Saturday, December 27, 2025, August Miller

 Saturday Themeless by August Miller

This is my fifth Saturday themeless blog this year for August Miller. He is a former physics Ph.D. candidate turned farmer who lives in Berkshire County, MA.

Here is part of a very nice interview with August: Once upon a time I was going to be a physics PhD. I studied physics in undergrad and tried graduate school (twice), but ultimately that environment just didn’t work for me. And now I come home at night smelling of cows and hay, and it feels so much better.

I was able to make good headway through August's puzzle and enjoyed the trip. Unlike Stella's 12/13/25 puzzle, the long fills were familiar and helpful. My last fill was a stab in the dark at "K" at TAI_A/S_A.

Across:

1. Squirrel away: STOW and 1. Squirrel away: STASH - It was fun to have the same clue in the far NW corner.

5. Barely usable pencils: NUBS.

9. "Kapow!": WHAM.

13. Snaps: TAKES A PIC - What we all can do now on a whim. Now when I was a kid...

15. Banchero who was the 2023 NBA Rookie of the Year: PAOLO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I will have taken more time on this comment than I will watching any NBA games this season.

16. Manipulator of one of the four elements, in a classic animated series: AIR BENDER - This guy is in orange below. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

17. Natural styles: AFROS.

18. __ punk: "Tragic Kingdom" genre: SKA and 2. Waititi of "Our Flag Means Death": TAIKA - I knew SKA was some form of music that was foreign to me and I took a flyer on a "K" where it crossed equally unknown TAIKA. Tada!

19. "All My Children" actress Kathleen: NOONE - She was there from 1977 - 1989

 

To the far left

20. "Failing that ... ": IF NOT.

21. Must: HAS TO.

23. Like some waiters: EARLY 😀 - You really want an iPhone 16 so bad you're willing to wait in line.

25. Hesitant sounds: ERS.

27. Mikey Day's show, for short: SNL - If you really care, you'll pick him out, if you don't care, just move on. 😗

28. Guests' guesses: ETAS - You can tell peeps when to arrive but...

31. Some boxing losses: SPLIT DECISIONS - Gane won this match because two judges gave him more points and one did not.

35. "And??": CARE TO ELABORATE.

36. "Who Shot Mr. Burns?," for one: TWO PART EPISODE - Remind you of anything? 😀

37. Glom __: ONTO.

38. Some humanities degs.: MAS.

39. Confession confession: SIN.

40. "The best in pests" company: ORKIN.

42. Attracted to more than one gender, informally: MSPEC - Multisexual Spectrum

46. Peak reward: VISTA - The VISTA from the peak of Everest

48. Stay at a 57-Across, perhaps: GLAMP - Today's portmanteau: GLAMcamPing at Indian Lake, NY which is a 57. Sustainable place to unwind: ECO RESORT.

52. "Hadestown" Tony nominee Noblezada: EVA - I'm guessing August has never heard of the Little EVA song Locomotion.

53. Big name in chips: INTEL - Would you like an Apple with your chips? 

54. Hot bodies?: LAVA LAKES - This one is near the South Pole

56. Close call: SCARE.

58. Good listeners?: EARS - My 79-yr-old models need electronic assistance 

59. __-eyed: DEWY.

60. Code breakers: KEYS.

Down:

3. Mallow family plants with edible seed pods: OKRAS.

                

Okra

 

4. Intricate trap: WEB.

5. Tech startup?: NANO.

6. Top knot, e.g.: UPDO.

7. "Très __!": BIEN and a 14. Miss living in Mexico, say: SENORITA could say Muy BIEN.

8. Safari snap: SCREEN CAP - I made a SCREEN CAPture of the image below on my Safari Browser using this key combination

9. Array at a hotel breakfast bar: WAFFLE IRONS 😀

10. Lizard with defensive spines: HORNY TOAD - A variation of the name HORNED TOAD

11. __ gobi: ALOO - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - Aloo gobi, literally "potato cauliflower" in Hindi. 

12. More than some: MOST.

15. Duo: PAIR.

22. Forms of rapid transit: TELEPORTERS - Hallmark makes an ornament of one used on Star Trek.

24. Crime stories?: ALIBIS.

26. Kylie's daughter: STORMI - An addition to the Kardashian clan

27. Tennis great Monica: SELES.

29. Up the __: ANTE.

30. Compass pt.: SSE.

31. Like cut lumber: SAWN.

32. One just starting to shine: PROTOSTAR.

33. Forced a comb through, say: DETANGLED.

34. "Easy-peasy!": SO SIMPLE.

35. Exec who might oversee R&D: CTO - Chief Technology Officer

41. Superfood whose "special power is tasting bad," per Jim Gaffigan: KALE 😀

43. Tea type: PEKOE.

44. Not just some: EVERY.

45. Gives a role: CASTS - This character from Breakfast At Tiffany's may be the worst CASTING decision in movie history. The Boston Globe called the Mr. Yunioshi "an irascible bucktoothed nerd and an offensive ethnic caricature"

46. Bench clamp: VISE.

47. Worshipper of the goddess Pachamama: INCA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

49. Peignoir trim: LACE.

50. Declare: AVOW.

51. Writer Shelley: MARY.

55. "Why do you __?": ASK.

