Saturday, July 5, 2025, David P. Williams

 Saturday Themeless by David P. Williams

This is my fourth puzzle from Dave and it was very entertaining, eventually. I've got to learn that PEAL, not peel, is the sound of a ringing bell! 

Across:

1. Gets in over one's head?: SCUBAS.

       

7. Italian sports cars, colloquially: LAMBOS - Lamborghini prices range from $200,00 - $600,000

13. Vancouver team: CANUCKS.

15. Globe direction?: EXEUNT- Nope, Dave, you didn't get me on this one! I thought of the Globe Theater right away. EXEUNT is a stage direction where a group leaves the stage together and EXEUNT Omnes means everyone leaves the stage.

This iteration of The Globe Theater 
was reconstructed in 1997 
and is near the original 1599 site  
in London's West End 

16. Hand in the kitchen: OVEN MITT 😀

18. Flip (between): TOGGLE.

19. Duane __: NYC drugstore chain: READE.

20. Dynasty: REIGN.

22. Comb builder: BEE.

23. Jet stream heading: EAST.

24. Gambling swindle: BUNCO The radio dramatization of Joe Friday working BUNCO (29:00)

25. Ring: PEAL.

26. Dump: STY.

27. Word on some diplomas: MAGNA - MAGNA Cum Laude 

28. Bob and __: WEAVE - Nobody did it better

29. "Don't give up!": HANG IN THERE.

31. Means of improving airflow: NASAL STRIPS - They didn't work for me. The next step was a CPAP machine

32. Professional writing?: LOVE LETTERS 😀 One who professes love might certainly write professional LOVE LETTERS. It was an easy fill but parsing it took me some time. 

I wrote to Dave asking for help and he then confirmed what I thought was right:

Hi Gary,

The clue is a play on the phrase “to profess (one’s) love” — a ? was probably warranted to indicate the stretch.

Thanks for solving,

DW

33. Part of a skin care regimen: TONER and 40. Target of a skin care regimen: PORE.

34. Displays obvious pride: BEAMS.

35. Global revolution?: DAY 😀 Oops, a nitpicky science teacher would say a DAY on Earth is because of a global rotation. A revolution is a year.

38. "Bonanza" brother: HOSS - I'll bet you can name all four of these members of the Cartwright family. If you can't, I have the names at the bottom of the write-up. *

39. Tremble: QUAKE - Hmmm... with_ _ A K E something else came to my mind.

41. Guitar kin, informally: UKE. 

42. Caller ID?: IT'S ME - Much better than the recent IT ME.

43. Espagnole, for one: SAUCE - Espagnole is French for Spanish but this is a French SAUCE. Explanation of the name.

44. Words before a French kiss?: MON AMI 😀 - A French person might say MON AMI (my friend) to  another French person before any kind of a kiss including an, uh, "French kiss". 

My friend, my lover,
my soulmate

46. "Wait a sec": SIT TIGHT.

48. Double over laughing: BUST UP 😀

49. Hard nut to crack: TOUGHIE  and 35. Like undercooked pizza: DOUGHY - These two fills have "G's" that pronounce as an /f/near each other.

50. Gets in hot water?: STEEPS.

51. Toed the line: OBEYED.

Down:

1. Makes a good point: SCORES.

2. Warning: CAVEAT.

3. Worried: UNEASY.

4. Trademarked pan: BUNDT.

5. Maker of jet-propelled transport: ACME.

6. Carving implement: SKI.

7. "Drop it!": LET GO.

8. Nerve fiber: AXON.

9. Gig part: MEG - There are 1,024 MEGabytes in a GIGabyte

10. Pet peeves: BUG BEARS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

11. Fresh off the boat, perhaps: ON LEAVE - Honolulu had thousands of sailors ON LEAVE in the 1940's while just days away from combat.

12. Wrestler George "The Animal" __: STEELE.

14. Bumpy ride, metaphorically: STRUGGLE BUS.

17. Couples in love?: TENNIS TEAMS 😀 - All tennis matches start at love - love (0 - 0)

21. "This is killing me!": I CAN'T TAKE IT - If you haven't seen the movie Network, you need to find it!

24. Tired: BANAL - A teacher's meeting at 4 pm after teaching all day.

25. Buds: PEEPS.

27. Atomic clock part: MASER - Wanna know more?

28. Sounds from fans: WHIRS.

29. Moneyed ones: HAVES.

30. Area adjacent to the French Quarter: TREME.

31. Baloney: NONSENSE.

32. One in the watch business: LOOKOUT  - The result of a bad 1912 LOOKOUT job (2:49)

33. Digits on scales, maybe: THUMBS - Nobody did it better than Norman Rockwell

36. "Riverdale" redhead: ARCHIE - Here he is proudly wearing his Riverdale letter sweater

37. Tossed, slangily: YEETED.

39. Ear pieces?: Q-TIPS.

40. Wade Trophy winner Bueckers on the Dallas Wings: PAIGE - She won the trophy for being the best collegiate women's basketball player at U Conn and now plays pro ball in Dallas

 

42. Morning mumble: I'M UP.

43. Toe-tap?: STUB - Oh the language it generates...

45. Chowed down or chewed up: ATE.

47. Extra: TOO.

* The Cartwrights are Adam, Little Joe, Ben and HOSS

Saturday, March 22, 2025, David P. Williams

Themeless Saturday by David P. Williams 

My third Saturday themeless from David. 

