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, June 28, 2025, Ricky Sirois

Saturday Themeless by Ricky Sirois

Across:

1. Like Oscar winner Troy Kotsur: DEAF - I was thinking about a nationality for a while but it soon showed it was a characteristic. 

          

5. "Lasers" rapper __ Fiasco: LUPE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

9. Security concerns?: SAFES 😀 Hacks first came to my mind

14. Symbol of British divine right: EXCALIBUR - This is the mythical sword King Arthur either pulled from the stone or received from the Lady Of The Lake to show his divine right to rule Britain. 

16. Whitlock Jr. of "The Wire": ISIAH ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

17. Governed by fate: MEANT TO BE.

18. Drag one's feet: TARRY.

Reminds me of 
"The Little Red Hen"

19. Sum up: ADD.

20. Sweetheart __: DEAL.

21. Turning point in a DIY project?: SCREW 😀 "Screw up" better describes what I might do

22. French holiday: NOEL.

24. Cause trouble: STIR THE POT - Don't we all know people who like doing this?

27. "The Man in the Iron Mask" novelist: DUMAS The Story

29. Disney villain: SCAR.

30. Morass: MIRE.

31. Hamper: STYMIE.

33. Wrestling promoter Maivia whose grandson is Dwayne Johnson: LIA.

34. Online "I can relate": IT ME - Social media meme.

35. Like some steakhouses: BRAZILIAN - This one is in Omaha

38. Zenith: ACME.

41. McElhenney who co-owns Wrexham A.F.C.: ROB ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  On the left below

42. "Forget it": NO DICE.

46. "Paint the Town Red" singer __ Cat: DOJA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

47. On the fence: TORN.

49. Food brand with a Westie mascot: CESAR.

50. "Case closed": ENOUGH SAID.

53. Novelist Jaffe: RONA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

54. Cast iron, e.g.: ALLOY.

55. Aft: REAR - Titanic's AFT sank last

57. Quaint "True": TIS.

58. Only U.S. vice president born in Maryland: AGNEW.

59. Hit that's hardly felt: MICRODOSE - Research continues to see if a MICRODOSE hit of hallucinogenics like LSD can be helpful without big side effects

61. May of Queen: BRIAN - On the right with Freddie Mercury

62. Royal guard?: BEEKEEPER - Royal BEEKEEPER John Chappell on the right below was given the task of telling the bees that their Queen had died.

63. Grouses: CARPS - These two words become synonymous as verbs and not animals

64. Petrol name: ESSO.

65. Signs of victory: VEES - Cue Beethoven's 5th 

Down:

1. Exacts: DEMANDS.

2. Struck through: EXED OUT.

3. West Point, e.g.: ACADEMY.

4. Whiff: FAN - I know which one below that C.C. would have chosen

Whiff™ Ceiling FAN

In baseball, a batter who has struck out
is said to have whiffed or fanned

5. Some brews: LITES.

6. WWII fleet: U-BOATS.

7. Institutions "full of sunk treasure," per Virginia Woolf: PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

8. Poetic conjunction: ERE.

9. Circumstance, slangily: SITCH -When Kim Possible absolutely does not have enough time to say situation.

10. "In case you forgot ... ": AS A REMINDER - iCalendar allows me to set an alert for an event. I usually set it for an hour before a tee time.

11. Campsite warmer: FIRE PIT.

12. Tune that really catches on: EARWORM - Here are 50 of them. My Barbara Ann did not make the list. 

13. Shrinking: SHY.

15. Close of business, briefly?: LTD - Limited: It means a company has separated its personal assets from the business assets.

21. Filter: STRAIN.

23. Touchdown celebration in Green Bay: LAMBEAU LEAP.

25. Stability aid: RAIL.

26. Shirt tail?: TEE - The last (tail) letter in shirt is a TEE

28. Dame analogue: SIR - Dame Helen Mirren and SIR Ian McKellen

32. Like some reds: EARTHY.

36. Circuses: ZOOS.

37. NYC rep from the Bronx: AOC - The oft-photographed U.S Representative

38. Beverage suffix: ADE.

39. Food processing giant that began as a grain enterprise in Nebraska: CONAGRA - This giant company with many products acquired Swanson's who are famous for inventing the TV Dinner in Omaha.

40. Thor's hammer: MJOLNIR ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I can't spell or pronounce it. I suspect Ricky built around this word in his puzzle and did not just discover it to fill an area.

43. Variant in a lab: ISOTOPE - This huge plant in Oakridge, TN was built to process fissionable ISOTOPE U235 from U238 for the Manhattan Project. America recently attempted to prevent Iran from doing that.

44. Curious request: CAN I SEE.

45. Takeoff gear?: ERASERS 😀

48. Some siblings, to their parents' siblings: NIECES.

51. Red carpet garb: GOWNS - As I am typing this I am wearing Under Armor

52. Gyllenhaal title role: DARKO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Jake was the protagonist in this movie that featured a very odd looking rabbit.

56. Toast Skagen garnish: ROE - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Toast Skagen är en populär Svensk förrätt (Toast Skagen is a popular Swedish appetizer) 

58. Disney channel?: ABC.

59. U.K. honor: MBE - Member of the Order of the British Empire 

Ed Sheeran with his medal

60. "Monkey Man" actor/director Patel: DEV ¯\_(ツ)_/¯