birds are so cool.
Loved that video of that gorgeous black heron.
Happy Valentines Day to all❣️
Unusually for a Saturday, I was cruising….
Until I got to SE corner!
Had to get help (using some partial memory 😊) on RDC and Selma. And still … even with all the cells filled - didn’t understand “rain delay” nor “minor role”.
Couldn’t switch brain from EmMA to ErMA (from moving in “space” to covering of “space”); nor “nonbillable” (from earning money to earning movie credit). And I refused to “cheat” 🤦🏼♀️ for a third time — so didn’t look her up.
Changing bAt to bLt (shifting brain from “stick” to “sando”) finally settled - when “plug” (not “brag”!) came from finally sussing “pianos”.
I got Trea from perps (as I am sports illiterate - oddly proud & ashamed 🙈 - probably why “rain delay” couldn’t emerge in my mind).
All in all a satisfying Saturday jaunt. Thank You, to HG and Amanda! (And to CC - for founding this space.)
Yup - learning new things here (and from Jeopardy!, among others) is definitely a great joy to me.
And I too loved the timely heron video. My hubby is currently in conflict w/some bird-predator over the fish in our pond.
Same here. A minor role probably takes more work than a cameo, and thus the pay might matter more.
I figured the Mario in the clue was THAT Mario, but it required too much Super Mario knowledge.
Interesting Saturday puzzle, Amanda, many thanks for that. And Gary, your commentary and pictures are always helpful, so thanks for those too.
I bet TAPA BARS serve PABST BEER along with AREPA cornmeal cakes, much to the pleasure of their customers. This service may not be totally SUPER NOVA, but it is in no way CREEPy, and is just fine. Since I'm not familiar with a POG, I think I'd rather get an AGATE as a gift for someone. That way I think I can avoid being considered a SHAMELESS PLUG. Glad we're having a RAIN DELAY, but I think we'd better get our umbrellas ready for next week. But that won't keep us from having fun puzzle times.
Have a good weekend coming up, everybody.
OH - and, to HG for you comment yesterday: Since ~age 2yo, my grandson (now 10) has loved our collections of VHS and DVD media played on our antique duo player! Turning it all on is practically the first thing he does when they come to visit. He’s already claimed it all to become his someday! 🤣
I was thinking that GOOMBA was an Italian's mistress, but Mr. Google says that's "goomah." Nurse Jackie used to give Tony Soprano hell about his.
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