Saturday, July 20, 2019, Paolo Pasco, Erik Agard

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Paolo Pasco and Erik Agard

Karma or not, this NASA educator is proud to be able to blog on this auspicious golden anniversary of Neil Armstrong's "small step/giant leap". Fifty years ago today I baled hay in  for my father-in-law and then watched one of the most historic events in world history that evening along with billions of other earthlings.

          Buzz Aldrin                                      My 7/21/69 Omaha World Herald

The irony of the picture above is that it is of Buzz Aldrin as are all other posed pictures of either of the two first two humans on the Moon. Neil Armstrong took the picture and you can see his reflection and the Eagle Lunar Module in Buzz's 24K gold face mask. 18. Lead-in for time or point: AT NO time did the geniuses at NASA think to tell Neil to give the camera to Buzz so they could get a picture of him. 

Speaking of geniuses (genii?), today's wonderful exercise was created by these two. 

Paolo Pasco                                                 Erik Agard

An article in the Harvard Magazine about Paolo.

A C.C. interview with Erik (before he was on Jeopardy)

I got through in good time as most of the long fills, except for 1 Across, were very gettable.

Now let's take one small step  for learning and one giant leap for entertainment with Paolo and Erik (and me in my NASA presentation outfit)

Across:

1. Title toon toy-fixer with a magic stethoscope: DOC MCSTUFFINS - No idea

14. Short-distance fliers: PAPER AIRPLANES.

15. Philosophical consoling words: WIN SOME LOSE SOME and some get rained out

16. __ hall: REC(reation)

17. Tony-winning 2017 play about international diplomacy: OSLO  A preview/trailer

19. Diamonds, in slang: ICE.

20. Texas art patron __ Hogg: IMA - She signed her first name as illegibly as possible but made big marks in the arts and in the area of mental health

21. C or P, on a diamond: POS - The Pitcher POSITION is 1 in a baseball scorebook and the Catcher is 2

23. Lab workers: TECHS.

25. It means nothing in Paris: RIEN - Il ne coûte RIEN d'être civil ici (It costs nothing to be civil here)


27. Jolie 2010 title role: SALT - Meh...

39. "Little Miss Sunshine" Oscar winner: ARKIN - On the other hand... 

31. Pakistani prime minister __ Khan: IMRAN - Here ya go

32. Lock expert?: WRESTLER - Usually a headlock

34. "Cool beans!": NEATO.

35. Prefix with grace: DIS.

36. Valletta's island: MALTA - About a hour-and-a-half flight from Rome

37. Journals: GAZETTES - Founded in 1845, this is said to be America's first pop-culture publication

40. Runner on runners: SLED.

41. Jewish youth org.: YMHA - Young Men's Hebrew Association 

43. Monopoly figures: RENTS.

44. __ hug: BRO.

45. Letters associated with a lion: MGM.

47. German grandpa: OPA - Ich bin ein OPA von fünf tollen Leuten ( I am a grandpa to five great people)

48. Lose focus, with "out": ZONE.

51. Rested: LAIN - Take this online quiz on lie and lay (click on Take)

53. Female in WWII: WAC.

54. Track star?: RECORDING ARTIST - My 1962 Roy Orbison album had six tracks on the front and six tracks on the back 59. Audio feedback?: I LOVE THIS SONG - Track number 1, Crying, was my favorite where Roy unleashes his operatic voice


58. Action movie cry: BATTLE STATIONS.


Down:

1. Moves in for a short time?: DANCE CRAZE - Okay, Paolo and Erik, who came up with this fabulous clue? The Macarena "Moves" were "in for a short time"

2. Special __: OPS.

3. One on top of an org chart: CEO.

4. 1983 comedy about a stay-at-home dad: MR. MOM - 57% or not, I liked it

5. Salad choice: CAESAR.

6. Flower pot holder: SILL.

7. State enforcement group: TROOPERS - State TROOPERS seldom get passed on the interstate

8. Prosperous times: UPS - Every life has its UPS and Downs

9. Lab annoyances: FLEAS - This Lab is a dog not a room

10. Securely: FAST.

11. Advised of: IN ON.

12. Friend of Dory: NEMO - Dory's advice (:28) that meant 29. "That's not worth getting riled up over": LET IT PASS.

13. Abbr. aptly found in "compasses": SSE - A heading of 157.5 degrees on a ship's compass

14. Done in fragments: PIECEMEAL as opposed to 22. Not in fragments: ONE - Marijuana laws

15. Penned works: WRITINGS.

20. "Wrong!": IS NOT - How white-haired Buzz Aldrin reacted when confronted by an idiot man who said the Moon landing was a hoax

24. Not at all popular: HATED.

26. "In a perfect world ... ": I WISH.

