Saturday, July 4, 2026, Doug Peterson and Sam Donaldson

 Saturday Themeless by Doug Peterson and Sam Donaldson

Two veteran constructors give us this very nice puzzle on this very special Fourth of July! The two song references were not in my knowledge bank but they did come to heel eventually. I will mention all the devious cluing in my write-up.

Across:

1. Scratch pads?: CAT TREES - Here's a deluxe model. Our lily has CAT TREES but none this elaborate.

9. Coastal region along the Santa Lucia Mountains: BIG SUR.

15. Backspin producer?: REAR AXLE 😀 A car's REAR AXLE does make its back wheels spin

16. Coffee drink made with a frother: FRAPPE.

17. Coldplay hit co-produced by Avicii: A SKY FULL OF STARS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I had to nurse this answer along as the cells filled. Avicii??

19. Low digit?: TOE.

20. Brand whose logo adorns Argentine soccer jerseys: ADIDAS.

21. Lake just south of London: ERIE - Oh, London, Ontario! An old cwd fill dressed up in fun new cluing!

22. Market openings, briefly: IPOS.

24. Heroic poetry: EPOS. - Yeah, I stayed with EPIC for a long time. The difference

25. Fig. in a background check: SSN.

26. Like Pluto, once: NINTH.

28. Hook's boatswain: SMEE.

30. Germ: SEED.

31. Series opener: GAME ONE - This 1903 World Series ticket to GAME ONE between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates is worth $270,000 today.

33. School zone sign: SLOW.

35. For the first time: NEWLY - Some NEWLY hired teachers feel they must be very 36. No-nonsense: STERN.

39. Socket set: EYES 😀

41. Platform for content creators: PATREON - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Patreon is a media and community platform where creators give their biggest fans access to exclusive work and experiences.  More

43. Bracelet component: BEAD.

46. Towering: TALL.

48. Not perfectly round: OVATE - Pluto's extremely OVATE orbit is one of the reasons it is not considered to be a true planet. 

49. NYC setting: EST.

50. Football coach Pederson: DOUG - Coaching has its highs and lows 

52. Gouda alternative: EDAM.

53. Alexa device: ECHO.

55. Like 56-Down: FANGED and 56. "Hotel Transylvania" protagonist: DRAC.

57. Purple yam used in desserts: UBE.

58. "Seven Nation Army" band: THE WHITE STRIPES - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Jack White has stated that the song's lyrics tell the story of a man who discovers people gossiping about him in his hometown, which forces him to leave, only to return later out of loneliness

61. "Vacancy" singer Ari: LENNOX ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

62. Trattoria tubes: RIGATONI - The third item down on this Trattoria lunch menu. 

63. Apples in the trash, e.g.: E-WASTE - After using Apple products for over 30 years, I'd have a big pile of E-WASTE. I wish I still had my old AppleII+

64. Fourth of July treats: SNO CONES 😀

Down:

1. Packing: CRATING - Packing can involve using a crate

2. Using coded language: AESOPIAN.

3. 1980s hit whose video drew a lot of attention?: TAKE ON ME - Very unique use of live performances and pencil drawings.

4. Tax: TRY - Hard times can be said to be very taxing or TRYING

5. Rival of The Djoker and Fed Express: RAFA  - Tennis great Novak Djokovic has the nickname of The Joker and another great, Roger Federer has the nickname of The Fed Express. They both had great matches against Rafael Nadl whose nickname is RAFA.

Nadal             Djokovic                Fedder

6. Ooze: EXUDE.

7. Shape with minor and major axes: ELLIPSE.

8. Hardly ever: SELDOM.

9. Ride-or-dies, for short: BFFS. 😀

10. Org. whose first commissioner was former treasury secretary George S. Boutwell: IRS - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ He was appointed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 to establish the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, which was renamed the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, in 1918. 

11. Flight board info: GATE.

12. Few and far between: SPARSE.

13. Revolt: UPRISE.

14. Email again: RESEND.

18. Palm springs?: OASES.

23. Worried: STEWED.

27. "__ guacamole!": HOLY.

29. Queen who appears at Epcot's Royal Sommerhus: ELSA.

                          Anna            ELSA

30. Sharp turn: SWERVE.

32. Russian refusal: NYET.

34. 2022 title role for Tom Hanks: OTTO - A premise that is very similar to Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino 

37. Learn by the book?: READ UP ON - Maybe you should do some more reading.

38. Latin attention-getter: NOTA BENE - "Note well" in Italiano. abbreviated N.B. "N.B. All applications must be submitted by Friday at 5:00 PM.

40. Anwar who wrote "Revolt on the Nile": SADAT.

41. Connects: PLUGS IN.

42. Itchy, to Scratchy: NEMESIS.

43. Grown-up grub: BEETLE - Not food for adults 😀

44. Refrain from: ESCHEW.

45. Zeus's brain child?: ATHENA - According to the myth, she literally burst forth fully grown and armed from Zeus's forehead (or skull). 

47. Solitary sorts: LONERS.

51. Onset: GET GO.

54. __ up to: OWNS.

