Saturday Themeless by Doug Peterson
Doug's puzzle provided a real challenge and the NW corner was my "last stand". I crossed the finish line unscathed once I sussed JACKETS for Book keepers which unlocked that corner. Most of Doug's puzzles I have blogged have been collaborations but his solo job here provided me with a lot of, uh, fun. I'll tell you about my travails as we plow through the puzzle.
1. Some park visitors: CAMPERS - These CAMPERS had a surprise visitor.
8. Book keepers: JACKETS - Since the clue was two separate words, I knew it wasn't about accounting.
15. Concierge's handout: AREA MAP.
16. Tragic character in the title of a 2025 Taylor Swift chart-topper: OPHELIA - Jeffrey Wechsler would be so proud! Taylor sang of a Shakespearean woman who was undone by grief and betrayal. How Taylor's new husband rescued her from Ophelia's fate.
17. Act sassy: GET CUTE.
18. Item under a weizen glass: BEER MAT ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ BEER MAT is another name for a coaster and a weiznen glass has a narrower base and curves upward.
 |
| Prost! |
19. Lowood attendee of literature: EYRE.
20. Brand with a paw in its logo: IAMS.
22. Celtic __: CROSS.
23. Animated bouncer: ROO.
24. Celebrity chef Cat: CORA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - Cat is capitalized.
25. Jet setting: SKY. 😀
26. Building worker: SUPER - Pat Harrington Jr. played the building SUPER on TV's One Day At A Time
28. Bipedal cryptid: YETI.
30. Entree often garnished with lime: PHO.
33. Hall of Fame wrestler who was a commentator for the first eight Wrestlemanias: GORILLA MONSOON.
37. Western wear with a clasp: BOLO TIE.
38. California city where "American Graffiti" was set: MODESTO - Producer George Lucas wanted to use his hometown of MODESTO to film the movie but felt it had changed too much since he lived there. Most of the scenes were shot in Petaluma, CA.
39. Freebie with an airline snack box: MOIST TOWELETTE.
41. Collections of letters: Abbr.: WDS 😀
42. Itsy: EENY.
43. Con's decoy: SHILL - One SHILL could be a false bidder in the audience used to drive up the price
45. Students who may take 14-Down: SRS and 14. Pre-coll. exams: SATS.
46. Hose problem: LEAK.
49. Menu eponym: TSO.
50. Look a lot like: MIMIC.
53. Ground substance: MEAL - Corn grain in and corn MEAL out.
54. Nibble away: GNAW.
55. Song heard at Rogers Centre: O CANADA - I am blogging this as I am watching the KC Royals play Toronto in The Rogers Centre
57. Leave: TIME OFF - Noun not a verb
59. Lego line that includes a 587-piece Eevee set: POKEMON - This Lego's line of toys includes this
59. Lego line that includes a 587-piece Eevee set: POKEMON - This Lego's line of toys includes this
60. Soda alternative: ICED TEA.
61. Traps under a blanket?: SNOWS IN 😀
62. Least chill: TENSEST.
Down:
1. Hoopsters: CAGERS - NBAERS didn't make the cut
2. "Need anything?": ARE YOU GOOD?
3. Comic book city nicknamed "The Big Apricot": METROPOLIS - Since NYC was the Big Apple, DC Comics decided on this name for METROPOLIS
4. Show impatience: PACE.
5. Shaggy outback runner: EMU.
6. Secant, for one: RATIO - This math major nailed it
7. Valkyrie's weapon: SPEAR.
8. Capers: JOBS - I wonder if Bonnie and Clyde ever used the word capers?
9. Dr. Zaius, for one: APE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ He even has his own doll
11. Washington who played a Pope: KERRY - I watched KERRY Washington play the lead character Olivia Pope on this ABC series.
12. Red Halloween costume for toddlers: ELMO.
13. Rosario relations: TIAS - Rosario is in Argentina and is known as the birthplace of soccer great Lionel Messi. Sr. Messi might have some TIAS (aunts) in his hometown.
21. Rudolph of "Loot": MAYA - A very funny alum of SNL
24. Motion-activated trail monitors: CRITTER CAMS - Smile!
25. Counter position: STOOL - The counter and STOOLS at Lou's Cafe in Back To The Future
27. Lovers' deity: EROS.
29. Supermodel born Melissa Miller: EMME - The first plus size super model
30. Tacky square: POST IT NOTE. 😀
31. Passport holders, perhaps: HOTEL SAFES.
32. "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" vocalist: ONO.
34. Miller offerings: LITES.
35. Spanish city or province: LEON - If you look closely, you can see the city of LEON in the NW province of Castille-Leon
36. Brother of Cain: SETH - What ever happened to Cain's other brother?
37. Company with a museum in Munich: BMW.
40. "The Pitt" star: WYLE.
44. Cottage cheese option: LOW FAT.
45. Tendon: SINEW.
47. 1984 "Weird Al" Yankovic hit: EAT IT - A parody of Michael Jackson's Beat It
How come you're always such a fussy young man?
Don't want no Captain Crunch, don't want no Raisin Bran
Well, don't you know that other kids are starving in Japan?
So, eat it, just eat it
48. __ + Olivia: clothing brand: ALICE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
50. Unruly dos: MOPS.
51. Billboard __ Award: ICON - Neil Diamond was the initial recipient
52. Chum of "Finding Nemo," for one: MAKO.
54. Pre-coll. exams: GEDS - Four years after getting their GED, 50% of recipients go to college.
56. "Heck yeah!": DOI.
58. Chaps: MEN.
I got it!
ReplyDeleteI don’t know “Gorilla Monsoon” from Adam, but good perps and a WAG or two got me that as well as everything else.
FIR, so I’m happy.
DNF. Filled 36 entries, 29 correctly. One of my errors was SNAG for the hose problem. Guess I'm thinking like Splynter.
ReplyDeleteAfter all the times I've filled in ELLE Magazine in crosswords they would let me read one crummy article about the Taylor Swift song without creating an account on their web site. But noooooooo. Oh well, if ignorance is bliss, I'm one happy man.
When I frequented Las Vegas casinos it was common to see solo women dressed to the nines and playing baccarat. They were nearly always SHILLs, or as the casinos called them, "house players." By law the casinos had to tell you if a SHILL was playing if you asked. They are there because many baccarat players didn't want to play one-on-one against the dealer, not that it made one bit of difference.
Thank you Doug and Husker Gary
ReplyDeleteTook longer (26:55) than normal because Doug set some great traps:
RACKETS before JACKETS (Bookies keep book and work for rackets)
MEAT before MEAL (both are ground)
LOWCAL before LOWFAT (both descriptors work)
KINK and SNAG before LEAK (any could be valid)
SKI before SKY (Jet ski because I had KERRi instead of KERRY)
Not a trap, but I also had POI before PHO. ONO quickly gave me PHO. Besides, who would put lime juice on poi?
Took extra time to overcome each of those.
My first thought at "Item under a weizen glass" was Bierdeckel. I collected them.
New to me is GORILLA MONSOON.
Everything else fell rather easily.
Great puzzle
FIR. I've never heard of Gorilla Monsoon, and crossing with Emme required a WAG on my part to get the win.
ReplyDeleteThere really seemed to be a lot of other proper names sprinkled throughout the puzzle. This upped the difficulty factor quite a bit.
Overall a so-so puzzle.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThe NE corner was my brick wall because I held on to Lockers too long until, finally, Ophelia led to Jackets which should have been obvious. Anyway, the puzzle was a Saturday challenge with some devious cluing and not so common fill, but I chipped away here and there and was rewarded with a well-earned and satisfying FIR. P and P won the contest but strategic perps were the deciding factor.
Thanks, Doug, and thanks, HG, for your guidance and the usual striking visuals.
Have a great day.
Typical Saturday for me. Read through the clues, and I could fill "Ono", and then decided I might as well do something useful, and I'm headed out for a bicycle ride. DNF (didn't even really get started).
ReplyDeletePretty much a typical Saturday for me. After about 30 minutes I had roughly 50% of the grid filled (some of it correctly!) before hitting the proverbial brick wall. I was coughing up blood by the time I finished, but I DID finish albeit with the help of red letters and a couple of alphabet runs. Despite the difficulty, I thought this was overall a well constructed and enjoyable Saturday puzzle.
ReplyDeleteFIR. Nice Saturday puzzle
ReplyDelete11:06. Pretty easy despite not knowing the wrestler. SE was last to fall. Overall good puzzle.
ReplyDeleteTypical Saturday alternating multiple empty sites with bursts of grouped answers. The last to go, the NE: only had the A for Taylor Swift’s heroine so tried OPHELIA (like Irish ☘️) and DOI! everything else fell in place
ReplyDeleteInkovers: Noah/WYLE, kink/LEAK, Elle/EMME, spy/APE
Know MAYA Rudolph but not from “Loot” GORILLA MONSOON? LOWOOD? ALICE + unknown as well as CORA who?
I was so sure the Weird Al song was “IM FAT” (the T fit for TENSEST) for most of the puzzle but refused to perp . “War is Over” was thinking a WWII era vocalist.
Liked “Traps under a blanket”
Fall is nipping the air, have a great weekend.
“This is the TENSEST I’ve ever felt,” said nobody ever.
ReplyDeleteObscurities galore coupled with some absurdly cutesie clues made for an unenjoyable 17 minute solve.
Took 13:43 today to get to Modesto.
ReplyDeleteThat ladies' names weren't kind today. I knew half of the Actresses of the Day (Maya, not Kerry), but not the so-called celebrity chef (Cora), "Alice", the model (Emme), the tragic figure (Ophelia), or who attended whatever "Lowood" is.
Thankfully, I remembered "Gorilla Monsoon" despite not having heard that name in decades.
The obscure Saturday food (pho) wasn't that obscure today, but the clue wasn't very helpful. Nor was the clue for "tias".
My best friends today were PERPS and WAGS! Fun puzzle!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I FIR on a Saturday, and today's the day. It took a lot of guessing, finishing in the NE at the CROSS of three unknowns- OPHELIA, APE, & KERRY.
ReplyDeleteI DNK as clued CORA Cat, GORILLA MONSOON, EMME, MAYA, MODESTO, MANN, WYLE, LEON, POKEMON, ICON, or ALICE but managed to finish in one sitting in under 30 minutes.
BEER MAT was an unknown term and Gary's photo looks like it could hold a pitcher. Or that's a shot glass of beer in the photo. DW and I always fold a paper napkin and put it under drinks if no coaster of napkin is provided. Keeps water off the table.
This puzzle was far too hard for me. I almost just quit because it just wasn't pleasant looking so many things up. But I kept on resolutely Googling until all the cells were filled, so I Finished It Wrong/Right/With Help.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm going to read all your comments.
I forgot to admit that my first guess for "lowood" was bassoon. Since that wouldn't fit, I plugged in (crossword favorite) oboe.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the city of Burgos in the Castille-LEON area of Gary's map of Spain reminded me that the famous orchestra conductor Rafael Frühbeck added "de Burgos" (because he was born there) to his name (changing it to Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos) so that people wouldn't think he was German (even though came from a family of German ancestry.)
ReplyDeleteI miss Misty.
ReplyDelete