Saturday, April 6, 2019, Brian E. Paquin

Themeless Saturday by Brian E. Paquin

Today we celebrate National Birding Day. If you ever have an opportunity to be in my part of the country this time of year, you should make an effort to see the annual migration of Sandhill Cranes as they rest in the Platte River on their way north. This picture on the front page of the Omaha World Herald last Saturday shows over 600,000 cranes as they roosted last week in central Nebraska. I personally dislike the overuse of the word awesome, but I will tell you the incredible sight and deafening sound of these majestic birds is awesome and will make a lasting impression on you.

Brian Paquin

Today's constructor is Brian E. Paquin. I have blogged three of his previous Saturday themeless puzzles and always find them to be challenge. 


Let's take wing and see what Brian has for us today.

Across:

1. Risk evaluation: ODDS - So don't risk too many $$ on that Mega Millions  Jackpot

5. High points on a European itinerary: ALPS.

9. Tennis stroke: LOB - A beautiful LOB against an aggressive opponent 

12. The Platters' genre: DOO WOP - Their best?

15. "Don't tell anyone!": NOT A SOUL 

17. Creator of the language Newspeak: ORWELL - Don't say taxes, say revenue enhancements

18. Act sycophantically with: KISS UP TO - On the first episode of Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Bailey said, "Don't bother sucking up to me, I hate you already!"

19. Psychological attempts at one-upmanship: MIND GAMES.

21. Chicago critic: EBERT - He called The Da Vinci Code book preposterous and the movie preposterously entertaining. 

22. Sailor's bit of obedience: AYE AYE - Do Hispanic sailors say this?

23. JFK but not LAX: PRES - This airport became JFK International 15 years later

24. Internet initialism: IMO - "Reporters" often omit that this is In My Opinion

26. Head of Britain?: LOO - Can't fool a cwd veteran

28. Part of a flooring metaphor: PEDAL TO THE METAL - CB lingo also includes "Put the hammer down"


37. Good way to wrap things up: ON A POSITIVE NOTE - For our just past winter

38. Reasons for Word getting around?: SOFTWARE PIRATES - Microsoft Word has seen more pirates than the Barbary Coast or Penzance 

39. Belief system: ISM.

40. Sch. paper: RPT - Reading/grading 8th grade RePorTs can be agonizing

41. Naval post: MAST - I had to get off the HELM first

44. Stands for meetings: EASELS - Many have been replaced by screens that display Power Point Presentations. Pirated versions of PPT?

49. Opposite of mouthed: ALOUD.


51. "Six Feet Under" occupation: MORTICIAN - An HBO series

54. #80 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes: YO ADRIAN

56. Make possible: ENABLE -

57. With a #2, say: IN PENCIL - Last Saturday was National Pencil Day!

58. "Feel So High" R&B artist: DES'REE - Here 'ya go

59. Classic two-seated roadsters: MGS.

60. "That's a surprise!": OH MY - His famous catch phrase

61. Dost own: HAST - Thou shalt not, but if thou already HAST, we forgiveth you


Down:

1. Tony winner Leslie __ Jr.: ODOM - Here 'ya go

2. Andrea __: ill-fated vessel: DORIA.

3. Snuggle competitor: DOWNY.

4. Nobel, for one: SWEDE 

5. Huber of tennis: ANKE  - Here 'ya go

6. Perry's ambitious reporter: LOIS - Even I'm too young to remember these 1948 Superman movie serials featuring Perry White, Clark Kent/Superman, LOIS Lane and Jimmy Olson. Noel Neil who played LOIS here would reprise that role on the TV Superman series

7. Scoring nos.: PTS- Wilt Chamberlain is the only NBA player to score 100 PTS in one game

8. Mailer in a mailer, briefly: SASE - You can facilitate an RSVP by enclosing an SASE

9. Graceful runner: LOPER - The University Of Nebraska at Kearney shortened its Antelope mascot to get this

10. Eccentric: OUTRE.

11. Record spoilers: BLOTS - A single BLOT on their record can doom a politician 

13. Contemporary of Nadia: OLGA - Nadi Comăneci's contemporary OLGA (Korbut) invented the OLGA Flip and it has been outlawed because it is so dangerous

14. Start of #28 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes: PLAY IT SAM - Our cwd friend Ilsa did say, "PLAY IT ONCE, SAM" but nobody said AGAIN in this phrase