55. Prix __: FIXE - A fixed or set price for the entire meal 

59. Mild alternative: HOT 😀

60. Olympian Midori: ITO.

Saturday, September 27, 2025, Doug Peterson and Samuel A. Donaldson

Saturday Themeless by Doug Peterson and Samuel A. Donaldson

I had a collaborative puzzle by these two veterans a year ago. This one was just as much fun as that one. This beautiful grid only had 29 blocks amid the 98 open squares comprising a lot of white space. Symmetric grid spanners adds to the puzzles skill level. I got a hard-earned a "got 'er done" 

Sam Donaldson

Doug Peterson

Across

1. Technique employed by funk artists: SLAP BASS.

9. Many group chat texts: MEMES

14. Garbage genre: ALTERNATIVE ROCK - Garbage is an alternative rock band. Their  incorporates elements of electronic rock, electropop, trip hop, post-grunge and industrial rock.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

17. "What are you even saying?": MAKE IT MAKE SENSE - What I would say about the description of the music played by the group above.

18. On Signal, say: IMING - Internet MessagING on a private messaging service known as Signal

19. Ketanji colleague: ELENA and 28. Ketanji colleague: SONIA - Amy Coney Barrett, SONIA Sotomayor,  Ketanji Brown and ELENA Kagan,

20. Processed food: ATE.

21. Salon offerings: TANS.

22. Google crossword clues, some say: CHEAT - If you Google (verb) a crossword clue, it is not a CHEATING, it is learning. Constructor Malaika Handa said, "Also, when you’re solving, look up entries that you don’t know! It’s a game, not a test."

23. Gazebo board: SLAT.

24. Count ender?: ESS.

Violet Crawley the Dowager
COUNTESS of Grantham

25. 25-Down, in Toledo: TRES 25. 25-Across, in Toledo: THREE The first one applies in Toledo, Spain. The second one is in Toledo, Ohio. 😀

26. Like most Iraqis: SHIITE.

28. Wiring problem: SHORT - An electrical SHORT in the Service Module provided the spark for the explosion on Apollo 13.

29. Norse pantheon: AESIR.

30. Launch-related stress: G-FORCE - Jet pilots launched off an aircraft carrier go from 0 - 140 mph to two seconds and feel 3-4 G's of FORCE.

32. Tool used to go suck a lemon?: CARVAC 😀 I use a CARVAC in my non-lemon car ! My last fill!

34. Queeg's ship: CAINE - Was Queeg mentally ill?

35. County, across the pond: SHIRE - Robin Hood "lived" in NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

36. Jumps on board?: OLLIES.

38. Hard to grab hold of: EELY.

39. Lotion letters: SPF.

42. Jessica of "Sin City": ALBA.

43. Coward's offerings: PLAYS 😀

45. 2020 Pixar film: SOUL.

46. Act excused with crossed fingers: LIE.

47. Working stiff: PROLE.

48. Atlantic capital: ACCRA.

49. Negotiation assets: BARGAINING CHIPS - One mom's opinion

52. Free pass from a manager: INTENTIONAL WALK - The pitcher no longer has to throw four balls. The manager can just choose to put a batter on base via an INTENTIONAL WALK

53. They may get thumbed: NOSES 😀

54. Royalty figure: NET SALES - Noel Coward accumulated millions in royalties on NET SALES of his work before his death in 1973 and his foundation administers that income now.


Down:

1. Silky fabric that dates to the Middle Ages: SAMITE.

2. Characters in Anna Dewdney books: LLAMAS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

3. Big name in middle management?: ATKINS 😀

4. Hammer heads?: PEENS.

5. Ocean cooler: BRIG - 😀 I finally saw that cooler was another word for jail which on a boat on the ocean it is called a BRIG.

6. Colony toiler: ANT - The city name of Accra comes from Akan word Nkran meaning ant because of all the ant hills in Ghana.

7. "Ditto": SAME HERE.

8. Most like a chestnut: STALEST.

9. Home of Arizona's idea Museum: MESA.

10. Afore: ERE.

11. Work in the Louvre's Salle des États: MONA LISA 😀 - I loved this clue/fill once it became obvious. The MONA LISA is in the Louvre's "States Room"

12. Stoked: ECSTATIC.

13. Pesky little sucker: SKEETER - I had some on the course recently and I put on my Absorbing Jr and they were gone.

15. Shopper's "maze with meatballs": IKEA.

16. Lets off steam: VENTS.

22. Gator kin: CROC.

23. Mesh in the kitchen: SIEVE.

27. Styles with many cuts: HARRY - The old common/proper noun switch for the many coifs of singer HARRY Styles

30. Vanilla liqueur: GALLIANO.

31. Hazelnuts: FILBERTS.

32. Dull Knife's people: CHEYENNE.

33. Feels off: AILS.

34. Container for seamy material?: COAL BIN 😀 Coal is found in seams in the Earth 

35. Beach barker: SEA LION.

37. Mast attachment: SPRIT.

39. Phishing target, informally: SOCIAL.

40. Crayola's wild orchid, e.g.: PURPLE.

41. Glassware in labs: FLASKS.

44. "The Real" co-host Love: LONI - Second from the left

45. Either side of Alaska?: SCHWA 😀 Ə las kə

47. Parts of a balance scale: PANS - The most famous ones are held by a lady with a blindfold.

48. Bands that may be strained on courts, briefly: ACLS.

50. [low whistle]: GEE.

51. Noir piece: GAT - The man below in this film noir scene is wielding a GAT or rod