Saturday Themeless by Rafael Musa
Rafa, a software engineer for Airbnb in San Francisco. is a frequent constructor and collaborator.
1. Sudoku diagrams: GRIDS.
6. Snap: PIC.
9. Rib: TEASE.
14. Iconic part of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird": OUTRO - Song beginning: Intro :: Song ending : OUTRO. Depending on the tempo, the OUTRO lasts about half as long as the entire 9 minute song.
9. Rib: TEASE.
14. Iconic part of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird": OUTRO - Song beginning: Intro :: Song ending : OUTRO. Depending on the tempo, the OUTRO lasts about half as long as the entire 9 minute song.
15. Admirable sorts: CLASS ACTS - There's this blogmistress in Minneapolis I know...
17. Piano part: PEDAL.
18. Store for a little while?: POPUP SHOP.
19. "La Classe de Danse" painter: DEGAS - Even I can translate this title
21. Tale designed to tug at one's heartstrings: SOB STORY.
22. Parade locale since 1890: PASEDENA
24. Approves: OKS.
25. Seuss character who lives in a pond on Sala-ma-sond island: YERTLE.
26. Greek goddess of discord: ERIS.
29. "Use your inside voice": DON'T YELL.
31. Challenging direction to sail: UPWIND.
35. __ Bauer: EDDIE - Not a chance for Hank
36. Not well: ILL.
38. Cartoon hero with a blond bob: HE-MAN.
39. Hudson Valley college chartered by a brewer in 1861: VASSAR.
41. "Hola" follower, perhaps: COMO ESTA.
43. "__ bon!": TRES.
45. Packaged meals that might contain tamagoyaki: BENTOS.
46. Big Mac rivals?: PCS. 😊
49. Requirements for some brick buildings: LEGO SETS - This LEGO SET has a titanic price of $929.
51. Water wings?: SEA PLANE 😀
54. "The Social Network" Oscar winner Sorkin: AARON.
56. Urban prowlers: ALLEY CATS.
58. Jeopardy: PERIL.
60. Small digit: LITTLE TOE. 😀
61. Outerwear option: PARKA.
62. Shot not allowed in some pool halls: MASSE.
63. Chemistry suffix: ENE.
64. Warm compress targets: STYES - _ _ _ E S was not ACHES
Down:
1. RNC group: GOP.
2. Wished undone: RUED.
3. "Maybe": IT DEPENDS.
4. Queen, maybe: DRAG ARTIST.
5. Way out?: SO LAST YEAR.
6. Main doc: PCP.
7. Words of resignation: I LOSE.
8. Graham's "Boardwalk Empire" role: CAPONE.
 |
| Al CAPONE Stephen Graham |
9. Qt.'s 192: TSPS.
10. Right way?: EAST - On a map
11. Sound before some blessings: ACHOO 😀
12. Wading bird that communicates with bill clattering: STORK An annoying 25 second example
13. Awards for top plays: ESPYS - Last year it was Saquon Barkley's hurdle effort.
16. Car company that hosts Share the Love community events: SUBARU.
20. Counter offer?: SALE 😀
23. Spot with a sandwich board: DELI.
25. Jedi of Dagobah: YODA.
27. Safari and others: IPHONE APPS - I use the Safari browser on my MacBook and iPhone
28. Pick-me-up indulgence: SWEET TREAT.
29. Coder, colloquially: DEV - Isn't it obvi? Totes adorb!
30. Bus. type: LLC - Limited Liability Company
32. "My bad!": I'M SO SORRY - This is close enough to post this great emo song of my yute
33. D.C. team: NATS.
34. Cellular plan?: DNA 😀
37. University of New Mexico mascot: LOBO.
40. Adjust, as a corset: RELACE - I'll bet you can name this character whose corset is being RELACED.
42. Table outside?: MESA 😀
44. American century: SENATE - The less common second definition from Merriam-Webster
46. Song of worship: PSALM.
47. "La Vida Es un Carnaval" singer Cruz: CELIA - Even I could translate this.
48. Cures, in a way: SALTS.
52. Some rescues: PETS.
53. Singing crocodile voiced by Shawn Mendes in a 2022 film: LYLE.
55. Largest company headquartered in Oregon: NIKE - Makes sense
57. "Capisce?": SEE.
59. "__ Mañanitas": LAS - Translation
9 comments:
For a Saturday, this
wasn’t bad at all! There were few obscurities, and the ones there were
were easily sussed by perps.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Almost. But not quite. It came down to _OM_ESTA (my Spanish is pretty much limited to Dos Equis) and IP__NEAPPS and d-o blew it. Rats. Looks obvious now. Thanx, Rafael and Husker.
Almost. But not quite, too. I got about 95% solved correctly, but needed the help of red letters to fill the last few squares of the grid. All in all a very fine puzzle and a great way to start the L-O-N-G weekend.
FIW, with mERTLE x mODA and EReS x ePHONE APP. I always thought "mERTLE the Turtle," and didn't remember that yoda was a Jedi (which is nowhere near a catchy as "Jeramiah was a Bullfrog.") I also wondered who would create a puzzle with "e-phone app," and I'm now going on my second year as an iPhone owner. And the only god of discord I knew was Ires, and knew him only from crosswords.
Free Bird is a great song selection for DJs who need a bathroom break. Great song in general, too. Skyyrd would close out their concert encores with the tune. Fantastic way to end a show!
I filled MASSE without benefit of perp. The reason the shot is banned in most pool halls is that most players will damage the felt table covering while executing he shot. Same with jump shots.
I think that sailing downwind is more challenging than sailing upwind. If you lose your concentration sailing upwind the boat will slow down a little, but if you lose your concentration sailing downwind you could cause an accidental gybe, which can easily kill someone as the boom comes across the boat out of control. (The reason it's called a boom is that's the sound the spar makes when it smacks someone in the head. Or so I was taught.)
Thanks to Rafael for the fun Saturday challenge, and to H.Gary for another fun review.
FIR. This was pretty easy for a Saturday. My only misstep was throwing down aches before styes. Perps corrected me quickly.
There were several rather clever clues throughout the puzzle. The clues for PCs and Lego sets are two examples.
Overall a most enjoyable puzzle.
Took 9:42 today to get on.
I didn't know the French/Frwanch (tres), the Spanish (las; though I knew como esta), the role of someone named Graham (Capone), or this singer (Celia) or her Spanish song. Fortunately, the unknowns were spaced-out enough that I could get/keep traction.
Seemed like a few too many "?" clues, but that's the LAT crossword on Saturdays. Speaking of LAT Xwords on Saturdays, an obscure foreign food reference is often seen, and today's "tamagoyaki" was no exception.
Good Morning:
Props to the author for some outstanding cluing and an overall pleasant solve. Compared to some recent head-scratcher Saturdays, the perps were kind and overcame any rough spots.I got fooled (again!) by ESPYs instead of Emmys, and the clue for Senate had me stumped, too. He Man was unknown, as was Vassar, as clued. While it didn’t reach the expected difficulty of a Saturday solve, it was challenging enough and, more importantly, rewardingly enjoyable.
Thanks, Rafael, and thanks, HG, for the usual array of eye candy photos and commentary and for highlighting so many of the great clues. Thanks also for the Brenda Lee flashback.
Have a great day.
I agree much easier puzzle than some Saturdays. I managed to FIR. Some unknowns like YERTLE, DEV, CELIA, and LYLE were taken care of by perps.
It might be obvious, but I don’t get the clue for TSPS. I liked the SO LAST YEAR and ALLEY CATS clues.
Thank you HG. I enjoyed your review.
TSPS = teaspoons
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