Saturday January 11, 2020, Erik Agard & Wyna Liu

Saturday Themeless by Erik Agard and Wyna Liu

Today's puzzle was authored by 
frequent LA Times constructor and Jeopardy Champion Erik Agard who partnered with Wyna Liu, seen here with a good friend. 

Online, I discovered - Wyna is a mixed media sculptor and crossword puzzle constructor based in NYC. She received Master from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program in 2014. Her work combines digital fabrication techniques with fussy hand finishing processes. She is interested in modularity, mechanisms and the lathe. Okay... 

Here's a note I got from Wyna:  "This was a fun puzzle to work on! Erik and I began building the grid around CRANKYPANTS, HIDEYHOLE, and NAUGHTYLIST. We worked back and forth a number of times but finally had to lose NAUGHTYLIST to keep it clean (who likes seeing REECHO and OTTOII in a puzzle??). This was one of our first collaborations (the first themeless), and was a formative and invaluable learning experience for me."

Let's review Erik and Wyna's collaborative effort:

Across:

1. Drill bit?: MARCH - It was my first thought but tricky NW cluing held back confirmation

6. Sudden blow: GUST.

10. '60s civil rights gp. inspired by student sit-ins: SNCC - Often called "snick"

14. Recall trigger: E-COLI - They certainly experienced a recall

15. One singing in musical tones?: ALTO - A list of very good ALTOS/ALTI pop singers 

16. Ponies run in it: POLO.

17. Written in mystical letters: RUNIC - Crossword learning made this my first confident fill

18. Ghanaian flag feature: STAR - Oh yeah, it's just south of Burkina Faso. BTW, changing one letter of its capital would give us 2. Luxury auto: ACURA.

19. Micro amount: ATOM and 59. Micro amount: IOTA.

20. Irritable sort, in slang: CRANKY PANTS - Grumpypants came and went before I landed on this seed entry

23. Even prime: TWO - We math peeps are aware 

24. Stadium opening?: YANKEE - New YANKEE Stadium being built adjacent to the historic old YANKEE Stadium in 2008

25. Precious person: DEAR ONE.

27. Mickey's "Love Is Strange" singing partner: SYLVIA - Despite the on-screen graphics this live performance is fun to watch 

30. Hoods: GOONS.

31. Fricative admonishment: SHH - After a "Huh?" for Fricative, the admonishment of SHH came through. Fricative is a consonant sound that is created by constricting the vocal tract, causing friction as the air passes through it. 

34. Distorts to one's advantage: SPINS - Areas for news conferences after political debates are actually called SPIN rooms

35. Clog from France: SABOT - Familiar crossword footwear

36. Wasn't true: LIED.

38. Sober: STAID.

40. Gov't agency with a "meatball" logo: NASA - Students of mine have heard this space educator say "NASA meatball" for decades, therefore, I was so pleased to see Erik and Wyna make this reference. I've told Joann I want my ashes in an urn with the NASA Meatball on it!

41. Agent concerned with spots: AD REP - Singular clue should have gotten me off AD MEN a lot faster than it did!

43. Alternative to "start at," in pricing: AND UP - "Oh, if you want the 48. Opposite of austere: DELUXE model, that'll be another thousand dollars!"

45. Only article in a U.S. state capital name: DES - It is on and named after the DES Moines River, which likely was adapted from the early French name, Rivière des Moines, meaning "River of the Monks". You're welcome...

46. Key partner: PEELE - PEELE and Key did a lot of collaborative sketches but Keegan-Michael Key's portrayal of a substitute teacher is the hilarious holy grail for those of us who sub!

