Saturday, March 14, 2026, Erik Agard

Saturday Themeless by Erik Agard

Erik Agard (born 1993) is a crossword solver, constructor, and editor. He is the winner of the 2016 Lollapuzzoola Express Division, the 2018 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT), a frequent contributor to the New York Times crossword puzzle, a crossword constructor for The New Yorker, the former USA Today crossword editor, and a former Jeopardy!contestant. He is currently a crossword editor at Apple News+.

This was a very Agardian puzzle as Erik pulled a lot of rabbits out of his cluing hat. I acquired a very hard earned "got 'er done"!

Across:

1. Coagulate: CLOT.

5. Batter's boxful?: CAT TOYS - That's taking a lot of latitude with the noun batter!

12. Not giving anything away: MUM.

15. Rather blue: RACY - The old blue laws banned controversial items such as RACY ones.

16. Puzzle out: UNRAVEL - A skill all of us solvers need

17. One-on-one play in a five-on-five b-ball game: ISO - In the play diagrammed below, the red team has moved all but one player to the left side. They then get the ball to #2 to ISOlate him to make a play by himself.

18. Say too much?: OVERESTIMATE 

20. Actor Beatty: NED.

21. "They had our number": WE LOST.

22. Mani-pedi option: GEL.

23. April option: E-FILE - I E-FILED my tax returns and got my refunds a month ago

25. Mile High horses?: BRONCOS.

27. Jerk components: SPICES. 😀

28. Up-front stake: ANTE.

29. In descending order: MOST TO LEAST.

33. Hi-__: RES - We who have been around computers a long time remember the early Lo-RES games

34. Targets of biannual battery replacements: SMOKE ALARMS - It's recommended they be changed when we change from and to daylight savings.

35. Flash the Dolphin or Splash the Whale: BEANIE BABY.

 

36. High-flying Iñupiat tradition: BLANKET TOSS - Originally, this practice was used to boost scouts high enough to spot whale migrations or other game over sea ice.

38. Significant figure: VIP.

41. Jab in a one-two combo?: BOOSTER SHOT 😀 - Ya got me at first Erik, but I had a DOH! moment when I saw this had nothing to do with boxing.

42. Bona __: FIDE - Latin for "in good faith"

43. Releases, in a way: UNTIES 😀

44. Reduced: SMALLER - I enjoyed the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage where a four-person vessel was reduced to travel through the human body. 

46. "A Master of __": P. Djèlí Clark novel inspired by Islamic mythology: DJINN ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

47. Basis of some protein powders: PEA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  This is bona fide Saturday cluing for PEA

50. Unit left after a white flag in NASCAR: ONE LAP on any NASCAR 9. Like some tracks: OVAL

51. Scooby-__: DOO.

52. Structure that's built to scale: CLIMBING WALL - Gotta love this use of the word scale.

55. Head up: RUN - If you head up an organization, you can be said to RUN it

56. Box on a table: ELEMENT - The table of ELEMENTS

57. Mahjong piece: TILE.

58. Timeline divs.: YRS.

59. Starting point: SCRATCH 😀

60. Translucent chalcedony: ONYX - This is the stone I chose for my high school ring.

Down:

1. Source of leverage: CROWBAR.

2. Actress Cox: LAVERNE - Yeah, I thought of Courtney first

3. Animals with spots: OCELOTS.

4. Erykah Badu's signature song: TYRONE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5. Builds specially: CUSTOM MAKES.

6. Insect in the family Formicidae: ANT - Formica is the Latin word for ANT

7. Calc prerequisite: TRIG.

8. Get under control: TAME.

10. "However ... ": YET.

11. Places where days of rest are observed?: SLEEP LABS.

12. Device in a TV news van: MINICAM.

13. No help: USELESS.

14. "Don't be so __": MODEST - What we all say to C.C.!

19. Letters above a tilde: ESC.

24. Passionate: FIERY.

26. Later alternative: SOONER.

27. A few weeks out?: SO LAST MONTH 😀 Things can fall out of fashion in a hurry

30. Interludes on some hip-hop albums: SKITS - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ SKITS are short, often humorous or narrative-driven interludes on hip-hop albums that enhance thematic atmosphere, deepen storytelling and provide brief, conversational respites between songs. You're welcome.

31. Enforceability metaphor: TEETH - Talk's cheap, there needs to be some TEETH in the enforcement 

32. Social prohibitions: TABOOS.

34. "No." and others: SENTENCES - Wow!

35. Nevada's Great __ National Park: BASIN.

36. Cannes opener: BONJOUR 😀 I really liked this when it hit me!

37. Ash removers: LOTIONS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I had to look this one up after it filled. The ash is an ingredient in the LOTION used to remove blemishes not the substance being removed. 😳

38. Heavy: VILLAIN - Claude Akins came to my mind

39. If all goes well: IDEALLY.

40. Throw: PERPLEX - Erik has a real talent trying to throw solvers

41. "Why ask why?" beer: BUD DRY - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Only in production from 1990 to 2010 when it was losing money. It was brewed using a special fermentation method designed to let the yeast consume more sugars for a "drier" profile, rather than just watering it down. You're welcome.

42. Reached by air: FLEW TO - The Earth is not flat and the shortest distance between two points might take you in what seems to be an odd route on a flat map.

45. "Lust, Caution" director Lee: ANG ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

47. Docking station: PIER 😀

48. 1815 novel set in Highbury: EMMA - A first-edition of this novel that shares my granddaughter's name would run me about $1,700.

49. Support: ABET.

53. Business letters: LLC  and 54. Business letters: INC.