Saturday, October 31, 2026, Kelly Morenus

Saturday Themeless by Kelly Morenus

Kelly provided a lot of nice treats and very few tricks with this fun puzzle.

          

Across:

1. Prince William, to Eddie Redmayne, at 51-Down 51. College founded in 1440: ETON.: SCHOOL MATE - The arrows point out Eddie and William, who is the very image of his mother.

11. Ask: POSE.

15. "This is news to me!": I HAD NO IDEA.

16. Quechua-speaking highlander: INCA.

17. Feeling that all roads lead to roam?: WANDERLUST.

18. Some Ivy Leaguers: ELIS.

19. Combine: ADD.

20. Some are plant-based: DIETS - Neither we nor our kitty Lily will ever be vegans

21. Winnow: SIFT - Letting a breeze help winnow the wheat from the chaff

22. Skye of "La Brea": IONE - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I think you can pick out Ms. Skye below

24. Prince of Moscow from 1325 to 1340: IVAN I.

26. "And there it is!": BOB'S YOUR UNCLE.

31. Helps out with a job: ABETS.

32. "Waiting for Godot" role: ESTRAGON - As I mentioned last week, Godot is a no show

35. "You don't say!": GOSH.

36. San Juan's __ de la Princesa: PASEO - A PASEO is a tree-lined public walkway

38. Took home: MADE - I took home less than $400/month in my first year of teaching

39. Reserved: SET APART - My son-in-law's architecture firm got four $2,300 reserved seats from a construction firm for a Husker VB earlier this month and took the entire family. The tix came with great parking and a prime rib buffet.

                    

41. Many a "Hacks" guest star: COMIC - Here's a list. I don't know a lot of them.

42. Fixes a situation: STACKS THE DECK.

45. Needle: TEASE.

46. Strong: HALE.

47. Farm youngster: CALF.

48. Peter __ Steak House: LUGER - Here's the menu

51. Federal org. with a flower logo: EPA.

54. Dance in "Lilo & Stitch": HULA.

55. Topic for discussion: AGENDA ITEM.

58. Cartel headquartered in Vienna: OPEC.

59. List of attractions: PLACES TO GO.

60. Forward: PERT.

61. Fatal attractions?: SIREN SONGS - Sail on Odysseus!

Down:

1. "Boomerang" singer JoJo: SIWA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

2. African lake in four countries: CHAD.

3. Assistance: HAND.

4. Suspicious: ODD - Don't we all know this Sesame Street Song: "Three of these belong together, three of these things are kind of the same..."

5. Number of former public defenders who have served on the Supreme Court: ONE.

6. "Perish the thought!": LORD NO!

7. Environs: MILIEU - Not a word you might use in every environ 

8. Together, musically: A DUE.

9. Try out: TEST.

10. Starts to consume: EATS INTO.

11. Dishes that can be both hot and cold: PIES ALA MODE 😀

12. Minecraft, e.g.: ONLINE GAME - The ORE elements of this game are regularly used here.

13. "Dune" realm: SCI FI.

14. From Armenia to Azerbaijan: EAST.

22. "Oh, yeah?": IS THAT A FACT.

23. Kvetching cries: OYS.

25. Home entertainment staple, once: VCR.

26. Secures: BAGS - Hunters around here try to BAG a deer in season

27. Prominent instrument in "Swan Lake": OBOE - Here it is (1:01)

28. Novelist's goal: BEST SELLER.

29. Sits for a spell: RESTS.

30. Mistreat, maybe: USE.

33. Like much of Pindar's work: ODIC - I wonder if they were BEST SELLERS

34. Ukulele part: NECK.

36. Warmup stretches: PACE LAPS - The PACE CAR at the Indy 500 race a few years ago

37. Synagogue fixture: ARK.

40. Some med. professionals: PAS - My doctor and her PA are both former students

41. Film frame: CEL - The practice of making hand painted CELS ended in the late 1990's

43. From that point on: THENCE - As used by Emily Dickinson

44. Firm up: HARDEN.

45. Neutral tone: TAUPE.

47. Lamb cut: CHOP - Remember?

49. Citrus hybrid: UGLI.

50. Neutral, for one: GEAR.

52. Simon of the "Mission: Impossible" franchise: PEGG.

53. "The West Wing" actor John: AMOS.

56. Donkey: ASS.

57. Manga artist Junji: ITO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

I'm off to get out the bags of candy for tonight's 250+ trick or treaters who I don't think will look much like ITO's images!

Saturday, October 24, 2026, Rafael Musa

 Saturday Themeless by Rafael Must

Rafa, a software engineer at Airbnb in San Francisco, is a frequent constructor and collaborator. Although it took some time, I was delighted to receive a “got ‘er done” badge. Typically, there are clues or fills that can unlock a part of the puzzle, but it seemed like whenever I needed one, I was blocked by my lack of knowledge in areas where Rafa is much more knowledgeable. His FreshnessFactor Percentile was 97.3%.

