Saturday, February 1, 2025, Adrian Johnson, Will Nediger

 Saturday February 1, 2025 by Adrian Johnson & Will Nediger 

Adrian

Will

I had a nice 14-minute trip through Adrian and Will's puzzle. I wrote to Adrian about this puzzle he co-authored with Will and this was his gracious reply.

Hi Gary,

Great to hear from you. Will and I are good friends that have collaborated a few times on puzzles, most recently co-organizing a charity pack to support humanitarian relief efforts in Palestine (https://www.puzzlesforpalestine.com/) that we hope you’ll check out. Some wildly creative work from the best people in the business, 22 puzzles and no minimum donation—whatever you can spare to support rebuilding and humanitarian efforts.

This puzzle was a stunt of sorts to see how many 12-letter entries we could fix into a 15x grid. I sent Will the layout last year, he helped lock much of the center into place, I polished off the corners, and we were off! Thanks as always for the work you do.

Cheers,

Adrian

Across:

1. Attach: TIE ON.

6. Pickle: SCRAPE - Origin of the phrase

12. "You're getting ahead of yourself": DON'T BE SO HASTY.

14. "I'll meet you halfway": LET'S COMPROMISE.

15. Vaudeville singer Smith: MAMIE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

16. __ bran: OAT - Love this variety

17. Break stuff?: ADS 😀

18. Like: AKIN TO.

20. Car mirror's view: REAR - Not what you want to see

23. "__ Masters": reality show with building contests: LEGO.

24. When all's been said and done, to a Brit: AFTERWARDS.

30. Gifts that might be made with kukui: LEIS - A LEI made with Ti leaves and kukui nuts

31. Udder part: TEAT.

32. Joplin's "Treemonisha," e.g.: OPERA.

33. Zig instead of zag, perhaps: ERR.

34. Newspaper that covers Congress: THE HILL.

36. __ canto: BEL - Bel canto, Italian for beautiful singing is both a style of singing and a style of opera. 

37. "Julia" star Swinton: TILDA.

39. TV explorer Márquez: DORA The Explorer

40. School house, informally?: FRAT 😀

41. One might be on a roll: SESAME SEED - Yes, I'm embarrassed I can still sing this song from memory!

43. Freddie portrayer in "Bohemian Rhapsody": RAMI.

RAMI                                Freddie

44. Audition dismissal: NEXT.

45. Basil who designed England's Coventry Cathedral: SPENCE.

 

47. "That's the spot": AAH.

50. Question for a magician: HOW.

52. Planet-mapping tool: RADAR - An artist's concept of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mapping the red planet.

53. Highly stressful situation: PRESSURE COOKER - If they pay you millions...

58. "You've been up too long": IT'S TIME FOR BED.

59. Promise: ASSURE.

60. Coarse cloth: TWEED - I'll bet you know who this prof in a TWEED coat is. (* answer at bottom.)

Down:

1. Big name in pizza rolls: TOTINOS.

2. Like some jewels: INSET

3. "There's more," briefly: ETC.

4. Letters with a negotiable price: OBO - Or Best Offer - A cool name for a thrift shop in Spokane, Wa 

5. Nautilus captain: NEMO - James Mason played the good captain in this Disney movie. BTW, 20,000 leagues is approximately 60,000 miles. Jules Vernes' book referred to how far the Nautilus travelled while under the sea not how deep the sea was. You're welcome.

6. Recycling-plant worker: SORTER.

7. Margaret of "Fire Island": CHO.

8. Zodiac mammal: RAM.

9. Home of most of Turkey: ASIA.

10. Condition that may be treated with EMDR therapy: PTSD - A very interesting 3-minute video about Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reoricessubg therapy for treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

11. Socket sets: EYES 😀

12. People who partially identify as female: DEMIGIRLS.

13. Blowout remedy: SPARE TIRE - Where it was in my Uncle Virgil's pickup

14. Endpoint of the Detroit River: LAKE ERIE - I was pleased to learn that Lake Huron flows into a Lake St. Claire and then the Detroit River takes that water down to LAKE ERIE.

15. Marimba strikers: MALLETS - Lionel Hampton used those MALLETS on xylophones, vibraphones and marimbas.

19. Promise: OATH.

21. Rotten to the Corps, perhaps: AWOL 😀

22. Genre for Flo Milli and Flau'jae: RAP - Not familiar with either of them but RAP made sense

25. Business offering stock options?: FEED STORE.

26. Sugar Bowl home: TAHOE - Yeah, I tried every variation for New Orleans I could but...

27. Handled better?: REBRANDED.

28. Ideal wheels: DREAM CAR - I'll take a '57 red and white Vette convertible! 

29. More coarse, in a way: SALTIER not 34. Not at all ferocious: TAME.

35. Boyos: LADS - A Welsh term

38. Dojo level: DAN.

40. Flipped out: FREAKED.

42. Dig up: EXHUME.

46. Europa Clipper, for one: PROBE - Surveying the surface of the Jupiter moon of Europa.

47. Capital of Samoa: APIA - 5hr 35min flight SSW of Honolulu 

48. Poetry, weaving, et al.: ARTS.

49. Pianist Myra: HESS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

51. Warp counterpart: WEFT.

54. Stampede Wrestling co-founder Hart: STU.

55. Military title: SIR.

56. Interrupting animal in a classic knock-knock joke: COW - I laughed really hard the first time I heard this joke.

57. City-building resource in Catan: ORE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don't play.

*That of course is Dr. Henry (aka Indiana) Jones

Saturday, December 14, 2024, Adrian Johnson, Victor Sloan

Themeless Saturday by Adrian Johnson and Victor Sloan 

I had to fight through a blizzard of white cells to start, even though the clues seemed to be very reasonable. Eventually solving the "gettable" long fills became very helpful and I earned a "got 'er  done!'.

