Themeless Saturday by Tom Pepper
In this picture you can see Tom's wife Terri, Boomer, Tom and C.C. C.C. told me that Tom could probably beat me at golf, which really wouldn't be all that hard. 😀
I am very grateful that Tom was nice enough to include a very informative note about his construction of this puzzle:
Hi Gary,
Nice to hear from you again! I don't always start themeless puzzles with a specific grid pattern, but I did with this one. It was a grid shape that Rex Parker had said he liked in someone else's puzzle because it was conducive to that whoosh-whoosh feeling you get when a couple gettable long entries lead to gettable long crosses. So when I made this puzzle, I placed the four longest entries (13s and 14s) in first, and filled around them. From the start, I had hoped to get both GRAMMAR POLICE and ROOKIE MISTAKE into the puzzle, and it worked out.
When the puzzle was accepted, the editors let me know they were going to make a couple small changes to improve the short fill in the middle section of the puzzle. They even wrote the new clues for me!
Take care,
Tom
Across:
1. Item dropped in the drink: STRAW 😀
6. Chiromancer's target: PALM - Yes, chiromancer is another name for a palm reader.
10. Overwhelm: SLAM - I once SLAMMED a cafe with two buses with 60 kids. We sponsors took orders, served the food, took the money and bussed the tables for them. It turned out great and they were so grateful.
14. Hair extension: WEAVE.
15. Cookies and cream treat: OREO SHAKE.
17. Baseball's all-time RBI leader: AARON.
18. Rescuers on the run?: SKI PATROL 😀
19. Bases for busts: PLINTHS - A PLINTH is a stand or base that can hold a bust. You've got a few miles on your tires if you remember this bust of Voltaire in the office of 50's/60's Perry Mason TV show. You've got a heck of a memory if you remember his secretary Della Street played by the lovely Barbara Hale.
21. Not accidental: MEANT - The hear kids today use the phrase "on accident" instead of "by accident". Did that happen at the same time "could care less" replaced "couldn't care less"?
22. Oft-redacted fig.: SSN.
23. Many an adoptee: HOUSE PET - I can't go into an animal shelter. I'd want to take all of them home.
27. Ones correcting they're gaffes, perhaps?: GRAMMAR POLICE - My favorite clue/fill. This was so clever because the clue had the grammatical gaffe of they're instead of their.
32. French "deadly": FATALE - Mata Hari is said to be the most famous Femme FATALE (deadly woman) of all time.
34. Christmas song: NOEL.
35. "Pass": NAH.
36. Tough to form a bond with: ALOOF - This science guy first thought of INERT
37. Media that led to record losses: CDS.
38. "What she said": DITTO.
40. WoW, for one: RPG - My last fill. This "R" was nearly a natick with FARR crossing RPG but Role Playing Game made sense to me and so I earned a "got 'er done".
41. Visit a souk: SHOP - Souks are common to North Africa. This is one is in Morocco.
43. Steer clear of: ESCHEW.
44. Product of green energy?: ROOKIE MISTAKE 😀 - It can be said that a ROOKIE can be green and apt to make a MISTAKE. My first blogs had them but C.C. was encouraging.
47. Relatively helpful business practice?: NEPOTISM 😀 If your relative is hiring, "it couldn't hurt!"
48. Hip-hop figures: MCS.
51. Groundwork: BASIS.
54. Neighborhood blot: EYESORE.
56. Open: ALL-COMERS - Technically anyone can try but...
60. "Enough's enough": OK NOW.
61. "Truth!": YOU KNOW IT.
62. "Gigi" composer: LOEWE - Can you find him on the poster?