16. Order in the court: SUBPOENA -  A fun one

20. Work involving recall: MEMOIR 

25. Badger relative: OTTER.

26. Rose magically: LEVITATED - The secret to LEVITATED street performers 

27. Seven-week period in Judaism that begins during Passover: OMER - More

28. Terminal type: Abbr.: POS - When jump starting a car, the red cable is usually connected from the POSitive terminal of one battery to the POSitve terminal of the other

29. Antacid brand since the 1800s: ENO - New to me. 

30. Agency under the Secy. of Defense: DAF - Department of the Air Force

31. Talent: APTITUDE 

32. Tough times: LOWS - True love is sticking with each other during these

33. More with it: HIPPER - Dads can fail miserably at trying to be this

34. Deep-fried snack, familiarly: TOT 35. Polished off: ATE - No problem!

36. Argonne article: LES - LES filles sont belles (* translation at the bottom)

41. Actress __ Bialik of "The Big Bang Theory": MAYIM 42. During: ALONG - ALONG with playing a scientist she actually is one

47. Heavenly scales: LIBRA - Now abandoning science...

43. Serial guilty pleasures for many: SOAPS 

45. __ wave: SINE - For us math/science peeps

46. Bitcoin, e.g.: E-CASH - A 2-minute video 

48. Retail draws: SALES 

50. First in a long series of movies: DR NO - The producers cast relatively unknown Sean Connery as James Bond because Cary Grant would not commit to a series of these films

51. Severely injure: MAIM - MAIM and MYIAM in the same puzzle

52. __ child: ONLY

53. Former Nair competitor: NEET - Cwd coin flips 

55. I, in Erfurt: ICH - For some reason, this phrase has stuck with me since I learned it

Before you move on to comment on National Birding Day, I'd love it if you could tell me some way to get rid of grackles that clutter up our feeders from now until July 4th.

* Translation: The girls are beautiful (supplied by my granddaughter who is getting a double major, one of which is in French)

Saturday, September 22, 2018, Brian E. Paquin

Themeless Saturday by Brian Paquin

At 8:54 CDT today, the Sun's rays will be shining straight down on the equator and the solar energy will be evenly distributed north and south of the equator and is called the autumnal equinox as we head toward fall. Our New Zealand friends are having their vernal equinox as they enter spring

So on this day let me be the first (only?) person to wish you a Happy Equinox. It's too late catch this very unusual tour. Maybe you can get to the spring equinox there. 

Our constructor today is Brian E. Paquin whose puzzle I blogged on June 30 of this year which gave us 19. 120 dozen?: TENS for a clue/fill and generated a lot of discussion at this outpost. Brian looks remarkably like my good friend and former colleague Ed. Maybe Ed, who married a lovely Vietnamese lady and now lives in Ho Chi Minh City, also constructs crosswords under the name Brian Paquin. 

Across:

1. Pickup artist?: NEAT FREAK - C'mon you thought of Felix and Oscar didn't you?

10. Holy, in Le Havre: SACRE  -SACRE Bleu (Sacred blue) is a familiar French expression of surprise. Bleu sounds like Dieu which means God but is forbidden to be said by the 10 Commandments. Gosh darn it?

15. Like one with greasy palms?: ON THE TAKE - Congratulations! That zoning change has been made!

16. Added on: HIRED - The school where I sub has HIRED a deputy sheriff as a security officer

17. Thrill seeker: DAREDEVIL - Evel makes our puzzle quite often

18. 2011 Atlantic hurricane: IRENE - Anyone get caught in this 2011 storm?

