Saturday Themeless by Rafael Musa
Rafa, a software engineer for Airbnb in San Francisco. is a frequent constructor and collaborator. I started out looking for an on ramp and found several in the west columns and before I knew it, the entire west side was done. From ther, I was able to get up to speed and his lovely puzzle was done. I'll comment on some of Rafa's more clever entries as I blog. Across
1. Bernardine Evaristo's "Girl, Woman, __": OTHER - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Published in 2019, exploring identity, race, class, sexuality, and the history of modern Britain across multiple generations.
6. Selfish kinds: HOGS.
10. "Get lost!": SCAT.
14. "Fingers crossed!": I HOPE SO TOO.
16. Not one __: IOTA.
17. Where classes proceed on a case-by-case basis: LAW SCHOOLS 😀
18. "Oh, fudge": RATS.
19. Strong showing from 2012 to 2022, for short?: SNL - 😀 Capitalizing strong as the first word of the clue did not give away that it was a name.
 |
| Cicely Strong |
20. Hole up: HIDEOUT.
22. Hissed admonishment: SHH.
23. Aired: RAN.
24. Southern brew: SWEET TEA.
26. Revenue metric: AD SALES - This ad, thought to be one of the best ever, announced the release of MacIntosh computers. It aired during the 1984 Super Bowl and generated huge initial sales. This entire 1984 ad
30. Matters of course?: MEALS 😀
31. Area most people can't stand to be in: CRAWL SPACE - Yeesh!
34. Handy accessory?: MITT 😀 - Early baseball players were considered to be "unmanly" if they wore a glove or mitt. Modern players now wear fielding, batting and sliding gloves.
37. Foofaraw: ADO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
38. Island west of Maui: LANAI.
39. "Smooth Operator" singer: SADE.
40. Ding, maybe: E-MAIL ALERT 😀
42. Exams that begin with a Chemical and Physical Foundations section, for short: MCATS - My grandson passed his with flying colors but his roommate failed twice.
44. Ends up behind: LOSES TO.
45. Fried Mexican dishes: CHALUPAS.
48. "Yellowstone" star Bentley: WES ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
49. Todos __ dÃas: every day, in Spanish: LOS - Hago el crucigrama todos LOS dÃas. (I work the crossword everyday.)
50. Rep who is also the parent of a child star, perhaps: MOMAGER - Rosalind Russell played one of the first ones in this wonderful movie.
52. __ Fridays: TGI.
55. Lincoln, e.g.: AUTO - Here's the Lincoln Lawyer in one. One story arc concerned a dead body found in the trunk of that Lincoln.
55. Lincoln, e.g.: AUTO - Here's the Lincoln Lawyer in one. One story arc concerned a dead body found in the trunk of that Lincoln.
57. Major annoyances: ROYAL PAINS.
59. Puerto Rico, por ejemplo: ISLA.
60. Defend aggressively: TRIPLE TEAM.
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| Steph Curry getting TRIPLE TEAMED |
62. Solidifies: SETS.
63. Creates a cozy home: NESTS.
Down:
1. Works in a museum: OILS - Our wonderful puzzle constructor Jeffrey Wechsler was an art curator who worked in a museum curating works therein.
2. Comparison word: THAN - A beautiful Peruvian folk melody with lyrics by Paul Simon. Enjoy!
3. React to a riot, maybe: HOWL - A great comedian can make you do this
4. Short releases: EPS - Elvis made several with four songs on each.
5. Pool areas?: REC HALLS 😀
6. Under the __: HOOD.
7. Missouri River people: OTOES.
8. Play dirty: GO LOW - There are penalties in football for blocking below the waist
9. "What are you gonna do about it?": SO SUE ME. 😀
10. Title for David Attenborough: SIR.
11. Areas affected by current events: COASTLINES.😀
12. Initially: AT THE START.
10. Title for David Attenborough: SIR.
11. Areas affected by current events: COASTLINES.😀
12. Initially: AT THE START.
13. Gospel singer Cobbs: TASHA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
15. Lights up: SHINES.
21. Top choice: TEE - Many of my tops are TEE shirts with the NASA meatball on them
23. Short end of the stick: RAW DEAL.
26. Panto units: ACTS - Panto is short for pantomime
27. Three-story abode in Barbie pink: DREAM HOUSE.
32. Statute mandating curb cuts, for short: ADA.
33. Feature of type 4 hair: COIL - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
38. Pocket-size pointer: LASER PEN - I used mine a lot in my "lectures"
40. Field for a competitive Valorant player: E-SPORTS.
41. Former mill town in the Boston metro area: LOWELL.
43. Belly: TUM.
45. Progressive request: CLAIM 😀
46. Subject for Elena Ferrante: AMORE - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ A pseudonym for an Italian author who prefers anonymity
47. "Stop beating around the bush!": SAY IT.
51. Concerns for some orthodontists: GAPS.
52. Connections: TIES.
53. Minor annoyance: GNAT.
54. Belief systems: ISMS.
56. __ latte: OAT.
Notes from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to CanadianEh!, one of our longtime blog family members. She's been with us since 2012. I hope your day is filled with fun, laughter, and all your favorite things. Thank you for the kindness, insight, and thoughtful contributions you've shared with us over the years!
I got it!
ReplyDeleteIt took quite a bit of time but eventually it all came together.
Was there a “mini-theme” of Mexican dishes? It seemed so.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
FIR, getting my SWAG @ LOWELL x WES. However, shoo->SCAT, tsk->SHH, manager->MOMAGER, gels->SETS, cheat->GO LOW, and anime->AMORE. Phew!
ReplyDeleteTGI Friday closed all the restaurants it owned, but it still supports franchise units.
If I'm not mistaken, I once saw a movie titled TRIPLE TEAM in an "art house" theater.
I'm pretty sure that I have type 0 hair.
I've heard of TUMmy and TUM TUM, bit never TUM (except for those antacids.)
Happy birthday to everyone's pal Canadian Eh! Always a delight to read your comments.
Thanks to Rafel for the Saturday puzzle that was so easy that even my dumb mass could solve it. My favorite was "Strong showing..." for SNL. And thanks to H.Gary for another Saturday special review. Hand up for using a LASER PEN while teaching classes.
Rafa constructed this one with appropriate difficulty for a Saturday. I liked the parallel "current events."
ReplyDeleteI didn't know what a "foofaraw" was, but in hindsight it sounds like what it means.
The male equivalent of a MOMAGER is a "dadager." I hope we never see that in a xword.
I had trouble parsing RECHALLS at first.
Thanks, HG, for your usual thorough review.
It must be birthday week. Happy Bday to CanadianEh!
FIR. I didn't have that much difficulty with today's presentation. Considering it's Saturday I expected it to be tougher.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few knotty areas but the perps were more than fair.
Overall an enjoyable puzzle.
Took 14:13 today to finish reading up on the current events.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know the gospel singer (Tasha), the book title (Other), the subject for someone (amore), the bandleader (Tito), or the Spanish word (los). Also took me a long time to parse "rechalls".
The obscure food of Saturday (musubi) was unknown to me, but "spam" appeared eventually.
Despite all the Spanish and the unknown names, an overall enjoyable puzzle.