Across:

1. Garage equipment: CAR RAMPS - $99 at Wal Mart

9. One who takes things the wrong way?: ROBBER 😀

15. Ancient Egypt's "plant of immortality": ALOE VERA - The plant was presented as a sacred gift at the burials of pharaohs and placed inside tombs to accompany rulers into the afterlife. Heck, all we want is some relief from a sunburn!

16. How donburi is served: ON RICE.

17. Parent who seems to do it all: SUPER MOM.

18. Umami-rich snack: TEA EGG - A TEA EGG is a Chinese savory food commonly sold as a snack, in which a boiled egg is cracked slightly and then boiled again in tea, and sauce or spices.

19. Audrey Tautou film: AMELIE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

20. Admits: SEES IN - This is a hoot!

22. RSVP part: SIL.

23. Chaps whose business is picking up?: BUSMEN - A very famous one from 50's TV. I had a mental coin flip between  this and men who clear tables, but I am a huge Jackie Gleason fan.

24. Habitat for some gnomes: LAWN.

26. Groups with routine practice sessions: DANCE CREWS.

30. "Over there," in Portuguese: ALI - "Vá ficar ALI" (Go stand over there)

31. Small bluff: CRAG.

32. Dough: MOOLAH.

33. Billboard entries: SINGLES 😀 Here is the top of Billboard's Hot 100 SINGLES on April 12, 1964.

35. "Tell the truth!": DON'T LIE.

36. Proceeds without a pause: SEGUES 😀 - Nobody did them better!

37. Common tamale ingredient: LARD - It's not labelled below, but I think you can see it in the little black pan.

38. "__ help!": IT'D.

39. Ephemeral post, colloquially: INSTASTORY - INSTAGRAM STORIES are said to disappear after 24 hours but does anything really disappear from the web?

41. Terrarium growth: MOSS.

42. Pen: ENCAGE.

43. Go unused: SIT.

44. Porowski of "Queer Eye": ANTONI ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

45. Place to enter a security code: PIN PAD.

48. Jumped out of one's skin?: MOLTED 😀 - Two weeks ago, August Miller gave us 6. Drop down?: MOLT 

50. What files can help with: NAIL CARE.

52. Preferring platonic connections, for short: ARO ACE.

53. University founded by Booker T. Washington: TUSKEGEE.

54. Reacts to a riot, say: LAUGHS 😀

55. "Sure, hon": OKAY DEAR.

Down:

1. Isabel Allende's "La __ de los espíritus": CASA - Even I could see this translates to The House Of The Spirits.

2. Grad: ALUM.

3. Means of access for some watering holes: ROPE SWINGS - A lot of the images were violent fails!

4. Attract: REEL IN.

5. "Complicated" singer Lavigne: AVRIL.

6. Part of a viral load?: MEME - If an internet posting goes viral, it can become a MEME

7. Maven: PRO - Not a common synonym for me but...

8. Korean company whose name means "three stars": SAMSUNG.

9. Capacity built via repetition: ROTE MEMORY 😀

10. "Be right with you!": ONE SECOND.

11. Low-quality internet content: BRAIN ROT.

12. Word in Spanish 101 and French 101: BIEN The play was well done. In Spanish: La obra estuvo BIEN hecha. In French: La pièce était BIEN réussie.

13. Diagnostic test, for short: ECG.

14. Bylaw, for short: REG - REGulations 

21. Key part of an exit strategy: ESC.

23. "Be right with ewe!" sounds?: BAAS 😀

24. Drink that may be topped with cardamom: LASSI.

25. Strange: ALIEN.

26. Style guides?: DRESS CODES - Fair?

27. "Gaycation" co-host: ELLIOT PAGE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

28. Stands by: WAITS - BTW, Godot never shows up.

29. Saw places: SHEDS 😀

31. Green transport, gray water recycling, etc.: CLEAN TECH.

  
 

34. "Yo!" de Cologne?: GUTEN TAG - What a fun clue! Good day in Cologne, Germany. 

35. "Just do it," e.g.: DARE.

37. Access, in a way: LOG INTO.

40. "Saving Fish From Drowning" novelist: TAN.

41. __ oath: MINCED.

43. Like flan: SILKY.

44. Six-time MLB All-Star Moisés: ALOU.

45. Tuscan city known for a campanile: PISA - Of course, a campanile is a bell tower and very common in Italy. However in PISA...

46. Painter's calculation: AREA.

47. Sacred animals in Nara, Japan: DEER.

48. __ educado: rude, in Spanish: MAL - MAL means bad in Spanish, so...

49. Pop singer Rita: ORA - We had a nice reference to RITA Hayworth yesterday.

51. North Sea bird: AUK.