Saturday Themeless by Sarah Sinclair and Erik Agard
Agard alert, Erik is back co-constructing. This time he pairs up with Sarah Sinclair and the product has what seems to be some Agrardian entries like the fill for Super Duper which I'll discuss later.
About Sarah: I currently live in Seattle where I work as a product manager for Microsoft. I also freelance as a crossword puzzle constructor and have had puzzles published in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and the Universal Crossword.
One added note: On the day that Sarah had this picture taken, she wore a dress that she made herself! Cool!
1. Catalyst: IMPETUS - Caitlin Clark was a true catalyst who 8. Prompted: SPURRED - many changes in her sport.
15. Generational tendency to delay speaking on video recordings: MILLENNIAL PAUSE - New to me. The "millennial pause" is a habitual, brief hesitation, often accompanied by a thoughtful gaze, that many millennials make at the start of a video before they begin speaking. Originating from early, slower video technology like Snapchat or Instagram, it serves as a self-assured check to confirm recording has actually begun.
17. Something taken by a teller?: DRAMATIC LICENSE - Fred Hayes was one of the actual astronauts on Apollo 13 and he told our group, "The director, Ron Howard, said we are going to have to punch some things up or we won't sell any popcorn!!" Astronaut Jim Lovell actually said, "Houston, we've had a problem here." The screenwriters changed it to the more dramatic line below:
18. Hosp. areas: ORS.
19. Settings: LOCALES.
20. Like pitching machines and dinner guests: FED 😀 Pitching machines do indeed have to be FED!
21. "Ya es suficiente": NO MAS - Roberto Duran is reputed to have said this when he quit against Sugar Ray Leonard.
23. 2015 NL Rookie of the year Bryant: KRIS - He was a big factor in breaking the Cubs' 106 year World Series drought.
24. Sole: LONE.
25. Focuses of some museums: ERAS - A beautiful but, in one sense, sad museum in Kansas City
26. Start to some health consultations?: TELE - T E _ _ led me to believe a TEST might start a medical consultation
27. __ of nature: FORCE - Continuing with my sport's references.
28. Fencing defense: PARRY - Deflect your opponent's attack.
30. Call into question: BELIE - The facts BELIE. your story.
31. Rigs: FIXES.
32. Angular: GAUNT.
33. Traps, in a way: MIRES.
34. Place that has rooms and a board: CONDO 😀 - A CONDO has rooms and usually a CONDO board that makes and enforces policy.
35. Garments often adorned with metallic thread called zari: SARIS.
36. Big name in comfort footwear: TAOS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
37. "As if": PFFT.
41. "What she said": AMEN.
42. Hit the runway: LAND.
43. Stiller's partner: MEARA - I remember this husband and wife act on The Ed Sullivan Show and then reunited to be in the King Of Queens sitcom.
44. Software vehicles, once: CDS.
45. "Hello __": classic barbershop song: MARY LOU - This will always be Ricky Nelson's song from the 60's but I love barbershop too.
45. "Hello __": classic barbershop song: MARY LOU - This will always be Ricky Nelson's song from the 60's but I love barbershop too.
47. Garage occupant: CAR.
48. When one might find a blowout sale?: HAIR APPOINTMENT 😀
51. Pulitzer-winning play chronicled in the oral history "The World Only Spins Forward": ANGELS IN AMERICA - The Connection
52. Headspring?: RINGLET -This is really "out there"! A headspring is an acrobatic move to switch from a head stand to springing into standing up. Sarah and/or Erik and/or Patti switched this to RINGLETS of hair springing from a head.
53. Feature of the logos of Heineken and Macy's: RED STAR.
Down:
1. Finish line: I'M DONE.
2. Source of a good self-image: MIRROR
3. Composition of most of the observable universe: PLASMA More
4. West __: upscale furniture store: ELM.
5. Some dabbling ducks: TEALS 😀
6. __ itself: UNTO.
