Saturday, February, 13, 2021 Adrian Johnson and Jeff Chen

 Saturday Themeless by Adrian Johnson and Jeff Chen

 Adrian Johnson     Jeff Chen

Jeff gave Adrian free rein to comment: Hi everyone! I’m thrilled to be making my crossword publication debut at the LA Times alongside the wonderful Jeff Chen! My name is Adrian Johnson, I’m 21 and I’m an LGBT cruciverbalist from Laramie, WY (any solvers or constructors from WY?). I’m a senior studying International Studies at Macalester College, and during this pandemic I’ve spent a lot of time outside in the wilderness, playing with my very good dog Josie, and worrying about my future. I’m an avid runner and biker but also a big word and trivia nerd. My construction journey began in late 2019 after getting hooked on solving the daily NYT, making a new year’s resolution with a good friend in 2020 that she’d see me in a major publication. I’m thrilled to finally be making good on that promise.

 This puzzle dates to late 2019, right around when I started constructing. At the time, I had little experience filling and writing puzzles, but loved experimenting with the artistic design and aesthetic of grids. One day, I stumbled across this idea for a tic-tac-toe pattern, fixed six fresh, scrabbly entries into place and sent it to Jeff. Having no concept of what I was doing, I asked him “Can this be filled?” and within 2 days he got back to me with a well-filled center, NW and SE corner and we were off to the races. Cluing was a team effort, my favorites that survived the cut are 1-A and 45-A, while I greatly appreciate the additions at 5-D, and 7-D, among others. I was a bit disappointed to see my clue at 11-D “One working to prevent a depression?” go, though I loved “One who’s typically up” as a replacement.

 

Many thanks to go around- to Jeff for the collaboration, to Rich and Patti for the acceptance and the valuable edits and to everyone that’s supported me along the way. You can find more of my puzzles at my blog www.ajxwords.com!

To all constructors, new and experienced alike, my email is open! adrianjohnson435@gmail.com Feel free to reach out if you want some advice, test solving or to collaborate! I’d love to hear from you.

Across:

    
1. Where to find an OR: US MAP - There it is above CA and below WA

6. "The Magic School Bus" network: PBS.

9. Retro finish: SEPIA - My Mother-in-law 

14. Implement associated with its own age: STONE TOOL - A fun clue

16. Impulse conductors: AXONS -They've got a lot of nerve using this word

17. They may work on profiles: PORTRAIT ARTISTS - Add SELF in front of this fill 

19. Jerks that surprise you: SPASMS.

20. Lacto-__ vegetarian: OVO - The terminology stems from the Latin lac meaning "milk" (as in 'lactation'), ovum meaning "egg", and the English term vegetarian, so as giving the definition of a vegetarian diet containing milk and eggs.

21. Fade: TIRE.

22. Prince __ Khan: ALY - Son of AGA Khan and husband to Rita Hayworth

23. Austin festival, briefly: SXSW - South by Southwest

24. Recent delivery: TOT.

25. Sushi bar order: AHI - Not EEL it turns out

26. Consort of Shiva: KALI - Most of the pix of KALI show her dancing on SHIVA

28. Diwali garment: SARI - In keeping with Hindu fills - Diwali is the Hindu Festival Of Light

31. Strip often twisted: LEMON RIND - A martini with a LEMON RIND (twist)

34. Stellar spectacles: NOVAS.

37. Cause of a faux pas, perhaps: LAPSE IN JUDGMENT.

39. Singer Adkins known by her first name: ADELE - Five-letter one named singer? I got this.

40. Draft portmanteau: KEGERATOR - Yeah, now I get it!

41. Parks of Alabama: ROSA - ROSA didn't refuse to give up her bus seat because she was tired, she was "just tired of giving in"

43. __ slicker: CITY - I would have scored it higher than these audiences

44. Possessive pronoun: HIS.

45. Body with arms, usually: SEA - Some arms of the Baltic SEA. Adrian was glad this clue/fill was kept

47. Riga resident: LETT (one arm of the Baltic Sea above is the Gulf of RIGA) and 8. Some Eastern Europeans: SLAVS 

49. "Henry & June" diarist: NIN - Is there another three-letter diarist?