63. Chocolate brand owned by Berkshire Hathaway: SEES - A favorite confection of Warren Buffet
64. Ginormous: MEGA.
65. Samsung appliance: DRYER - You'll have to look close to see the manufacturer
Down:
1. Pulls a switch: SWAPS.
2. Birds for whom a color is named: TEALS.
3. More than ready: RARING TO GO.
4. Bath water: AVON - I learned AVON is a word meaning river in the U.K. Here is the city of Bath on AVON in England.
5. Split evenly, informally: WENT HALFSIES ON - WENT FIFTY FIFTY fit very nicely also
6. Play __: POSSUM.
7. Ararat lander: ARK - Could this shape on Mt. Ararat be the resting place of Noah's ARK?
8. Island ring: LEI.
9. Messy locks: MOP.
10. "Yentl" setting: SHTETL - A SHTETL is a Yiddish word meaning "little town" that refers to small market towns in pre–World War II Eastern Europe with a large, Yiddish-speaking Jewish population.
11. Spencer of "Good Morning America": LARA.
12. "Don't Matter" singer: AKON ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
13. Move to another state?: MELT 😀 Very amusing for this physics teacher who is also a fan of classic movies.
16. "Nothing new under the sun": SAME OLD SAME OLD.
20. Heart's location?: HOME 😊
24. Long jumper's destination: SAND PIT - Bob Beamon shocked the world in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics by beating the old record by almost two feet!
25. Olympic archer?: EROS.
26. Safety gear for ER workers: PPE - We all got familiar with Personal Protection Equipment during covid
28. "The White Tiger" actor Rajkummar: RAO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
29. On easy street: IN THE MONEY.
30. Sandra's "Ocean's 8" co-star: CATE.
31. DIY help site: EHOW.
32. "Fire Country" actress Diane: FARR ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
33. Chewy brand: ALPO - Our kitty Lily gets her food from Chewy.com
37. Lombardy birthplace of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger: COMO - Looks like a nice place for the Pliny's
39. "Ugh!": ICK.
42. Not square: HEP.
43. Spot for unique gifts: ETSY.
45. Mike Brown's NBA team: KNICKS.
49. "Almost Famous" director: CROWE.
50. Underground government operation?: SEWER.
51. Reddish-brown horses: BAYS.
52. Toner additive: ALOE.
53. Turn on an axis: SLUE 😀
55. Toffee bar: SKOR.
57. Certain parent: MOM and 58. 57-Down in a meadow: EWE.
59. Semi: RIG.
I ended up turning on
ReplyDeletethe red letters, and found out it wasn’t Diane LADD, it was Diane FARR.
Once that was corrected, the rest of the puzzle pretty much fell into place.
But I can’t say FIR. The most I can say is FWH.
DNF. Filled 52, 44 correctly. I had Diane Lane; the only FARR I know is Klinger.
ReplyDeleteI had HiP. I blame Huey Lewis and his HiP to be square.
Just before deciding to TIIT, I threw a hail Mary at OREO S___E and filled SconE. It actually sounds pretty good now that I think about it.
Congrats to those who FIRed this one, and to Tom for the solo stumper. And thanks to H.Gary for explaining it all. BTW - I have considered volunteering at my local SPCA now that my caregiver duties are over. But I'm concerned that I might end up with more pets in my house than they have at the shelter.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw Tom Pepper's byline I decided to give this one a whirl. Glad I did. The west stayed mostly white, so I went elsewhere and circled back. The problem was my GOES HALVSIES ON/WENT HALFSIES ON, not knowing what RPG meant, and IAMS instead of ALPO. When PanAm lost my luggage, I had to visit the SOUK in Sharjah to shop for underwear. There wasn't much to pick from -- folks in that part of the world don't wear any. I wound up buying some bright colored French designer shorts. Thanx for the amusement, Tom, and for the expo, Husker. (I remember Della Street, but that picture of Voltaire was a bust.)
Squeaked a FIR on this one after my first pass produced two fills. This took some work and a good night's sleep
ReplyDeleteWelp, if the purpose of this puzzle was to remind me of what a dunce I am, it succeeded mightily. Right from the point that I typed in “Olive” for one across…But that’s okay. Last night my wife and I watched “The Queen of Outer Space” the 1959 film starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, which was a hoot. And, my beloved Atlanta Braves are moving on in the post season to the delight of my dog Chipper. All is good.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing your favorite oldie is Crazy Train, Chipper's at bat tune.