47. Looked bad?: LEERED paired with another 61. Look bad?: OGLE and less offensive  44. Looked over: PERUSED.

49. __ analysis: SYSTEMS - I just love this:

51. Venues with games: ARENAS.

55. Rap music article: THA.

56. Do a surveying task: TRIANGULATE - 1946 Triangulation surveying of Palestine

62. Plant name from the Arabic for "red": SUMAC - SUMAC really brighten the fall landscape around here

63. Film bit: CLIP - Actors on talk shows often have CLIPS from their films to show. Sometimes it is the only interesting scene in the movie

64. Las Vegas Aces' org.: WNBA - All pro teams in Vegas

65. Put into action: EXERT.

66. Was true to, as one's word: KEPT - And so he was

67. Elle Woods of "Legally Blonde" got 179 on hers, briefly: LSAT - I wonder what Reese Witherspoon, who portrayed fictional Elle Woods, would have scored.

68. Lucy's husband and son: DESIS - Desi Arnaz IV, later known as Desi Arnaz Jr., appeared only once on I Love Lucy - on the final episode, June 24, 1957, along with his sister, Lucie. But he wasn't playing Little Ricky on that finale. Both Desi Jr. and Lucie later starred on their mom's show, Here's Lucy (1968-74), as her kids, Craig and Kim.


Down:

1. Compassion: MERCY.

3. Saoirse __, "Lady Bird" star: RONAN - Nope, it had nothing to do with LBJ's wife

4. Toasting signs: CLINKS - CRUMBS didn't cut it for this fun clue that was heard often 12 days ago

5. Make-out spots?: HICKEYS - you might 6. Respond to a shock: GASP - if you google these
7. Beauty store chain: ULTA - Find the nearest one to you

8. Get out of the way: STAND ASIDE.

9. Dessert that just sounds wrong: TORTE 

10. Ooh-and-aah site: SPA.

11. Just okay: NOT TOO BAD - AT&T's new ad pitch. Don't open if you've seen this as many times as I have

12. Classic hole-in-one site: CLOWN NOSE - How else are ya gonna put one on?

13. José's greeting: COMO ESTAS - ¿Cómo estás? Adding usted is optional

21. Kennel chorus: YELPS 

22. Dips: SAGS.

26. Equine coat color: ROAN.

28. Physical figures: VITAL SIGNS - On a monitor by every hospital bed

29. Absurd: INANE.

31. Some visual humor: SLAP STICK - The Three Stooges leapt to my mind

32. Alternative to a wall safe: HIDEY HOLE - Bank Vault? Buzz, but thanks for playing!
33. Help line: HERE'S A TIP - Maxine uses that line a lot

37. Upper-bod muscle: DELT - Shoulder muscle not chest (PECT)

39. Aid in developing hair waves: DURAG - Its main purpose is to develop or preserve waves after they are in your hair. Worn by many football players under their helmets

42. Alfred of coffee fame: PEET - The intertwined history of Alfred PEET and Starbucks

50. Animated Tootsie Pop eater in ads: MR OWL - 50 yrs ago he posited the question of "How many licks it takes to get to the center or a Tootsie Pop?"

52. When repeated, spills the beans: NAMES - These guys refused to NAME NAMES to the HUAC committee 

53. Gaming biggie: ATARI.

54. Splinter groups: SECTS - Some SECTS form because of differing views on sex.

57. Jessica of "L.A.'s Finest": ALBA - Do LA police look like this?

58. Off the rocks?: NEAT - I may have to write Tinman to warn him about this picture 😦

60. Flat: Abbr.: APT - Housing is scarce in our growing town, so finding an apt APT. is difficult 

"I'll take Comments for $1,000 Alex". "The answer is 'Fun and Stimulating'". "What is Erik's and Wyna's 1.11.20 crossword puzzle?" You have a different answer?

Note to Wyna - Would this cluing have worked? 😏

Second reverberation - REECHO

HRE emperor known as "The Red" - OTTO II

Saturday, October 12, 2019, Erik Agard

Themeless Saturday by Erik Agard

Today we take another fun spin on Jeopardy Champion Erik Agard's puzzle-mobile. Two triple vertical stacks of 9's and triple horizontal rows of 8's are so impressive!

This is a nice article about Marylander Erik (graduate of Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Springs)


Across:

1. Online gay dating site: GRINDR - Here ya go

7. Bridge accessory: SCORE PAD.

15. Electrically overhaul: REWIRE - It took me an hour to REWIRE a lamp three weeks ago. Now I could do it in five minutes!