27. Long look: STARE - STARE at the black dot in the middle of this flag for 30 seconds without blinking and then look at the blank space at the right (blink to enhance the image)

28. Omniscient: ALL KNOWING.

30. Carry on, as business: TRANSACT.

33. Unction: SMARM - From dictionary.com 

1    UNCTION

a manner of expression arising or apparently arising from deep emotion, especially as intended to flatter.

"he spoke the last two words with exaggerated unction"

SMARM

ingratiating behavior.

-->

"it takes a combination of smarm and confidence to persuade them"

35. Reduce to bits: DEMOLISH.

38. Norse war god: TYR - All you'd ever want to know

42. Granada gal pals: AMIGAS.

44. Uncle Miltie of early TV: BERLE - Vaudeville on the small screen

46. Annoyances in clouds: GNATS - Yikes!

48. Ardor: ZEAL.

49. Quadri- doubled: OCTO.

50. Grounding rule, perhaps: NO TV - or cell phone, computer, game boy, etc

52. Inclined to fight: ANTI.

54. Homer stat: RBI - Some now say, "She has 47 RBI" instead of "RBI's" because the R stands for Runs

55. Many a "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" character: Abbr.: DET - I wonder if fans of that show know of Holmes, Hammer, Marple or Poirot

56. River in Mexico: RIO.

57. Long or short unit: TON  - A long TON is 20 hundredweight (cwt), each of which is 8 stone (1 stone = 14 pounds). Thus a long ton is 20 × 8 × 14 lb = 2,240 lb. A short TON is of course just 2,000 lb.

After you comment, please raise a glass to Neil, Buzz and Michael.

Saturday, July 13, 2019, Greg Johnson

Themeless Saturday by Greg Johnson

Today celebrates the delight/bane of my existence - National French Fry Day. I've often said that if were no potatoes, I'd be many pounds lighter. (See fast food fries ratings just above the grid at the bottom of the blog)

As a matter of fact, there isn't much you can do to a potato to make it unpalatable to me. Well, If you put them under liver... 😖

I managed to sail right through Greg's pangrammatic puzzle with nary a potato necessary

Across:

1. It may be tuna-flavored: CAT FOOD 

8. Words spoken while pointing: THAT WAY - Assistance from a tuna lover

15. Places with tanks: AQUARIA.

16. Some Australians call it "chateau cardboard": BOX WINE - A fun new phrase for me

17. In a peculiar fashion: FUNNILY - Reminds me of last Sunday's LY puzzle

18. 1996 Olympics site: ATLANTA.

19. Most of pewter: TIN.

Periodic Table Composition of PEWTER

20. [Uh-oh!]: GULP.

22. Money: TENDER - something tendered or offered, especially money, as in payment. 1535–45; earlier tendre, noun use of Anglo-French tendre to extend, offer. 

23. Golden __: ALES - Here ya go

25. Original "Jeopardy!" announcer: PARDO - Even this poor video quality brings back fond memories of Don PARDO and Art Fleming (:39)

27. It's put on: GARB and 1. Garment commonly seen in Morocco: CAFTAN - Hasbro will sell you an Indiana Jones villain wearing GARB known as a CAFTAN

28. Rock bottom: NADIR - NADIR in poetry

30. Sugar __: BEETS.

32. CV section: BIO - Writing a BIO in your Curriculum Vitae 

33. Two-thirds of 900?: ZERO ZERO - The other third is a 9

35. Place to go in London: LOO - A public LOO where you can, uh, go on a London street

36. One hanging around near the church entrance: GREETER.

39. Matching 401(k) contribution, e.g.: JOB PERK.

41. "Everybody Hurts" band: REM - A nice listen

42. Drink served in two states?: ICE WATER - Physics Phun! Here we see water in two of its states - solid and liquid

44. "__ recall ... ": AS I.