Saturday, October 4, 2025, August Miller

  Saturday Themeless by August Miller

This is my fourth Saturday themeless blog this year for August Miller. He is a former physics Ph.D. candidate turned farmer who lives in Berkshire County, MA:   

Across:

1. Dominant figure in a matriarchal hierarchy: ALPHA FEMALE.

12. Court marshal?: REF 😀

15. Minimally processed fare: NATURAL FOOD - As opposed to this

16. Paramore genre: EMO - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Paramore is a band who plays this kind of music

17. Event that may feature gate crashers: GIANT SLALOM.

18. Letter before upsilon: TAU - Similar: Rho, Sigma, TAU, Upsilon - R S T U

19. Cards that reveal who's who and what's what: IDS.

20. Brad Paisley's "__ Everything": SHE'S.

21. Figure in Celtic folklore: DRUID - DRUIDS and pagans gather at Stonehenge on the Autumnal Equinox

23. Central: MAIN.

24. In a serious way: MAJORLY.

26. "Measure for Measure" antagonist: ANGELO - All you need to know

29. Maggie who wrote "On Freedom": ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ NELSON.

30. Tie-breaking method: GOLDEN GOAL - Most Soccer matches now run two 15-minute overtimes not just do "sudden death" which ends on a single GOLDEN GOAL

32. "c ya": TTFN - Ta Ta For Now

35. Company that sells nudes: OPI.

Nude Nail Lacquer

36. Start to wrestle?: SILENT W 😀

38. River inlet: RIA.

39. Grasps: GETS.

41. Technique often used to make 3D images appear in the style of a comic book: CEL SHADING.

43. Mortise inserts: TENONS.

45. Congo forest dwellers: OKAPIS - O _ A _ _ S called for ORANGS first and not this giraffe relative

46. Clarence of the E Street Band: CLEMONS - On the sax

48. Leveraged: USED.

49. Earn: MERIT.

50. Boatload: SLEW.

51. Wrestling win: PIN.

54. Due-in hr.: ETA.

55. "You lost me": I DON'T FOLLOW.

59. Mud season hazard: RUT.

60. Space-age revolutions?: LUNAR ORBITS - Ron Evans made a record 75 LUNAR ORBITS in the command module while Apollo 17 crew mates Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt were the last men to walk on the Moon in 1972.

61. Prefix with center: EPI.

62. Antarctic predator: LEOPARD SEAL.

Down:

1. Online resource for home renos: ANGI - Rebranded from Angies List

2. Best-__ plans: LAID.

or in Scottish

3. STEM project fundraisers, often: PTAS - Science Technology Engineering and Math projects could be funded by PTA'S

4. "Mulan" soldier: HUN ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

5. Events that feature moving pictures?: ART SALES 😀 This Picasso fetched $103M at an ART SALE at Christie's.

6. Big name in threads: FASHION ICON and 28. May 6-Downs: GLITTERATI.

7. Novelist Raskin: ELLEN.

8. Creative degs.: MFAS - Granddaughter is pursing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree

9. Early ISP: AOL - Didn't we all get free AOL disks years ago?

10. Head across the pond?: LOO.

11. Some club bookings, for short: EDM DJS - My last fill was this monster - Electronic Dance Music Disc JockeyS

12. Back leg?: RETURN TRIP.

13. Target of some filters: E-MAIL.

14. Julie who won two World Cup titles with Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain: FOUDY.

Mia              Brandi         Julie

22. Many a storage crop: ROOT.

23. Club __: MED.

24. Deep pockets: MEANS - Always sue the guy with the deep pockets. He has the most MEANS to pay.

25. House call?: ALL THOSE FOR - 😀 - ALL THOSE FOR adjourning say AYE!

26. Full of anticipation: AGOG.

27. "Uh-uh": NOPE.

29. Songs sung in the snow: NOELS.

31. Dales: GLENS.

33. Kaput: FINI - A French synonym for a German word

34. Pesters: NAGS.

37. Cue for a smart device: WAKE WORD - I just say "SIRI" to my iPhone and she wakes up and asks me what I want.

40. Tourney game: SEMI.

42. Family guy: DAD.

44. Farming method that helps preserve soil structure: NO TILL - A very common practice around here that saves moisture and fuel. I asked one farmer why his neighbor still turns the soil over and he replied, "That's what his grandfather did."

A 16-row planter planting
right on top of last year's stubble

46. "I wanna show you something": C'MERE.

47. Slow down: LET UP - The atmosphere slows down the Apollo spacecraft as it returns to Earth from 25,000 mph to 22 mph. In the process the, bottom of the command module reaches 5,000F.

48. Über: ULTRA.

50. Button alternative: SNAP.

51. Bend in slippers: PLIE.

52. Crumb: IOTA.

53. Sports org. with the Royals: NWSL - National Women's Soccer League. Not my MLB KC Royals.

56. 40 weeks pregnant, e.g.: DUE 😀

57. "Who Has Seen the Wind?" singer: ONO.

58. Birth announcement abbr.: LBS.