16. ProvenÁal olive-and-capers spread: TAPENADE - Its name comes from the Provençal word for capers, tapenas. French major granddaughter says ProvenÁal used in clue is an archaic name for the adjective Provençal describing things from the Provence area in SE France

17. Many: A LOT OF.

18. Bent: APTITUDE - My APTITUDE for math and science led to a 42-yr career (BENT OUT OF SHAPE was our Thursday gimmick)

19. Legal end: BAN - It doesn't seem to be a good time to be starting a Vape business 

20. Eponymous German bacteriologist: PETRI - Here is the discoverer of penicillin, Alexander Fleming, holding a PETRI dish like the one he used in making his momentous find

22. Nuzzled: NOSED.

23. Relative of "You go!": ATTA- Many "over and above" things I did as a teacher garnered me an "ATTA Boy" but no cash

25. Yogurt-based condiment: RAITA - How to make one type. Yes, I saw it is an anagram of our cwd rope friend

27. Contents of some weekly organizers: MEDS - They can get complicated

30. Forensic workplace: DNA LAB - DNA testing exonerated this Idaho man and convicted the actual perpetrator. 28. "Alas ... ": SADLY he spent 20 years in jail before the truth came out

32. Volumes on devices: EBOOKS.

34. Cheeks asset: GLOW.

35. Lose juice entirely: DIE.

38. Sci-fi science: ALIEN TECHNOLOGY - The premise of the movie Independence Day was that gov't scientists were studying ALIEN TECHNOLOGY at Area 51

41. Palindromic observance: TET.

42. Imprecise words: OR SO.

43. Stand-up comic Boosler: ELAYNE - A funny minute with ELAYNE

44. Words of denial: I WASN'T 

46. Was upheld on appeal: STOOD - After a review, an NFL referee can say a call has STOOD, been confirmed or been overturned

47. Radio letters: AM FM - In my yute, our car radios only had AM but those of us of a certain age will recognize the Conelrad symbols in case of emergencies

50. Many of the characters in the 2018 film "Smallfoot": YETIS.

52. Italian cabbage?: EURO - This is slang for money. Real Italian cabbage is Cavolo Italiano

53. Part of UCSD: DIEGO - The Geisel Library at the University of California at San DIEGO

55. Radical cousin: NEATO - The fill predates the cluing by quite a bit

57. Cheese go-with: MAC.

58. Handy annuals: ALMANACS - Here's one from the year I was born

60. It was created in Philly in 1792: US MINT.

62. Small tuft: PLUMELET - The PLUMELET (feather) in Forest Gump had wonderful symbolism

63. White, to Juan: BLANCO - A fun song about Una Paloma BLANCA - The White Dove (I know the fill is masculine BLANCO but this is a fun song)

64. Persistent: TIRELESS.

65. Unifying alloy: SOLDER - U.S. - Sodder. U.K. - Sohl' der. Why?

Down:

1. Park it: GRAB A SEAT.

2. Sympathetic: RELATABLE - I would call Tom Hanks the most RELATABLE actor in Hollywood

3. Defiant refusal: I WON'T DO IT.

4. Micromanager's excess: NIT - In a recent response to me, a professional person hoped my "weekend went GOOD" and said "she was giving me a PEAK at fees her institute charges". I did 9. Go (for): OPT to not correct her

5. Fall: DROP.

6. Direct: REFER - My doctor REFERRED me to a wonderful Omaha surgeon rather than trust our local hospital

7. Competitions in which batting is forbidden: STARING CONTESTS - Anyone batting their eyes loses

8. Goalpost look-alike: CAPITAL H.

10. Control during riding: REIN.

11. Lay to rest: ENTOMB.

12. Meaning of two vertical lines, at times: PAUSE.

13. Put in later: ADDED - If you buy M*A*S*H DVD's, you can choose to leave off the ADDED laugh track which I would elect to do

