Saturday Themeless by Emily Biegas
In my last puzzle by Emily I came up a few cells short and today it was one cell with the coffee crossing modern "dish the dirt" show. I had a hard time starting this puzzle but had fun once I left the starting block and then had to finish the NW. It was populated by clues and fills that were not in my vocab, so I had to get help on two cells to unlock that corner. I'll get over it. Does the picture suggest to you that Emily and I may have different life experiences? 😊
1. Many a Maximum Fun collaborator: PODCASTER ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
10. Signal to change a battery: CHIRP - Smoke detectors leapt to my mind. It would be a real chore to count all the batteries in this house and most just quit working when they need replacing.
15. Espresso variety: AMERICANO - I was so sure of some variation of ARABICA for too long
16. Norse pantheon: AESIR ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
17. Makes: GENERATES.
18. Buttoned-up sort: PRUDE.
19. Fashion designer Saab: ELIE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Here he is with some of his creations.
20. Noted law maker: NEWTON - I have taught NEWTON's Laws hundreds of times
22. "__ of Me": PJ Harvey album: RID ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - No idea on the artist or the song. I looked up some of her lyrics and they match the tenor of her picture.
23. Impetus: REASON.
25. Poivre partner: SEL.
27. WashU's city: STL - A 12-minute drive from The Gateway Arch
28. House Stark patriarch: NED - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ From Game Of Thrones
30. Fed action: RATE CUT.
32. Show stopper?: SERIES FINALE 😀 The most watched TV episode of all time - 106 million viewers.
34. "Measure twice, cut once," for one: MOTTO -
37. Sentimental one: SAP.
38. Golf course halves: NINES - The first NINE holes are called the front and the second NINE holes are called the back
39. Discount emporia: THRIFT STORES.
42. Look down upon: SCOFF AT.
43. Goss: TEA - Slang double header: Goss is short for gossip and "stir the TEA" means share the goss.
44. UFC style: MMA - Mixed Martial Arts. Not a fan.
47. Feature of an ungulate: HOOF.
48. Title choice on some forms: MRS - On the old What's My Line show, John Daly's first question of a female contestant was her marital status. Uh, that would not fly today.
50. Contests: ARGUES.
52. Fender Deluxe Reverb, e.g.: AMP - Fender says guitar and Reverb says AMP.
53. "Help me out, would ya?": BE A PAL.
55. WNBA positions: Abbr.: CTRS - The best of the new NBA CTRS is 7' 4" Frenchman Victor Wembanyama .
56. Take care of: SEE TO.
58. Joint tissue: CARTILAGE.
60. Shinto shrine entrance: TORII - The TORII Gate in Omaha's Lauritsen Gardens was a gift from Omaha's sister city Shizuoka, Japan.
61. Race unit: KILOMETER - My granddaughter regularly runs 5K and 10K races
62. First name in landscape photography: ANSEL.
63. Drag event?: SNOREFEST.
Down:
1. Motorola devices: PAGERS - Many hospitals still use them. They are great for professional purposes, almost never get spam calls and can get service where cell phones can be blocked.
2. Tamagoyaki, e.g.: OMELET ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
4. Grand Council of the __: political body in Canada: CREES
5. Cause of inflation: AIR 😀
6. Security line machine: SCANNER.
7. The Village Voice critic Greg who was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 2024: TATE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Uber obscure to this solver
6. Security line machine: SCANNER.
7. The Village Voice critic Greg who was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 2024: TATE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Uber obscure to this solver
8. TMZ alternative: E-NEWS.
9. Athletic position?: ROSTER SPOT - Here is a list of 87 players trying to make a ROSTER SPOT on the 2026 KC Chiefs 53-man squad.
10. Skipper, for short: CAP'N.
11. "That girl?": HER.
12. "Consider it done!": I SURE CAN - My reply when C.C. asked me if I could blog the Saturday puzzle about ten years ago.
13. Lampoon: RIDICULE.
14. Antecedes: PREDATES - Precedes was a decent first guess
21. "Frozen" character who sings "In Summer": OLAF - Naive OLAF sings this ironic song
24. Ad hoc: ONE OFF - Several TV characters were intended to be ONE-OFFs, only appear once and then leave the cast. Some made such a lasting impression they became regulars. Examples: Frasier Crane, Saul Goodman, Max Klinger, Gomer Pyle, et al. Others?
