Themeless Saturday by Amie Walker
Amie Walker is an attorney/current stay-at-home parent to three little girls in Chandler, Arizona. When she’s not thinking about puzzles, she loves spending time with her family and singing in her women’s choir. Here is a picture of Amie on Jeopardy on 3/28/22. The bottom of this puzzle was an 
tough sledding for me where gaming slang, three obscure names and my not remembering the spelling of CAESAREAN and its "AE" grouping. 😖 Sigh, I had one bad cell but let's move on and I'll give you my other 45. Ponder: MUS(E)ings.
1. Franciscan philosopher who inspired the main character in "The Name of the Rose": OCCAM -
William of Baskerville, the protagonist of Umberto Eco’s 1980 novel, The Name Of The Rose,
is a fictionalized, homespun homage to the real-life 14th-century philosopher William of OCCAM. He embodies OCCAM's "razor" principle, using logic, empiricism, and skepticism to solve mysteries, reflecting the transition from medieval dogma to modern scientific thought. You're welcome!
6. Nap spot: SOFA.
10. Bands that stabilize knees, for short: ACLS - The natural bands and not these
14. "Care to explain?": WHAT IS THIS.
16. Grand: THOU - Slang for thousand
17. Squeals: NAMES NAMES - Our crossword regular Elia Kazan NAMED NAMES at the McCarthy HUAC committee and Hollywood remembered.
18. Stubbs of the Four Tops: LEVI - Second from right
19. Nurse: SIP.
20. Utter: TOTAL.
21. Pointer from a proofreader: CARET.
22. Possible start of a folktale: LEGEND HAS IT.
24. Volga __: Turkic people in western Russia: TATARS.
27. Body work?: TATTOOS.
29. Celebrity gossip show: E-NEWS.
30. High kicks: HEELS - Kicks is slang for shoes, so...
32. Howe'er: THO.
33. Director Coogler: RYAN. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
34. Ninny: GOOSE - I am prone to call our kitty a silly GOOSE
35. Jalopy: HEAP.
36. "Newhart" production co.: MTM and Rhoda, Lou Grant, WKRP, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, among many others.
37. Guy who made one helluva deal?: FAUST - My first thought was not of Goethe but of the musical Damn Yankees where Joe Hardy sold his soul to beat those Damn Yankees.
 |
| Devil Joe Hardy Lola |
38. Western Australian port: PERTH.
39. Like things?: SIMILES - I was very happy to enter SIMILAR first.
41. Lofty nests: AERIES.
42. Get drinks on tap, say? MOBILE ORDER More
46. Swear off?: BLEEP - Theater critic Kenneth Tyan was on BBC and is given credit for the first person TV to get BLEEPED. He innocently used the word f*** as a synonym for intercourse.
47. Young dog: PUP.
50. Some, in Spanish: UNAS - Le regalaré UNAS rosas rojas para el Día de San Valentín. (I will give her red roses for St. Valentine's Day)
51. Challenges for some gamers: BOSS LEVELS.
53. Some flatfish: SOLE.
54. Takeout deliveries?: CAESAREANS - I am still upset with myself for not knowing the odd spelling of CAESAREAN. It would have unlocked the stack of these three female names below I did not know:
41. Writer __ Rogers St. Johns: ADELA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
43. Actress Elizabeth: OLSEN - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ She was in six of these movies and said it ruined her chance at other roles
44. Journalist Maria who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021: RESSA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ She won for her efforts in the The Philippines
55. Meadow moms: EWES.
56. Volcano seen on "The White Lotus": ETNA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
57. Fender guitar, for short: STRAT - Their ranges from $15,000 to $80,000.
Down:
1. __ up to: OWNS.
2. Masala __: CHAI.
3. Stay out for the night: CAMP.
4. Grabbed a bite: ATE.
5. Welcome patio features on a hot day: MISTERS - Awnings did fit but alas...
6. Washington, but not Jefferson: STATE - Forming a new state is largely a symbolic idea by people of northern California and southern Oregon who feel they are ignored by Sacramento and Salem.
8. Real-world experiment: FIELD TEST - Farmers are constantly FIELD TESTING new methods in their, uh, fields.
9. Burro: ASS.
10. "Took you long enough": AT LAST - After waiting 86 years for Red Sox to win the World Series.