7. Candy named for a Mars family horse: SNICKERS.
8. Big name in loans: SALLIE - SLMA - Student Loan Marketing Association
9. French dips?: PLIES 😀
10. Short lines at the register?: UPCS 😀 They spelled the doom of this clerk's machine
11. "Diet Pepsi" singer Addison: RAE shrug The only mention in the song is
Break all the rules 'til we get caughtFog up the windows in the parking lotSummer love (ah, ah), sexySitting on his lap sippin' Diet Pepsi
12. Scram: RUN FOR IT.
13. Magazine whose first editorial director was Gordon Parks: ESSENCE - Gordon was also the first black photographer for Life Magazine
16. Miranda Cosgrove sitcom: I CARLY ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
22. Popular tablet: ASPIRIN - I have an iPad tablet and when I was 8 I had a Big Chief tablet 😀
24. "Haha, u wish": LOL NOPE 😀
26. Chic accessory?: TRES - Here or in Paris I would never be described as being TRES chic. 😀
27. Bitter rivalry: FEUD.
29. Pair o' graphs?: AXES - We math people use them a lot
30. Prohibits: BANS.
31. Sagittarius, for one: FIRE SIGN - My belief in astrology is lower than minimum.
32. Super duper?: GOOD LIAR - Someone who dupes people by lying could be called a duper. If they are really good at it, they'd be a super duper.😳
33. Zohran who walked the length of Manhattan on June 20, 2025: MAMDANI - NYC's current mayor.
34. Gorge: CANYON.
35. "Holes" novelist Louis: SACHAR.
36. Trinidad's Pitch Lake, for one: TARPIT.
38. "Be honest with yourself": FACE IT.
39. Lingua __: FRANCA - A common language for people who do not speak the same language. English is the most common and all international airline pilots are required to speak English
42. Coverage issue: LAPSE.
43. Subtle, as colors: MUTED.
45. King of Prussia attraction: MALL - The King Of Prussia, PA MALL has over 450 stores
46. Statement after putting down a card: ON ME.
49. On the __: chronically, casually: REG - "On the reg" is an informal phrase meaning regularly, frequently or consistently. My Saturday blogging is on the reg.
50. Title for some spouses: MRS.
20 comments:
Well, like most
Saturday crosswords, it took me a long time to get any headway. I’d say I spent more than an hour on it. I did end up getting it, eventually, but it was quite a struggle.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Didn't participate. I have low regard for the puzzles of Mr. Agard.
It was absurd
It was absurd
What she said?
DNF. I threw in the towel on this one. It had all the ear marks of puzzles i despise, with the exception of circles. Obscure proper names, the constructor's favorite things, and the crossing of 24D and 37A are really over the top.
Overall this wasn't even close to an enjoyable puzzle.
LOL nope, indeed. Obscure names and even more obscure clues. A very long series of groans to start my Saturday. No mas, por favor.
FIR but puzzle felt like another vanity project
Gave up about half done. Didn't help that the "F" gave me Freak of nature, and for the barbershop song I had "Hello __ My honey" not the Ricky Nelson song
Same here. I went for it this time out of sheer stubbornness. His vanity seeps into every one of his puzzles.
Once again, Erik Agard treats us to another "look how clever I am" exercise designed to muddle and confuse without an element of fun.
As usual, too many of his clues had very loose relationships with their corresponding fill, and his reliance on extreme obscurities is off-putting.
I can feel his smugness in every puzzle he constructs.
FIR, out of spite, in 19:06, but hated it every step of the way.
Good Morning:
Is anyone else wondering about the message being conveyed by 47A Garage Occupant=Car? Insult? Gotcha? Gimme? Joke? Gratuitous? Thumper and I are definitely speechless this morning.
At least I had the pleasing enjoyment of a typical review by HG, one filled with facts and a treasure trove of eye candy photos and the usual fair and unbiased analysis. Thanks, HG.
Have a great day.
Another Saturday with the editor over at the LAT signing off on a trivia and junk laden slogfest. Seriously, LOL NOPE and PFFT ? It’s been this way, week in and week out for pretty much all of this year. I initially suspected that the editor simply is incapable of doing a difficult puzzle well, and that may still be the case. It could also just be a case of not caring and phoning it in. There certainly is no evidence contrary to either of those possibilities.