26. "Train Dreams" writer Johnson: DENIS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
29. Fighting words?: DISS TRACKS - DISS has become a familiar fill and here it serves to describe musical answers to artists who felt they were "disrespected'.
31. Lack of sensitivity: TIN EAR - Oho, that's not what you meant...
32. Shortchange: STIFF - I would never STIFF a server because of a bad meal
33. "I could __": EAT.
34. Stratovolcano in NorCal: MT SHASTA.
35. "Gimme a break": OH COME ON.
36. Highway enforcers: TROOPERS - A truly thankless job
40. Mild: TAME.
41. Many a "Selling Sunset" cast member: REALTOR. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
44. Re-strain?: MUTATE 😀 Kind of a stretch?
45. Picks a lane?: MERGES.
46. Declare: ASSERT.
49. Valencia's country: SPAIN.
51. Sign of treble?: G CLEF - Named for the second note on the staff. The stylized "G" wraps around that second line
54. "Alligator Boy" in a 2021 Netflix animated film: ARLO. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
57. Runoff cause, perhaps: TIE - It wasn't an actual TIE but no one got more than 50% of the vote.
59. "__ Mine": George Harrison book: I ME - Song video and book cover:
I thought this puzzle
ReplyDeletewas fair, for the most part.
However, when I felt stymied in the northwest, I “accidentally” turned on the red letters, so I can’t say I finished without help, but I did finish it. See ya!
Started slow, swam around in the NW for a while at the end but FIR.
ReplyDeleteNice, tough Saturday
New here. Any idea how to turn off the automatic checking feature? When I enter a letter into the last open square, it immediately tells me I screwed up somewhere. But the teacher isn't supposed to snatch your test until you've looked it over, right? (I get that I can wait to hit the last letter, but sometimes I don't notice because I jump around.)
ReplyDeleteWhat site are you using to play the puzzle?
Deletelatimes.com
DeleteDNF. As in real life, I did fine in the South, filling everything correctly from SEREIES FINALE on down. But when I ventured up North I struggled, only able to answer 16 - and only 12 right.
ReplyDeleteI wanted "noted law maker" to be "Murphy."
The final episode of M*A*S*H may have been most watched, but the absolute best was the SERIES FINALE of Newhart, where Suzanne Pleshette was the surprise guest star and the whole series was revealed to have been only a Bob Hartley dream. Don't argue with me on this one - my mind is like concrete - all mixed up and set.
I didn't like "golf course halves" for NINES. Many courses have three NINES, so they can maximize the number of rounds while giving each NINE a day off every third day. And, of course, there are tons of NINE hole golf courses. Better clue would have been "dressed to the _______."
This one had way too much A&E for my tastes. But I did enjoy H.Gary's narrative.
Thank you, Emily and Husker Gary
ReplyDeleteOne wrong cell and no help needed, but it took 30:11. A number of answers took time to work out.
I originally had CAPPUCINO where AMERICANO was needed. Never had either. Coffee is fine, thank you.
When I finally broke that logjam in the NW, all of the answers there flowed. A rush of AHA moments. I simply had no logical reason to change the CINO part to CANO.
In retrospect, I know more people named TATE (about a half dozen), than I know named TITE (zero). Well that, and AMERICANO is certainly heard more often than AMERICINO in other contexts. You know, as in a Mexacali friend calling a person an Americano...
Oh well.
I never enjoy a Saturday (and there are many) when the LAT is too lazy to find a constructor talented enough to give us a witty, creative crossword puzzle and instead bludgeons us with trivia and loads up the grid with question marked clues so they can feel good about themselves because they published a “difficult” puzzle on a Saturday.
ReplyDeleteThis one was like walking around in an unfamiliar room blindfolded. No matter which way you turn you are going to bump into something painful or nonsensical like TAMAGOYAKI, UNGULATE, TORII, AESIR, et c. Oh well, enough said. You can probably tell that I didn’t like it.