14. Done things: DEEDS.

21. Tiny bit: TAD.

24. Wound application: ALOE.

26. Without help: ALONE.

29. Informal "Dig?": Y'KNOW - Another ' from Erik and a very annoying speech idiom

31. Base runners?: AWOLS - Sgt. Hulka chews out Pvt. Ringer after Winger goes AWOL from the base, which was Camp Arnold, in Stripes

33. Deviate: STRAY.

35. "Excu-u-use me!": DO YOU MIND - He made it famous (:07)

36. "Learning [is] the kind of __ distinguishing the studious": Bierce: IGNORANCE - I always say that I am smart enough to know how little I know

37. Triangular chart user: EYE DOCTOR - People in 2020 will be surprised to learn that 20:20 vision is normal not perfect vision

39. Basic natures: ESSENCES.

40. Having a timing problem: LATE - Rude

44. "Let's": I'M GAME - A fourth apostrophe fill for our good friend Erik today

45. Familia member: TIA - ¿Todos los demás tienen una TIA loca en su familia? (Does everyone else have a crazy aunt in their family?)

47. Change for the better: ADAPT - When in Rome...

48. __ Vanilli: MILLI - Their lip-synching fraud of someone else's performance came out when the track stuck while they were "singing" on stage

49. Big bone: FEMUR.

51. Theater buff's collection: STUBS - Decorate a coffee table with them

54. Turow memoir: ONE-L.

56. Parliament : London :: Storting : __: OSLO - Norway's parliament, the Storting, meets in this building

59. Pale __: ALE.

61. Not bien: MAL - ¡El rompecabezas de Erik es bien, no está MAL! (Erik's puzzle is good, not bad!)

Comments welcome:

Saturday, September 7, 2019, Erik Agard

Themeless Saturday by Erik Agard

Perhaps you remember constructor Evan Kalish and his Postlandia web site from August 9. Evan's hobby of collecting pictures of post office from all over this country has amassed him over 30,000 pix.

Today we honor the men and women who staff those facilities and deliver our mail faithfully despite any and all weather conditions. Our carrier is a hard working woman whose muffler announces her arrival two blocks away. She even gets out of her truck and puts the mail in our box when it is blocked by vehicles who should not be there.

Today's constructor is Erik Agard. I have wrestled with Erik's incredibly tough puzzles at his website - Glutton For Pun and thought today's offering would equally tough but I did manage a fairly fast (22 min) journey and had a good time in the process. I also had some electronic exchanges with Erik about the contents of this puzzle and delighted in his mostly terse but pithy replies to me.

Enjoy this fun exchange between Erik as a Jeopardy champion and Alex Trebek.

There's no jeopardy involved if you tried Erik's clever puzzle:

Across:

1. Peak of early 2000s cinema: BROKEBACK - The "Peak" Erik was referencing was the Mountain in the title of what some called a groundbreaking movie 

10. Martin Sheen's first name at birth: RAMON.

15. Doesn't honor: RENEGES ON - Native Americans were familiar with this idea

16. Blow away: AMAZE.


17. "Let's rock and roll!": IT'S GO TIME - When Jerry Seinfeld upset Lloyd Bridges as Izzy Mandlebaum, this was Lloyd's response:

18. Actor Max von __: SYDOW - His IMDB

19. Verb that sounds like a letter: ARE.

20. Holders of leaves: TEABAGS which might hold 29. Contents of some 20-Across: CHAI tea

22. Rank aboard the Enterprise: Abbr.: ENS - ENSign Pavel Chekov was a navigator on Captain Kirk's Enterprise

23. Turbine blade: ROTOR - Wind turbine ROTORS being transported are a common sight on our highways

25. Moved, as a movie camera: DOLLIED - 

27. "Claws" star __ Nash: NIECY - Yikes!