 

Across:

1. __ dance: STEP - Here is some STEP dancing for you.

       

5. Low digits: TOES 😀

9. __ bar: TAPAS.

14. Delivery option: HOME BIRTH - The Pros and Cons

16. Carne __: ASADA - Spanish for roast meat. Those pesky Spanish speakers put the adjective second. 

17. Snowball effect caused by lowered standards: RACE TO THE BOTTOM.

19. Untainted spots: EDENS.

20. Frequent Bosch subject: HELL - This is his most famous painting The Garden Of Earthly Delights. The left panel depicts heaven (previous clue/fill), the middle panel shows earthly delights and the right hand panel shows hell, where humanity is punished for succumbing to those earthly delights.

21. Info on a political rival: OPPO - "Research" on an OPPOnent can be very unfair and using this tactic would cease if it did not work. Facts can be stretched or manufactured like this one.

Ad that ran in Nebraska's 
Second District race this fall

22. Mauveine, for one: DYE - Another name for mauve.

23. Western Greek island: CORFU.

24. Deserters: RATS.

25. Ruckus: ADO - A list I found rated this word as #10 on the most used crossword answers. Oreo came in at #39.

27. Paul who's the only inductee of both the Rock & Roll and National Inventors halls of fame: LES - Musician, inventor and song writer LES Paul examines one of his Gibson LES Paul models with another pretty famous musician and song writer.

29. Actor Stephen from 51-Across: REA and 51. Stormont locale: NORTHERN IRELAND - Stormont is the building in REA's hometown of Belfast that houses the unicameral government of NORTHERN IRELAND

 

30. Bit of redundancy in a Yogi Berra quip: WRONG MISTAKES - Yogi also said, "I really didn't say all the things I said"

34. William, since 2022: PRINCE OF WALES.

35. Dismissive comment after a hot take: SAID NO ONE EVER.

36. Finesse: ART.

37. Positive course feedback?: YUM 😀

38. Some, in Somme: DES - Je veux DES pommes (I want some apples)

39. Chorus part: LA LA - A great 60's song with lots of LA LA's. What's not to like?

41. Knot again: RETIE - Not for me anymore

44. __ Louise Huxtable, winner of the first Pulitzer Prize for Criticism: ADA - From The New Yorker Magazine about architecture critic ADA.

ADA Louis Huxtable already
doesn't like it.

47. Apple with multiple cores: IMAC 😀 This Apple guy was not fooled for a minute. 

48. Instant Pot dish: STEW - This would have fit right in on our 12/4/24 puzzle on fast foods

49. Inflexible: RIGID - Penny? No. Sheldon? Yup.

54. Maintain: ARGUE.

55. "Just fate, I guess": IT'S KISMET -  A hypothetical force or power that determines the course of future event. It was KISMET that I found this site. 😀

56. Percolates: SEEPS.

57. Pacific salmon: COHO.

58. Candy bar with a bubbly texture: AERO.

Down:

1. Unit of decency?: SHRED.

2. Suck-up: TOADY.

3. One making introductions: EMCEE.

4. Hammer part: PEEN.

Hammer with a claw
Hammer with a PEEN

5. Bruno of "Encanto," for one: TIO  - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

6. GroundClear and WeedClear maker: ORTHO.

7. Bitcoin alternative, familiarly: ETHER - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Here ya go

8. Last time: SHELF LIFE 😀

9. Yin-yang principle: TAO.

10. "The Great Lie" Oscar winner Mary: ASTOR - Can you find Mary in the credits?

11. "Movement in Black" poet: PAT PARKER ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

12. Some rescues: ADOPTEES - I'd want to take them all

13. Turnovers served with chutney: SAMOSAS.

15. Band also known as the Bangtan Boys: BTS - Wow, we are seeing these boys a lot here!

18. "Hooked on a Feeling" hitmakers: BLUE SWEDE - I was singing this all through but could not fit BJ Thomas in the cells. This group had a hit covering BJ's hit.

23. Open space: CONCOURSE 😀

25. Like xeric landscapes: ARID - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

26. Osmond who won Season 9 of "Dancing With the Stars": DONNY.

28. Hold (off): STAVE.

30. Clear to see: WRIT LARGE.

31. Plane-related, say: GEOMETRIC  😀 Plane geometry!

32. Ethnic group in Myanmar: MON ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

33. Hoppy pours: ALES.

34. "This Is Why" Best Rock Album Grammy winners: PARAMORE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

35. Monterey town known as the "Salad Bowl of the World": SALINAS, California

40. Advocacy gp. co-founded by Larry Kramer: ACT UP.

42. Near the hour: TEN TO 😀

43. "It'd be a dream come true!": I WISH.

44. Top form: A-GAME.

45. Hash house: DINER - Our town has a good one with comfort food at reasonable prices

46. Lengthen, as a lead: ADD TO.

49. L.L. Bean rival: REI.

50. "Casablanca" role: ILSA.

52. Father and son: HES.

53. Studio taken over by Howard Hughes: RKO - I'll bet you know which one is Howard Hughes