Saturday, November 14, 2026, Kareem Ayas and Brian Callahan

Saturday Themeless by Kareem Ayas and Brian Callahan

 

Kareem and his Siberian
Husky Kane

Kareem and Brian provided a lovely 18-minute walk in the park for me. It seemed I was on their wavelength all through the puzzle. The entire east filled and then I started up the west coast where the stack of 9's gave way for a nicely earned "got 'er done". Pinwheel stacks of 9's and 10's are always impressive and provide great help even with clever cluing.

Brian

Across:

1. Imitation game?: SIMON SAYS - A professional game (5:37)

10. Razzie Award adjective: WORST.

15. The masses: HOI POLLOI - How (the) POLLI (many)

16. Japanese breed: AKITA.

17. Mark's words: IT'S A SETUP - Mark is capitalized because it is the first word in the sentence but the word is really referring to dupe or mark who is being cheated.

George is a 
natural mark

18. Doesn't go deep: WADES.

19. Touch lightly: PAT.

20. Surface Pro rival: I PAD - The Surface Pro is big on NFL sidelines

 

21. Watch in astonishment: GAPE AT.

22. Place for drawing lots?: ART ROOM - Also useful for lots of drawings 😀

24. Tropical spot: ISLE - The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert ISLE
With Gilligan, the Skipper too... C'mon you know the lyrics.

25. Queen of the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy: PADME ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

28. Chinese coin: YUAN - In China, a Big Mac Combo Meal costs ¥35 CNY

30. Tarboosh, e.g.: HAT - More commonly known as a fez ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

31. Emerged: AROSE - From a poem that we will be hearing soon: Out on the lawn there AROSE such a clatter...

32. __ voce: SOTTO - I don't speak or sing softly

33. Make like: APE.

34. Part of many a Shaggy dog story, casually: SCOOB.

35. Calendar col.: TUE.

36. Hankook products: TIRES.

38. Sailor: TAR.

39. Eggy?: OVOID.

41. Do a virtual game night, say: E MEET - Anything electronic can use an "E" out front.

42. Big name in payroll processing: ADP.

43. Tab: BILL.

44. Whole to-dos?: TASKS.

45. Sniff out: SEEK.

47. Brimless topper: PILL BOX - Jackie's famous hat from that fateful day in 1963

The pink Chanel knock-off suit Jacqueline Kennedy wore on that historic day in Dallas in 1963 currently resides in an environmentally controlled storage facility in Maryland, complete with its blood stains. Banned from public display until 2103, the outfit is missing one important element - the matching pillbox hat. Mrs. Kennedy removed the hat at Parkland Hospital and it was last seen in the hands of Mary Gallagher, her personal secretary, but in the melee of the day, Gallagher nor anyone else recalls what happened to it after that.

50. Nods, maybe: AGREES.

52. __ ex machina: DEUS - A Latin phrase meaning "god from the machine: " referring to a plot device where an unsolvable storyline problem is abruptly solved by an unexpected, unlikely person, event, or object. 

53. Inflation no.: PSI - Tire pressure unit

56. Shone a light on?: LASED - The Moon gets LASED everyday from Earth. The beams bounce off reflectors left by Apollo astronauts and return to Earth. The round trip takes about 2.5 seconds and give the distance to the Moon down to a millimeter or about the thickness of a dime.

57. Screen name?: MOVIE STAR.

59. In the midst of: AMONG.

60. Cocktail party fare?: SMALL TALK.

61. Like osmium: DENSE.

 

62. Events such as crossword tournaments, endearingly: NERD FESTS - A lot of these participants are not even close to being NERDS

Down:

1. Root for romantically, in slang: SHIP - Another example of the modern convention of removing a syllable from a word: relationSHIP

2. Character in "Antigone"?: IOTA - There is no character named IOTA in the play but the word Antigone does have the letter/character IOTA in it.

3. Output from some handheld fans: MIST.

4. Vater of Vater, informally: OPA - In German, the father (Vater) of your father (Vater) can be affectionately called your grandfather (OPA).

5. Folksy denial: NO SIREE BOB.

6. Enjoyed a night out?: SLEPT 😀

7. Rite place: ALTAR.

8. "Let's just not get in each other's way": YOU DO YOU I'LL DO ME.

9. Savor, say: SIP.

10. East Coast market chain: WAWA.

11. Endangered mammal in Congolese rainforests: OKAPI.

12. Pool parties?: RIDE SHARES - I have SHARED RIDES in several carpools 

13. Eye on the sly: STEAL A PEEK.

14. Trying times?: TASTE TESTS.

21. Exam for a future financier, for short: GMAT.

22. Indignant response: AM SO.

23. Unmasked: OUTED - Not a good thing when someone does not wish to be OUTED

25. Bow ties that are not out of place at a picnic: PASTA SALAD 😀 My DW makes a great SALAD using bow tie PASTA.

26. Asteroids, for one: ARCADE GAME - These games saw a lot of quarters in their day.

27. Entry level position?: DOOR PERSON 😀 - Jerry's real life friend Larry Miller played a DOORMAN who gets into a confrontation with Jerry in Seinfeld 

29. "Dear future me ... ": NOTE TO SELF.

32. Skyy alternative: STOLI - Among others

37. "Oppenheimer" format: IMAX.

40. Big deals: VIPS - Some "VIPS "are not as big of a deal as they think

46. Some rugged water shoes: KEENS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

48. "Trivial Pursuit" host Burton: LEVAR.

49. Play with Lincoln Logs, say: BUILD - As kids, we got these and Tinker Toys because we could not afford an Erector set.

51. Advantage: EDGE.

53. Fundraising gps.: PTAS.

54. Sailor: SALT.

55. Gets hot: IRKS.

57. Web portal with a butterfly logo: MSN.

58. Office building div.: STE.