19. Tied accessories: OBIS - Watashi no OBI o musunde kudasai 私の帯を結んでください  (Please tie my OBI)

20. Speak further about: ENLARGE ON - "Please tell me more about your hernia operation" said no one ever!

22. Spoken with ease: FLUENT - Most of our Hispanic students are FLUENT in two languages 

25. Become unusable, as airplane wings: ICE UP - Deicing a plane wing

26. Like La Niña, e.g.: Abbr.: FEM - Mas/FEM - Niña/Niño, Amiga/Amigo, Tia/Tio

27. Motor-assisted two-wheelers: EBIKES - True EBIKES are pedal-assist units not electric bicycles

30. Poker pot items, maybe: IOUS - Also called markers

33. Luxury fashion giant: PRADA - $270 for a tie?

34. Backside: TUSH  - One of many euphemisms

35. Like a home-cooked meal: MADE FROM SCRATCH  would be a good reason that people 58. Had a home-cooked meal: ATE IN

41. Mouse target: ICON - Mouse targets on my desktop

42. Early number?: ETHER - A crossword gimmick where pre-anesthetic ETHER numbs, hence it is a number!

43. TV heroine with a weapon called a chakram: XENA - Her lethal "frisbees" 

44. Checked at the airport: WANDED.

46. Tavern need: Abbr.: LIC - A nude bar in Omaha doesn't need a liquor LICense because it doesn't sell liquor 

49. Sign up, in Sussex: ENROL - "How to ENROL" found on the website for Sussex Coast College, U.K.

51. Pax __: ROMANA - The ROMANS ran a pretty tight ship for centuries 

53. Getting burned, in a way: REDDENING.

57. Basics: ABCS.

59. Metaphorical self-help aid: BOOTSTRAP - The University of Nebraska at Omaha has a BOOTSTRAP program for mainly SAC personnel to get a degree whereby they can "lift yourself themselves by their BOOTSTRAPS".

62. Position to take: STAND and 63. Jumpy: ILL AT EASE  - If you take a STAND and look around the room to see you are the only one standing, you can feel ILL AT EASE. Been there, done that!

64. Unwieldy ships: HULKS - Former seagoing vessels frequently used as prison ships like this HULK on the River Thames

65. Plow, e.g.: SODBUSTER - Some Nebraska groups are trying to undo SOD BUSTING and return tracts of land to native prairie  grass


Down:

1. Catch a few z's: NOD OFF - Some teachers, preachers or other speakers either can't see this phenomenon or don't feel it is a problem

2. Facilitate: ENABLE - One way to look at it

3. Heart part: ATRIUM - Atrial fibrillation 

4. "__ Eyes": 1969 Guess Who hit: THESE.

5. Sustained: FED.

6. It may start with "I": RTE - I-80 changed traffic patterns in our state

7. Roof edge: EAVE.

8. Cut from the same cloth: AKIN.

9. Country singer Pickler: KELLIE  - Her heartwarming backstory, American Idol audition and emotional reaction (5 min)

10. __-reeve: early name for a sheriff: SHIRE

11. Stringless strings?: AIR GUITAR - Hugo Chavez at the U.N. getting in a few riffs

12. Make very afraid: CREEP OUT.

13. Vegas rival: RENO - Self-proclaimed as "The biggest little city in the world"

14. Churchill successor: EDEN - An interesting recounting of their relationship

21. Some window units: ACS.

23. Foam-based brand: NERF.

24. Way up: T-BAR - Saddle up!

28. Enthusiastic response: I DO.

29. Segway PT inventor Dean: KAMEN.

31. George Lucas' alma mater: Abbr.: USC.

32. Library order: SHH.

33. Artist's drawing choice: PEN AND INK.

35. Stir: MIX.

36. It makes a rally irrelevant: ACE - A rally occurs when players hit the ball back and forth over the net. An ACE serve like this one by Andy Roddick negates that phase of a point

37. There's no going back on it: DONE DEAL.

38. Normal: Abbr.: STD.

39. "Moonstruck" star: CHER - She won an Oscar for her role

40. Second effort: REDO - Many kids who fail an exam immediately want a REDO after giving many 45. Excuses: ALIBIS.

44. Became the champ: WON.

46. Maze runner: LAB RAT - Where is that cheese?

47. As a backup: IN CASE.

48. Deceased toon?: CASPER  - Gotta love this clue

50. Tears: RENDS.

52. Some game winners: MATES - What piece does white move for a game-ending checkMATE?

53. Foolhardy: RASH.

54. Classic accusation: ET TU - "Oh man, Brutus, not you too"

55. Brief court plea: NOLO

56. Neil Young's "Heart of __": GOLD.

60. Longtime Coke product: TAB 

61. Beatles' bassist before Paul: STU - Stu Sutcliffe was their first bass player and died in 1960, well before Beatlemania. His picture is included on this famous album cover montage

Make the best of these fall days as winter can not be far behind for those of us north of the Mason Dixon Line. To start, let's see your comment:

DA GRID: