Saturday, January 27, 2024, Anne Marie Brethauer and Katie Hale

 Saturday Themeless by Annemarie Brethauer and Katie Hale.

A previous collaboration on a Saturday (7/1/23) themeless I blogged from Annemarie and Katie. I flew through the top of this puzzle with just a few missing cells and then the work began.

The two red cells show Naticks for me that appeared when simple fill, STEAM and SIRI, were replaced by obscure cluing. 

Across:

1. Start of communications with NATO: ALFA

5. Building blocks: ABCS.

9. Seacrest vehicle, familiarly: IDOL.

13. Baby hippo: CALF.

14. Studio Ghibli's animated fuzz ball: SOOT SPRITE - Okay...

17. Rhyming song that's acted out: I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT - We've all done this one!

19. Fanning of "Coraline": DAKOTA.

20. Uber CEO Khosrowshahi: DARA - I got the first "A" in DARA out of nowhere without reasonable cluing for STEAM.

21. Article in a French periodical: LES - Yeah, I thought of La Monde first.

22. In: AMID.

24. Some shortcuts: MACROS - A set of keystrokes you define and use to do a bigger task

26. "I'm late!": GOTTA RUN.

30. Overflow (with): TEEM.

31. "Ew, no": UGH.

32. Doner __: Turkish dish: KEBAB.

34. Gems formed by silica deposits: OPALS.

37. Get up: ARISE.

39. Valuable diamond, say: ACE 😀 Yes, I have heard of a diamond being called ICE, but...

40. "Ask anyone else": NOT IT - I struggled with this and asked a few peeps including Irish Miss but I came back to my original idea. This fun clip seems to reenforce the idea of how every game of "Tag" I've ever played started.

41. Change: CENTS - I never seem to have any coins with me any more

42. Fuming: IRATE - The Detroit Lions coach after the referees disallowed a play that would have won the game.

44. Shiba __: INU - New to me but a beautiful looking dog

45. Meet face-to-face?: KISS. 😗

47. Magnified: ENHANCED - Sorry ENLARGED, not today

49. Pro who worked with Magic: KAREEM.

         Magic Johnson   KAREEM Abdul Jabar

51. "Memories of the Future" author Hustvedt: SIRI crossing 33. Part of a full English breakfast: BEANS. Saturday cluing for common fill.

52. Cribbage piece: PEG - My dad and his brothers could never find the PEGS that went with their very old Cribbage board and so they used matchsticks.

53. Just so: NEAT - Major Frank Burns took great pride in using a string to line up the condiments on the mess hall tables.

55. Figure in a Clement Clarke Moore poem: ST NICK.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be ST. NICK

59. First play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway: A RAISIN IN THE SUN.

62. Many a Gillian Flynn work: CRIME NOVEL.

63. Gladys Knight, for one: ALTO - I can't pick a favorite but Midnight Train To Georgia is right up there.

64. Sardine cans: TINS.

65. Used cars?: RODE - Used is a verb here.

66. With 57-Down, rom-com trope: MEET and 57. See 66-Across: CUTE - Name the wonderful 90-yr-old rom-com with this CUTE MEET: Runaway heiress is forced to share a bus seat with an unemployed journalist. (*answer below)

Down:

1. Rock type: ACID.

2. Dharma teacher: LAMA - What is Dharma?

3. Barrage of criticism: FLAK - If you want a barrage of FLAK, run for public office

4. Solvent: AFLOAT.

5. "Easter Parade" star: ASTAIRE - Fred and sister Adele's birth home in South Omaha.

6. Spam maker: BOT - They can fill up your computer in a hurry

7. Dispassionate: COLD.

8. Video game distribution platform: STEAM - There is common and even clever cluing for STEAM but this was "off the rails" obscure for me when I needed it for SOOT SPRITE and DARA.

9. A Gershwin: IRA - 'S wonderful, 'S marvelous that IRA set wonderful lyrics to brother George's music. BTW, I can understand if you don't get the odd words in the previous sentence.😀

10. Strategically polite: DIPLOMATIC.

11. Chiwere speakers: OTOES.

12. "I'm down": LET'S.

15. Classic Fender, for short: STRAT - A Fender STRATocaster 

16. Message on some holiday cards: PEACE ON EARTH.

18. "That tracks": IT MAKES SENSE.

23. Home of the Museum of the Future: DUBAI.

 

25. Default action, informally: REPO

26. Quick dip?: GUAC.

27. Princess Fiona, after sunset: OGRE.

28. "Nope": THINK AGAIN.

29. Mother-of-pearl: NACRE.

35. Stick figure's torso: LINE 

36. First earring, maybe: STUD 😀

38. Mix: STIR.

43. Symbol of Scotland: THISTLE.

46. Receive: SEE IN - Remember movie ushers?

48. Starting hr. for some: NINE AM - School always started before EIGHT AM and I was always there before 7 AM.

49. Gymnast Strug: KERRI - KERRI supplied one of the guttiest performances I have ever seen in the 1994 Olympics!

50. Estate: MANOR.

52. Accord: PACT.

54. Late show broadcaster?: TIVO - Before we had our own recorders.

56. "__ of Dogs": Wes Anderson film: ISLE.

58. Bedhead problem: KNOT - Yikes!

60. Cyberchats: IMS - Internet Messages - I like how they give you time to consider an answer.

61. Composer Rorem: NED - NED Flanders from The Simpsons gets the day off

*The classic movie with the rom-com CUTE MEET on the bus that I mentioned above

 

Saturday, July 1, 2023, Annemarie Brethauer and Katie Hale

 Saturday Themeless by Annemarie Brethauer and Katie Hale

Annemarie and Patti's assistant editor Katie's offering on this day that marks the eve of the halfway point of the year, was very doable. Modern slang MKAY was unknown to me but solid crossers and repeating it many times made it a "had to be" fill. OKAY would have given me LOOOS so logical LOOMS took its rightful position.

There were several runs of very easy clue/fills which facilitated a fairly easy solve.

Tomorrow

        
Across:

1. Lean: LIST - TILT/TAUT worked at 1 Across and 1 Down (LIST/LANK) until they didn't.

5. Comedian profiled in "Last Man Standing": SAHL - Mort abandoned conventional comedy and took on hard issues of the day. The NYT called him, "Mark Twain with fangs".

                

9. Member-owned shop: COOP - CO-OPs are a big deal in farm communities

13. "Because Freedom Can't Protect Itself" org.: ACLU - Listing their concerns as RTS in yesterday's puzzle was not popular. 

14. Abbr. on an ESPN ticker: NCAA.

15. Home country of Olympian Pita Taufatofua: TONGA - Pita was entered in the tae-kwan-do and cross-country skiing in the 2018 Olympics but is more famous for carrying TONGA's flag shirtless.

16. Low-alcohol brews: NEAR BEERS.

18. Something to gain?: ENTRY 😀

19. Random comments online?: KEYBOARD SMASHES - I just did one, "Oaiw 4jfqo;iawfjen"

21. TV planet on which people age backward: ORK - 22. "Make sense?": YOU SEE with Robin Williams anything seems possible

23. Sydney's st.: NSW.

26. Was more than superficial: DUG - Perter, Paul and Mary sang I Dig Rock And Roll Music and I really DUG them!

28. Red choice: MERLOT.

31. "Sorry, can't make it": I HAVE PLANS - "That sock drawer won't sort itself!"

35. "We'll Meet Again" singer Lynn: VERA - An emotional standard of WWII

36. Feed: CATER.

37. Before, previously: ERE.

38. Burton of "Reading Rainbow": LEVAR.

39. Profess: AVER.

40. Finally learns about: GETS WISE TO.

42. Kind of filler: DERMAL.

44. Maroon 5's "__ Will Be Loved": SHE - Maroon 5's lead guitarist, James Valentine, is a proud product of Lincoln Southeast High School and is a former student of my son-in-law.

45. Service call?: LET - 😀 We had this tennis term a few weeks ago

46. Blue choice: COBALT.

49. Many times o'er: OFT.

51. Unnamed informant: ANONYMOUS SOURCE - A famous one

57. Treats, as a winter road: SALTS.

58. Catering production?: OSCAR BAIT - Movies made for the express purpose of winning an Oscar. Top ten failed OSCAR BAIT movies of 2016.

59. Healing plants: ALOES.

60. "Make sense?": MKAY - Slang for okay heard for "mmm...okay" from Mr. Mackey in South Park 

61. Some leafcutters: ANTS.

62. Catherine who is one of the six in Broadway's "Six": PARR - Catherine PARR was the last of Henry VIII's six wives and kept her head!

63. Fed. IDs: SSNS.

64. Blue-bottled vodka: SKYY.

A 40+ yr-old Ad

Down:

1. Lean: LANK - LANKY Cowboy by Trish Stevenson

2. Brand with Blue Lemonade and Blue Vanilla flavors: ICEE - Our crossword stalwart has many flavors and vowels.

3. "You __ me!": SLAY.

4. Lead-in for jet or prop: TURBO - It turns a prop and provides jet propulsion as well

5. Prepare to scare, with "on": SNEAK UP.

6. Big name in gaming monitors: ACER.

7. "Jude the Obscure" author: HARDY - First edition (1896) with an autographed note on the endpaper. $1,450.

8. Role for Sudeikis: LASSO.

9. Saves: CONSERVES.

10. Bona fide: ON THE LEVEL.

11. Scary figure: OGRE.

12. Picks up a bill, or hands a bill: PAYS.

15. Tantalize: TEASE.

17. Frame: BORDER - In 1906, the Countess of Béran gave this portrait its current frame, a Renaissance-era work consistent with the historical period of when it was painted

20. Some British parents: MUMS.

23. Battery acronym: NICAD - Nickel-Cadmium batteries are usually labelled Ni-Cd

24. Show one's face, maybe: SHAVE 😀

25. Medium also known as aquarelle: WATERCOLOR and 33. 25-Down, e.g.: ART. - Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also aquarelle(French: [akwaʁɛl]; from Italian diminutive of Latin aqua "water"). You're welcome.

27. Jane Lynch series: GLEE - She's the P.E. teacher in this ensemble picture

29. Give a skilled delivery: ORATE.

30. Allegorical cards: TAROT.

32. Ben or Jerry, notably: VERMONTER - The entrance to their facility in St. Alban, VT. It employs 200 people and runs 24 hrs/day producing over 500,000 pints of ice cream per day

34. Wit's end?: NESS and 38. Try to protect, in a way: LIE FOR.

40. T. Rex rock style: GLAM.

41. "Is that so?": WHO SAYS.

43. Vast chasm: ABYSS.

47. Rises into view: LOOMS - A legendary (if unsteady) Earth rising shot by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders on Christmas Eve 1968.

48. Warthog pair: TUSKS 😳

50. Low winds: TUBAS - Dean Hansen's Polka Band from Wahoo, NE is a favorite of my MIL and the TUBA is its heart and soul.

51. Urgent letters: ASAP.

52. Character voiced by Moira Kelly and Beyoncé: NALA.

53. Read quickly: SCAN.

54. Putrid: RANK.

55. Lincoln or Jackson: CITY - The capitals of Nebraska and Mississippi respectively 

56. Crafts site: ETSY.