50. Additional characters, in gamerspeak: ALTS - All the gamespeak you could want

52. Chi preceder: TAI - Didn't you think of TAU first. Yeah, I know that would be PHI but with TA_

53. Would consider, after "is": OPEN TO.

56. Seatbelt campaign slogan: CLICK IT OR TICKET.

59. Variety show: REVUE.

60. Together: IN CONCERT.

61. Hostile force: ENEMY.

62. Org. concerned with secrets: NSA - The National Security Agency missed the 9/11 attacks but have prevented many others

63. Sculptor's subject: TORSO.

Down:

1. Org. with red, white and blue trucks: USPS - We know when the mail is here, our USPS truck has had a bad muffler for over a year

2. Pre-sign sign: STOP AHEAD - Clever! Here we truly see, uh, sign language

3. Acting incentive: MORAL IMPERATIVE - Your ENEMY probably has one the exact opposite of yours

4. Not sitting well?: ANTSY - Ever supervise a JH study hall?

5. Wave generator?: PERM - Hand, Palm? Nope hairdo!

6. Hawaiian fare: POI - We had TARO on Wednesday

7. What might cause you to forget your lines?: BOTOX INJECTIONS - I told Adrian and Jeff this was my favorite clue!

9. Couldn't stand, maybe: SAT - A kitty in her lap is my wife's barrier to standing 

10. Turnoff: EXIT - Huh?

11. One who's typically up: POSITIVE THINKER.

12. Opener: INTRO.

13. It can be fixed: ASSET - A very common category at my age 

15. Univ. helpers: TAS - RA'S really slowed me down

18. Tiffs: ROWS - Rhymes with COWS not HOSE

23. Move like a cat burglar: SLINK - Or leave out the word burglar

25. __ breve: ALLA - Music written in 2/2 time (from the Italian for "in the shortened fashion")

26. Jeans parts: KNEES - Flies, loops, cuffs...

27. Radio host Shapiro: ARI - ARI is on our CWD radio station quite often 

29. Sore: ANGRY.

30. Oblong tomato: ROMA - It is meatier than and is widely used in canning and making tomato paste

32. 1952 Winter Olympics host: OSLO - The Summer Games were held 612 miles east in Helsinki which is on one of the ARMS of the Baltic Sea

33. Really liked something, man: DUG IT.

35. Priests, at times: ANOINTERS.

36. They're usually toward the front of an orch.: STRS - My grandson and his French horn are in the back and the STRings are in the front

Lincoln Youth Symphony Orchestra

38. "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" title: Abbr.: DET.

42. Some choir members: ALTI - When ALTOS just won't do

45. Stravinsky's "Le __ du printemps": SACRE - The Rite Of Spring

46. Talk show host who voices the adult Dory in "Finding Dory": ELLEN - DeGeneres 

48. Eschew the diner, maybe: EAT IN - Haven't we all been doing a lot of this?

49. Wafer giant: NECCO - The water tower at the New England Cofectionary COmpany

51. Foul film: SCUM.

53. Nebraska native: OTO - Twenty miles from me is the town of Yutan, NE which was named for an OTO chief named Yutan

54. Pub order: PINT.

55. Gustav Mahler's composer brother: OTTO - Gustav and his younger brother OTTO

57. Decoding need: KEY - These CODE "girls" were instrumental in decoding the Japanese code which led to a big victory at Midway Island for America shortly after Pearl Harbor. The story of a group of women not getting credit for far too long sounds similar to another book we had recently.

58. Red Seal record label company: RCA - Enrico Caruso was a breakthrough artist for the Victor Red Seal Records that were later bought by RCA

I told Adrian that our blogmisstress lives just across the Mississippi from him in Minneapolis and I asked him if he knew of C.C. He responded: I have heard of C.C., I'm a big fan of her work (she designed the 2020 puzzle on my birthday last year), and yes, I'm in school in St. Paul, such a vibrant place that I've been fortunate to explore the past few years. I should try to write something with her, it could be a lot of fun. This LAT is my first of three accepted puzzles to run :) (I also have one pending NYT and one Universal), with hopefully more to come in the future.