DeleteYep. Definitely.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this solve. Immensely. After a full week of LAT puzzles that were way too easy, it was nice to get a puzzle that took some thought. I had to pay attention to detail solve it.
ReplyDeleteAKON is the singer. iKON is the South Korean band. SLiM didn't make sense for "Overwhelm" but SLAM did. And, singer vs band confirmed it.
Spin was my initial fill for "Turn on an axis." But that would have left ALpCOMERS, YO I KNOW IT amd SEpS. They were clearly wrong. ALL and YOU led to the obvious SEES and the D'oh! reaction. I thought it was great misdirection on "Turn on an axis" with the apparent spin evolving into SLUE.
"Rescuers on the run" and "Product of green energy" were my favorite clues, followed closely by "Ones correcting they're gaffes, perhaps?" and "Relatively helpful business practice." The key words in those were run, green, they're gaffes, and relatively. Superb cluing.
Excellent puzzle, Tom. Thanks for the review, HG.
Meandering along... Old song lyrics. It took awhile to remember the name of the song:
"I bet my money on a bob-tailed nag
Somebody bet on the bay"
Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races," right?
DeleteI agree on "they're gaffes." Brilliant clue. First time "they're" served as an adjective!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteAfter the first pass through the entire grid, I had very few squares filled in and a sinking feeling that I’d never complete this puzzle. However, through P and P and sheer stubbornness, I finished w/o help and with much enjoyment and satisfaction. The cluing was clever and nuanced and the fill was not only fresh but energetic. The solve reminded me of the good old days when we were challenged but rewarded by such authors like Barry Silk.
Thanks, Tom, for the solve and the memories it evoked and thanks, HG, for the excellent review and for highlighting Tom’s special friendship with CC. Also enjoyed reading Tom’s perspective on this offering.
Have a great day.
DNF. The NE did me in. And I felt so good after throwing down "same old, same old". But all the likely perps in that corner eluded me. Slam did not occur to me, and all the down clues left me blank.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the puzzle went incredibly smoothly and for a while I really thought I was going to get the win. But alas, no.
Overall a so-so puzzle.
It was good to see Tom Pepper as the author, it made me work at it longer, much longer...
ReplyDeleteSomeday I hope to get better at these Saturday Stumpers, but right now it would take me a week to achieve an FIR.
Curiously, your opening photo did not appear on my IPad when I first opened the Blog. It was all writing side to side. I was going to ask for a copy, but the photo appeared after I reloaded to see the comments. Very curious...
Anywho, it was great fun to see the answers that stumped me, every one was an aha moment...
I WAGged and erased my way through this puzzle. I WAGged some of the names I didn’t know like LARA, AKON, (well, that one was perps), RAO, and CATE.
ReplyDeleteMETRO _> SEWER, mortel _> FATALE, hip_>HEP. Now, I still DNF because I kept MoLT and could come up with SHAKE crossing SHTETL. But make no MISTAKE, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. I thought the theme answers were quite clever.
Thank you HG for the review and the nostalgic photo.
That should be could NOT come up.
ReplyDeleteFWH as usual for Saturday for me. I typically do a pass and circle things I simply do not know. I had 12 here. Tough one but fun. I liked "rookie mistake" and "ski patrol" fills, clever.
ReplyDeleteTom hit the sweet spot for a Saturday: clever clues + fair crosses = tough but doable.
ReplyDeleteThanks for covering all the bases, HG.
Took 17:37 today for me to get from here to they're.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know one of the Actress of the Day (Farr; knew Cate) or the Actor of the Day (Rao), but I knew the director (Crowe). I didn't know the composer (Loewe), the French (fatale), the Italian (Como), "shtetl," or "slue."