11. "SNL" alum who played a Spartan: CHERI OTERI.
12. Relish a paradoxical passion: LOVE TO HATE.
13. "__ yourself": SUIT.
15. Smooches in a lorry, say: SNOGS - or a quick kiss in a lift on the way up to a flat to watch the Beeb on the telly
21. Animals with righting reflexes: CATS.
22. Pink flamingo spot: LAWN.
23. "Veep" Emmy winner Tony: HALE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
24. Stretch-y things: TERMS - You can stretch these TERMS as long as you want as seen below.
I also thought of our constructors stretching out TERMS for clever cluing 😀
25. "We don't have all day": ANY TIME NOW.
26. Magic spirit, say?: TEAM MORALE 😀 The NBA TEAM the Orlando Magic
28. Some on the JV squad: SOPHS.
30. Home on the water: HOUSE BOAT.
31. Lip balm brand: EOS.
34. "Coco" voice actor __ García Bernal: GAEL ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
37. Move like a hummingbird: FLIT.
38. Eyes: PEEPERS - Jeepers, creepers...
40. Nile birds with curved bills: IBISES.
47. Cider choice: PEAR - This is also called Perry and is made from fermented pears
48. Radius neighbor: ULNA.
49. "C'mere!": PSST.
51. Dating letters: BCE.
52. Lab doc: VET. 😀
I’m here, but haven’t
ReplyDeletefigured out what to say yet. I’ll let you know.
“NAMES NAMES” would be a fitting title for this puzzle, as there were 10 by my count, of which I knew none off the top of my head, 7 I didn’t know at all, and one that was vaguely clued as ‘actress Elizabeth’. Somehow I was able to overcome all that and FIR w/out help in 30:16. The most troublesome area was the same as HG, the three adjacent ones in the south, crossed by MOBILE ORDER, which took me some time to cipher out (clever clue for that, as was the clue for CAESAREANS). Thanks Amie for the mental workout, and to HG for the excellent review!
ReplyDeleteAgree on all counts. Came here to say the title was NAMES NAMES as well. Great minds think alike! Or fools seldom differ?
DeleteWay too many names for me
ReplyDeleteDnf
FIR but didn't like all the obscure names. Even for a Saturday it was a bit much
ReplyDeleteThis was a great puzzle, except there weren’t nearly enough clues referencing obscure pop figures that nobody has ever heard of. Now that I’ve gotten that snark out of my system, I can start enjoying Superbowl Weekend. Go Pats!!!
ReplyDeleteDNF, filling 52, 50 correctly. Better than my Saturday average.
ReplyDeleteTimely ACL fill, with Lindsey Vonn yesterday completing the "training run" that was required for Olympic contestants. My question is whether the US team has a better chance with her skiing with her ruptured ACL than with an uninjured alternate, if there is such in Olympic competition. Maybe it's just Lindsey, go or no go.
When I worked in Phoenix I used to have lunch on a company patio equipped with high power MISTERS. Most summer days were hot, arid, and with little or no wind, so the patio felt like it was air conditioned. It didn't work well in any kind of breeze, or in the humid conditions of the monsoon season.
I got HOUSEBOAT easily enough, but I think H.Gary's picture is of a dock house, not a HOUSEBOAT. Here's a video tour of one couple's HOUSEBOAT on lake Sidney Lanier just north of Atlanta. (It's a better lake for HOUSEBOATing than it was for my Catalina 38 sailboat Checks in the Mail, which required almost 7 feet of depth.)
Thanks to Amie for the workout, and to H.Gary for the explanation.
Took 16:17 today to luckily navigate crossing several intersections in Natickville.
ReplyDeleteI knew the Actress of the Day (Olson), despite the poor clueing my neighbor YooperPhil pointed out, but I didn't know the writer (Adela) or journalist (Ressa). YP's other point about the title of this puzzle being "names names" is spot on.
The Saturday staple of a foreign food wasn't bad today (chai), but I find the clue for a simple word, "terms," to be very annoying, even on a Saturday. Almost any clue that includes "voice actor" is a bad one, with today (Gael) being no exception. What's next, a clue involving the gaffer of a well-known movie? And yet, the worst clue of the month is currently a tie between "Volga __: Turkic people in western Russia" and " 'Newhart' production co."