31. Get choppers: TEETHE - This time of an infant's life can make a parent a 32. One up, barely: SLEEPY HEAD.

36. Oozy substances: GOOS.

37. Prefix for "six": HEXA - These HEXAgon tiles can make for a lovely 2. Nostalgi-cool?: RETRO look

38. Class with no struggles: EASY A - Football players populated these classes when I was in college

39. Unwieldy thing: HULK 

40. British boxer Khan: AMIR - Here 'ya go

41. Album info: LINER NOTES - The LINER NOTES on this album by these four lads has a price tag well into five figures

43. Talking points?: ROSTRA - The point at which FDR delivered his "Day Of Infamy" speech was from behind one of the more famous ROSTRA in history

45. Role for which Liam got an Oscar nod: OSKAR 

46. Show ardor: ENTHUSE.

48. Occupied: IN USE - When in Rome...

52. IPA, say: ALE.

53. About 5, for coffee: PH LEVEL.

57. Humanities degs.: BA'S.

58. Enjoy a season in a day, perhaps?: BINGE - Can you watch an entire season of The Sopranos in a day?

60. Therapy subjects: AVERSIONS - No therapy will cure my lovely bride of her AVERSION to her 6. __ noire: BETE  (a thing thoroughly detested) - roller coasters

62. Run onstage?: EMCEE - I have run many a program as an EMCEE

63. Wrap up: TERMINATE.

64. Judges: DEEMS.

65. Duty for the bereaved: ESTATE TAX


Down:

1. Patch plant: BRIAR - Please don't throw me in!

3. Beginning: ONSET.

4. Pabst dispenser: KEG - My TAP proved to be dry


5. Journey with strokes?: EGO TRIP - Everyone who provided Johnny Manziel with strokes for his EGO TRIP as a college quarterback quickly abandoned him when he was an NFL flop

7. Gobi locale: ASIA - In China and Mongolia

8. Search high and low: COMB 

9. Apt eye rhyme for "bread": KNEAD - An "eye rhyme" is two words that are spelled similarly but pronounced differently. Bread and KNEAD meet that criteria and since you obviously must KNEAD bread dough the "eye rhyme" is apt. When I asked Erik if that was his clue or Rich's, he responded ‾\_(ツ)_/‾

10. Fight in the sticks: RASSLE

11. 2019 Emmy nominee Adams: AMY.

12. Escaped: MADE IT OUT - Many athletes have MADE IT OUT of horrible home lives via sports

13. Polar environmental concern: OZONE HOLE - Is it healing?

14. Paper departments: NEWS DESKS.

21. Approached nightfall: GOT DARK.

24. In the world: ON EARTH

26. Looney Tunes surname: LEGHORN - Foghorn was modeled after this fictional Southern politician from the Fred Allen Show. This pretend Senator refused to ever wear a "Union suit" or drive through the Lincoln Tunnel when he visited New York City and he claimed to drink only out of Dixie cups.

28. Metaphorical margin of victory: EYELASH.

30. Having only two answers: YES NO - Many a fragile adolescent psyche hung in the balance with this YES/NO questionnaire 

32. Fight over covers, perhaps?: SHARE A BED - I've done this for over 52 years with equitable cover sharing

33. Citrusy flavor: LEMON LIME 

34. "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very __ is an act of rebellion": Camus (attributed): EXISTENCE - A credo for many a revolutionary

35. Votes for: AYES.

42. Succeeds to the max: NAILS IT.

44. Sri Lankan currency: RUPEES - This house in Sri Lanka can be yours for Rs. 37,000,000 (Rupees) or $206,000

47. Send to cloud nine: ELATE.

49. WWII sub: U-BOAT - Pole Marian Rejewski, Brit Alan Turing, and others at Bletchley Park, broke the Nazi Enigma code to help shut down the horrible U-BOAT damage 

50. Gift list addressee: SANTA.

51. Cape Ann's county: ESSEX - Cape Ann is a rocky cape with towns Rockport and Gloucester about 40 miles NE of Boston 

54. Nights before: EVES.

55. Rapper Lil Uzi __: VERT - If you feel your life is bereft of vulgarity, violence and misogyny, google his lyrics

56. Singer Franklin, Aretha's elder sister: ERMA - The Franklin girls and their Dad

    ERMA                       C.L.                        ARETHA 

59. Opal, for one: GEM.

61. Suffix with salt: INE.

Try to remember to say something nice to your postal carrier today or this week.