Across

1. Possessive pronoun that can be singular: THEIR Here is a discussion about this topic

6. Clue academic: PLUM 😀

                 

10. Tesla, for one: SERB - I held on to SCOT for a time 🤨

14. Certain king-maker: SERTA 😀

15. Actress Chaplin: OONA - Yes, she is Charlie's granddaughter

16. Ancient Roman conqueror?: AMOR - Very cool cluing!

17. Survive scrutiny: PASS MUSTER - Derivation of the phrase 

19. Green party, briefly?: LPGA 😀 Green is a noun here.

20. Samovar kin: TEAPOTS - I've got a pretty good handle on what a TEAPOT is, but this is a samovar that is widely used in Russia.

21. Banded marbles: AGATES.

23. Identical: SAME.

24. Light tunes: STRAINS - We can hear the STRAINS of the high school band wafting down to our house from the football field six blocks from here.

25. Anti-conservative slogan?: GO BIG OR GO HOME.

29. Saw: ADAGE.

30. Clear the air: DEFOG - The little button on the left below the mirror does this for me.

31. Blot: DAB.

34. Continental capital: BERN - BERN is a nearly 4-hour drive SW of my grandfather's home in Heiden which he left 100 years ago.

35. Encounter: RUN IN - Chris Rock had a famous RUN-IN with Will Smith

36. Piece of one's mind?: LOBE.

37. Oft-redacted fig.: SSN.

38. Digital services?: MANIS and/or pedis

39. Unit of energy: JOULE - It takes about 300,000 JOULES of energy to raise the temperature of a coffee pot of water from room temp to boiling.

40. Pool problem?: BRACKET BUSTER - When you are in the office pool and one of your favorite teams gets beat and is out early, your bracket in the office pool takes a severe hit!

43. Perfect figures?: SQUARES - Four equal sides and angles

45. Tops: A-ONE.

46. Takeoff locale: TARMAC.

47. Portrayer of Andy Bernard on "The Office": ED HELMS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

50. Actress __ Deavere Smith: ANNA - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ A Saturday ANNA for me

51. Novels no one reads?: AUDIO BOOKS - This was a great clue when it finally hit me! 😊

54. Picked out, in a way: IDED.

55. Tagliatelle topper: RAGU - Tagliatelle (pasta) topped with RAGU (meat sauce)

56. "We agree": US TOO.

57. Early capital of Japan: NARA.

58. Appear: SEEM.

59. Frank who co-designed Prague's Dancing House: GEHRY.

Down:

1. Shortening in a recipe: TSP - Shortening can be used in recipe and its measured amount can be shortened as well 😀

2. Pressure, informally: HEAT - Now in his third year, Matt Ruhle is starting to feel the HEAT to make Nebraska football respectable again.

3. Highland tongue: ERSE.

4. "The universe has spoken!": IT'S A SIGN.

5. Frenzy: RAMPAGE.

6. Preserved jams?: POSTER DUNKS - 😀 Whoa, talk about a jam (dunk) that is preserved on a very famous poster.

7. Plenty: LOTS.

8. A word to les sages?: UNE -  😀 UNE (a) word to Les sages (the wise) is sufficient

9. Long-lasting event: MARATHON.

10. Bow low: SALAAM - I hung on to SCRAPE for a low bow for a long time.

11. Drained: EMPTIED OUT.

12. "The Lion King" voice actor Seth: ROGEN.

13. High-ranking officials: BRASS.

18. Italian man: UOMO - Difesa UOMO a UOMO (Man to man defense)

22. Buccaneer booze: GROG.

24. L.A. venue where "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" was filmed: SOFI STADIUM.

25. Chats: GABS.

26. Heart-filled texts?: ODES ❤️

27. Match that's lit: BARN BURNER - Lit has become slang for great. A very close, intense game can be called a BARN BURNER

28. Spirit of myth: GENIE - The wish granting version came later

32. Up to it: ABLE.

33. Ginger __: BEER.

35. Drag performers: RACE CARS.

36. Like a situation with no good outcome: LOSE LOSE.

38. Rooney of "Women Talking": MARA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

39. Beetle in the scarab family: JUNE BUG.

41. Wyndham brand: RAMADA.

42. __-chic: BOHO - BOhemian style meaning artistic and unusual

43. Leave a mark: STAIN.

44. Time when audiences are engaged, briefly: Q AND A.

47. Upper hand: EDGE.

A cool representation

48. Lepidopterist's subject: MOTH.

49. Toffee bar: SKOR.

52. Persian Gulf fed.: UAE.

53. __ milk: SOY.