I got it, but at a certain point, it required a
ReplyDelete“red letter” run.
So I wouldn’t call this a win.
FIR. Considering it's a Saturday puzzle, I didn't find this as hard as most. There were way too many proper names for my liking. How ironic that there was an answer called "names names".
ReplyDeleteLast to fall was goose for ninny as clued. The crossing with two proper names seemed a bit unfair.
So overall a so-so puzzle.
One tough Saturday. My final fill was "Caesarean" and I almost peed my pants. Wonderful Cluing, a departure from the usual.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning:
ReplyDeleteAfter struggling mightily (unsuccessfully) with a couple of recent Saturdays, I’m happy to say I conquered today’s, thanks to some helpful perps and enough footholds to be successful. There were several unknowns, such as, Boss Levels, Ressa, Mobile Order, Team Morale, etc., but being able to parse Caesareans, Any Time Now, Legend Has It, etc. helped considerably and, eventually, led to a FIR. I think the difficulty level was just right, especially with the generous and helpful perps.
Thanks, Amie, for restoring my Saturday solving confidence and thanks, HG, for the informative review and commentary. Favorite illustration was the Cats Righting Reflex. I guess this ability accounts for some of those 9 lives, eh?
Tomorrow’s high temp will be only 10 degrees and the early wind chill temps are predicted to be 20-30 below zero. I think I’ll make like a bear and hibernate!
Have a great day.
Once I started encountering all those names that I didn’t know, phrases with quotes around them, I decided to go do something else. Too bad. I like a challenge, but not a frustration.
ReplyDeleteThank you HG for your valiant review.
I thought this was Amie’s best puzzle, and I enjoyed most of it despite my DNF.
ReplyDeleteI simply did not know BOSS LEVELS and MOBILE-ORDERS (a verb, apparently), after sailing through the top half of the puzzle and all of the corners. It’s my fault for not knowing RESSA, which crossed both of the other two, which means it was a double Natick for me. The lame Magic Spirit clue for TEAM MORALE reminded me of Friday’s puzzle, which had many lame clues, but otherwise Amie’s puzzle was Saturday-tough without being ridiculous.
LEVI Stubbs was my first fill. I knew ADELA Rogers St. John. Perps revealed OCCAM quickly. Ditto for LEGEND HAS IT. MISTERS hit me immediately. I had thought about the MTM/Barney Miller connection a day or two ago, so the Newhart clue triggered a quick response. I liked grand/THOU; I thought “takeout deliveries” was a clever clue for CAESARIAN; and SNOG is a great word; FAUST reminded me of the legendary Chicago White Sox organist Nancy Faust.
It’s the Super Bowl, not “Superbowl,” and it’s taking place less than 20 miles from my house tomorrow.
Thanks HG, for your guidance today. This one really needed your help. I normally am not bothered by names, but...
ReplyDeleteI have two STRATs (Fender Stratocasters) like the one pictured. A 1966 that I got from a classified ad in the paper back before the internet jacked the prices up on everything. And a 1968 that I bought in high school, back when it was just a late model "used" guitar. Still my favorite.
You know, I was about three paragraphs into my post, when I decided the best thing to do was erase it all and replace it with one word.
ReplyDeleteThumper.
Oh, but on the lighter side, actually, Occam was a name I actually cared about!
"The fault, dear Brutus,....is in ourselves." Yes, Amie's challenge today presented problems, but I feel I should have more readily surmounted them. The fact is that this is a Saturday puzzle, and Amie--a top constructor--presented us with a fair and rewarding challenge.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amie, for a clever Saturday diversion. And thanks, Gary, for your explications and guidance. Hey--how did Amie do on Jeopardy?
12:05 to finish. Not a lot of fun. Knew most of the names but even still, there's not a lot of great fill there.
ReplyDeleteThe usual Saturday combo of scant easy clues, hard clues, “you know it or you don’t” clues and super hard clues. Weather has finally “broken” in Naples where we are staying for two months. From 50s to 70s, so not that interested in long term agonizing over a Saturday puzzle. Back home in Central NY it’s minus 2!!🥶
ReplyDeleteHad Arrow for CARET, states for TOTAL Awnings for MISTERS (the former seemed wrong anyway as it only helps with the sun not the heat.
Saw the first season of the series “White Lotus” set in Sicily so ETNA was a given. Knew STRAT from episodes of “Antiques Roadshow” where visitors brought in old family guitars to get appraised
Last month finally got to read Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa’s “How to Stand up to a Dictator” Timely advice.
“The Name of the Rose” written by a proffessore at my Uni made into a 1986 movie with Sean Connery and a very young Christian Slater.
MTM productions (Mary Tyler Moore) with a pussycat mewling instead of the MGM roaring Lion.
Kudos to all who FIR!
Maybe get rid of anything that isn’t a name no one knows.
ReplyDeleteFairly typical Saturday - some knowns with other fills helped by perps
ReplyDeleteI had the same last fill as HG - BCE crossing BOSS LEVELS which I had never heard of as a non-gamer
Gimmes: even in modern medicine, we are introduced to OCCAM's razor as a way to approach a challenging diagnosis
We just got back from visiting one of our kids and they were always doing MOBILE ORDERs on their phones that they had apps for
I think Elizabeth OLSEN is a wonderful actress with a wide range of roles - I just saw her in "Eternity" the rom/com(with Miles Teller and Callum Turner) where she is in her late 80s and when she arrives in the afterlife she finds that she has a week to decide whether to spend it with her first husband who died shortly after they were married in the Korean War vs her husband of 60+ years who arrives right before her. Would highly recommend
Thanks HG for the entertaining blog and Amie for the puzzle
“… a rose by any … name …”? 🥀💐
ReplyDeleteIn a way, aren’t ALL words “names”?
And, our pursuing exposure to them (accidentally and purposefully), the measure of our “mettle” in these trivia(l) games? And, y’all have me SO BEAT in so many realms - especially sports! Thanks to all for the chats! Thanks, Amie and HG, for a fun workout today! My fave clue is “Takeout deliveries?”; and 2nd is “Get drinks on tap, say?”
Thank you, Amie and Husker Gary
ReplyDeleteMe too. One letter error. ADELe instead of ADELA. Should have looked at the spelling of CAESAREANS.
I'm fine with one error here. It was a different story doing the syndicated version of the NYT. Six letters. The grids in both were very similar.
Anyway, Amie's puzzle was a good Saturday challenge for me, with more than a few aha moments. Most of the names were a challenge.
FIELD TEST - That's how Blogger rolled out changes. At times it seemed that no beta testing was done prior to the field testing. Ugh.
CHERI OTERI and Will Farrel as the Spartans cheer team were DW's favorite SNL characters. She still laughs when she sees them in reruns of those roles.
My cider choice was pulp before working out PEAR.
My actress Elizabeth was first Arden, but that didn't feel right. Then I worked out Olsen and remembered that Arden's first name was Eve. I liked OLSEN in the comedy drama "Liberal Arts."
Squirrels seem to have a righting reflex as well.
The loud WHOOSH (WOOSH?).Was this puzzle flying high over my head. TITT, no enjoyment or entertainment, only frustration. Had just about everything I detest in crosswords. Truly obscure names, paraphrase non- clues, clues that made no sense, and "look at what a clever girl I am" clues. Cluing Occam with a 1980 fictional novel, and no mention.of his razor, for the very first entry was just cruel, IMHO. Phooey. No fun at all.
ReplyDeleteWEES, an absolute name fest, 17 by my count, DNK 11. Maria Ressa's book, "How to Stand Up to a Dictator" is an absolute must read. I have the book sitting there on the bookshelf right in front of me but could not recall "RESSA", had to walk over and look at the book.
ReplyDeleteThe far West was an absolute nightmare, 24, 29, 33 and 36 across all being names. I had to resort to the E-crossword, turn on red-letter help, then still resort to alpha runs.
If I say I managed to FWH, that's being generous to myself. Alpha runs and Google did this CW, not me.
Overall, in spite of a few very clever clues, "Takeout deliveries?" being the best, this CW was not fun due to all the names.
When "Heels" filled, there was no V-8 can, I had to wait for HG's explanation. Terrific write-up, HG, thanx.
I really should just stop trying to do Saturday CWs, it is too much of a struggle, I have no fun, then I come here and grump about it.
Again, let me recommend everyone read, "How to Stand Up to a Dictator".