Saturday Themeless by August Miller
Our physics student turned farmer from Massachusetts returns. As usual, I'll point out some of his trickery but the key to the whole puzzle was his long fills, particularly the stack of three grid spannersAs you can see below, August had a lot of unique fills which earned him a "freshness factor" of 96%,
1. "__ Supreme": MARTY ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The movie Marty I knew started Ernest Borgnine.
6. Hebrew name that means "who is like God": MICAH ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
11. Folks who are often recognized: CELEBS.
12. One who is recognized: HONOREE.
14. Like many John Cage compositions: ATONAL - If you'd really like to hear 2:22 of one of his compositions
15. Piece of crude machinery: OIL DRILL. 😀
16. Less ridiculous: SANER.
17. Drambuie cocktail: RUSTY NAIL - Two ingredients - Scotch Whiskey and Drambuie Liqueur. I don't think I could drink and blog!
18. Whole lot: SLEW.
19. Caresses: PETS.
20. Plum kin: SLOE.
21. Pretend: ACT.
22. Spanish dairy animal: VACA - From VACA to VACCINE
19. Caresses: PETS.
20. Plum kin: SLOE.
21. Pretend: ACT.
22. Spanish dairy animal: VACA - From VACA to VACCINE
23. Journalist Cabrera: ANA.
25. Smart, in a way: VOICE CONTROLLED - It helps when my fat fingers can't get the job done.
31. Ankylosaurus, for one: ARMORED DINOSAUR.
32. "That's not so outrageous": SEEMS REASONABLE.
33. "Au revoir, __ amis": MES - Even I can see it that this is French for "Goodbye my friends"
33. "Au revoir, __ amis": MES - Even I can see it that this is French for "Goodbye my friends"
34. Farm unit that may be round or square: BALE - The old square (really rectangular) were very labor intensive and involved made for a hot, unpleasant job. The new modern round balers are a one man operation.
35. Sigur __: ethereal Icelandic band: ROS - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
36. Zoë of "The Afterparty": CHAO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
39. Need for some pan sauces: FOND - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The word FOND is a French term that refers to the browned bits of food in a pan after food has been sautéed or roasted.
40. Grand piano trio: LEGS 😀
41. Starts to look really cold: TURNS BLUE.
44. Hasbro toy that tests reaction speed: BOP IT.
45. Looping: ON REPEAT.
46. Traditional Chinese dumplings: JIAOZI - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
47. Giving nightmares, maybe: SCARING.
48. Spotless?: AD FREE 😀
49. "Be more here" hotel chain: HYATT.
50. Licks: BESTS.
Down:
1. Hybrid genre: METAL CORE - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ A combination of heavy metal and hard core punk.
2. Chance to recharge one's social battery: ALONE TIME - I love mine!
3. Commit to another year, say: RENEW.
4. Lift option: T-BAR.
5. Couture initials: YSL.
6. Drop down?: MOLT 😀 - Down is a noun: When a bird MOLTS, it drops down!
7. Fedora-sporting hero, familiarly: INDY - Ah yes, back when a movie actually made me want to go to the theater. The streaming services I already pay for want $3.99 more to see this many other entertaining movies.
8. Mix with kernels: CORN SALSA.
9. No-frills type: ARIAL - Our regular font. Arial font.
10. Trope starter: HELIO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Turns out it is not a tired plot device but is a flower. We astronomy buffs know of another HELIO word
11. Plants used to make tapioca: CASSAVAS.
12. Sibilant warning: HISS - That snake doesn't have to warn me twice!
13. Vogue rival: ELLE.
15. Not home: OUT AND ABOUT.
17. Deal with bugs, say: RECODE 😀
19. Some harness horses: PACERS.
22. Frost bit?: VERSE.
23. "Frog and Toad" series writer Lobel: ARNOLD.
24. "... said __ ever": NO ONE.
26. Modern dating phrase: COMMON ERA.
27. Herbal infusion: TISANE - Colonel Hastings did not care for Poirot's TISANE
28. Solution pages?: LAB REPORT 😀
29. Shares passing thoughts?: EULOGIZES.
30. Ascot alternative: DRESS TIE.
36. Some A.I. execs: CTOS - Chief Technical Officer
37. Suspicion: HUNCH.
38. Assortment: ARRAY.
39. Icon in a World Cup score: FLAG.
40. Doesn't work: LOAFS.
42. One taking turns cooking?: SPIT 😀
43. Kinked: BENT - The "water fountain" of my misspent yute.
44. __ one's time: BIDE.
46. Vaccination, to a Brit: JAB - Prime Minister Boris Johnson gets a JAB
Usually, the Saturday
ReplyDeletecrossword is almost ridiculously hard, and is much like a “cryptic” crossword, if you’re familiar with that British variant.
But I got it today!
And it didn’t seem as “bad” as usual.
The only thing that really gave me trouble was those “Chinese dumplings” but I got through it, finally.
FIR, so I’m happy.