Some of the most crucial obstacles to a successful solve were generational issues. The MILLENNIAL PAUSE was a new one on me. Just as I’ve barely become accustomed to the expression “on the regular,” I had to figure out that the expression has been abbreviated to “on the REG. And I’d have to say GAUNT crossing the odious LOL NOPE was designed to be a Natick.
Nevertheless, I did FIR, and I found a lot of the verticals interesting and helpful. FIRE SIGN was the first one, a reminder that the radio comedy quartet FIRESIGN THEATRE had a Sagittarius member. I thought of ESSENCE magazine quickly, having known some people associated with it. ASPIRIN and SNICKERS were reassuring, and I sort of knew there’s a well-known MALL in King of Prussia. There were clever clues for MIRROR, PLIES, and LIAR (duper).
Other attempts at cleverness were less successful, but my biggest issue among the clues was the notion that “Hello, MARY LOU is a “classic” barbershop song. I’ve been barbershopping since I was 16. I didn’t have any problem imagining a barbershop arrangement of the song and I’m sure I could woodshed (improvise with a quartet) any of the top three parts, but I associate that song only with Ricky Nelson.
So, hand up for Hello, Ma Honey before MARY LOU. Even Phish has covered that one. In fact, I just learned that Phish’s rendition of Hello, Ma Baby is the most-heard barbershop rendition of all time.
I lost steam about midway. I got tired of having to look up names of people I didn’t know. If instead of names we had actual clues, then maybe we would have a chance at figuring out the super obscure ones.
MILLENNIAL PAUSE is a bizarre expression. It makes me wonder that’s the only generation that pauses. Everyone else jumps in with no thoughts?
There were a few clever clues as HG pointed out in his great review, but not enough to rescue this CW for me.
Tony Kushner who wrote ANGELS IN AMERICA is from Lake Charles, LA and I knew his talented family well, but the clueing of the title of his Pulitzer-winning play was needlessly even cruelly obscure.
Opened the newspaper to the puzzle and comics page. Saw Eric's name. Read the comics, and gave each clue about 15 seconds. Other than ERAS, UPCS, and IE for either FANNIE or SALLIE MAE, and RS without an E or O, the north was white. The south was different.
I filled everything From CONDO down and from MALL to the right. ANGELS and HAIR never made it. Then I went bike riding and got in my 10 miles before the rain started.
IMPETUS- My neighbor's daughter, who played almost 10 years in the WNBA, probably wishes she played in the Caitlin ERA. She calls herself a perrinneal sub who bounced around different teams, making as much money in China during the off season.
Smugness is definitely the correct term!
Agard doesn't do "enjoyable".
He fills his grid with inane, Gen Z, social-cred garbage
About a half hour in I only had 38% filled and was pretty stumped so I took a break, came back and managed to fill to 69% and thought about TITT, but that would be my worst showing in quite a while, and a Dee grade to boot. Took another break with the top quarter mostly white, came back and ultimately FIR w/out help in some time over an hour. Unknowns were the majority today. This was not an easy puzzle at all, a definite slog with only a few gimmes to work from, I can feel the dissatisfaction that some have with this one. Thanks Sarah and Erik for the challenge, but it took me a whole days worth of brain power.
NaomiZ ~ I remember a fairly recent photo of you, courtesy of AI, sporting a similar dress that constructor Sarah is wearing in her profile pic.
Wow. Tough CW. 15 names, DNK 14. I ended up cheating my way to a fill, using red-letter help, looking up names and multiple alpha runs, so must take a DNF, even though I did manage to fill all the cells eventually, in about an hour.
WEES about this CW: too many obscure names and iffy fill. I can appreciate a difficult CW if I at least have fun filling it, but this one was just a slog.
HG's write-up was by far the best part of today. Thanx HG. The CW was just FAR above my abilities.
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