45. Title for Juan Carlos I: EL REY  - Juan Carlos I fue EL REY de España desde 1975 hasta 2014 (Juan Carlos I was the king of Spain from 1975 - 2014)

46. Pony Express employee: RIDER - The phrase "Orphans preferred" says something about this job

50. Sugar __: CONE 

52. Words on perishables: USE BY - Once that time strikes, my lovely bride pitches it no matter what 

54. The printed one doesn't include specials: MENU.


55. Massages: KNEADS - One kitty KNEADS another

57. Eccentric: KOOK.

59. Waiter at a stand: CAB 

60. Weak: LANGUID - A synonym was used in  the broadcast phrase "Wound my heart with monotonous LANGUOR" which signaled the French Underground that D-Day was imminent  

62. Fruit, so to speak: OUTCOME - Deeds are FRUITS, words are only leaves.

64. Territory within another territory: ENCLAVE -  Le Petit Senegal in Harlem, Manhattan

65. Walk all over: TREAD ON - South Carolinian Christopher Gadsen's Revolutionary War flag 

66. Heinz Field athlete: STEELER.

67. Elves, in some cases: HELPERS.


Down:

2. Constellation whose name is Latin for 51-Down: AQUILA and 51. Mexican flag bird: EAGLE.

3. Stored in a cask: TUNNED - I suppose if it's stored in a TUN... 

4. Agitate: FAN - Every group has someone who tries to FAN the flames of an argument 

5. Not a copy: Abbr.: ORIG.

6. Prepare to show some muscle: OIL UP 

7. Some farmhands: DAY LABORERS 

8. Not yet on the sched.: TBA.

9. More than eager: HOT TO TROT.

10. Semi bar: AXLE.

11. Bluegrass characteristic: TWANG.

12. Like some watches: WINDABLE - I've had them but can't remember the last time I wound a watch

13. Situated toward the front: ANTERIOR - The ACL is in front of the PCL below

14. High school memento: YEARBOOK.

21. Top suit: PREZ - Suit is vernacular for management 

24. What "L" may indicate: SIZE - I just love this joke!

26. Nightclub VIP's spot: DEE JAY BOOTH.

29. Fix, as laces: RETIE.

31. Not at all wasted?: SOBER - Ah the many synonyms for being drunk

34. Unlikely to be out and about: RECLUSIVE - Time magazine's Top 10 most RECLUSIVE celebrities

36. Crowlike birds: GRACKLES - FINALLY they have mostly left our yard! They are big, noisy bullies that arrive around the first day of spring and leave around the first day of summer. Our little birds now have a chance at the feeders and our sunflower chip bill will go down

37. Sonorous: RESONANT - My RESONANT voice was a great asset for me in my teaching career 

38. High standing: EMINENCE.

40. Proper partner: PRIM.

43. Word with day or end: WEEK.

47. Solve, as a cipher: DECODE - Perhaps the most famous DECODER was Alan Turing in Hut 6 at Bletchley Park

48. Win over: ENAMOR.

49. 17th-century Flemish painter: RUBENS - Lovely Christina Hendricks of AMC's Madmen is said to have a RUBENESQUE figure

53. "'A' - __ Adorable": Perry Como hit: YOURE.

56. Serving two purposes: DUAL.

58. "Goofy Greats" record label: KTEL - This commercial brings back memories

 
61. Essen article: DER  - Dies ist DER vorletzte Hinweis (This is the penultimate clue)

63. Hat for an Angel: CAP - Many think the Angel under this CAP is today's best MLB player. His name is at the bottom of this blog *

After digesting this LA Times ranking of fast food fries, you can move on to comment:

* That California Angel is Mike Trout 

Saturday, July 6, 2019, Jeffrey Wechsler

Themeless Puzzle by Jeffrey Wechsler 

Archie League

On July 6th, 1936, the National Air Traffic Control System was created and it has progressed immensely since the days of the first air traffic controller - Archie League of St. Louis in 1929.

We now have a very high tech group of professionals that keep us safe in the wild blue yonder. To appreciate their job please click on this site that shows where every plane is that is currently flying anywhere in the world. I was shocked when I first saw how many planes are aloft at one time.

You can zoom in and out to see what plane is flying over your head right now and understand how hard it was to get all those planes on the ground on September 11, 2001

Today marks the second Jeffrey Wechsler themeless Saturday I have blogged in my year-and-a-half tenure here at the Corner. My first Wechsler Saturday puzzle blog was on the first Saturday of this year. He is shown below as the second from the left in this Minnesota event.  We all know the beautiful lady who is front and center. C.C.'s interview with Jeffrey

Now I will try to guide you through Jeffrey's crossword flight path from my Nebraska control tower. Wechsler flight 7.6.09 is now leaving the gate with various ETA's for the end of the trip:

Across:

1. Copper container?: POLICE CAR - The thought of copper meaning slang for a policeman occurred to me but I thought, nah, Jeffery wouldn't start with that. Well that was the first turbulence I hit on this flight. I most remember Car 54 and Adam-12

10. Avian sounds: CAWS - Not COOS it turns out

14. Clues in: MAKES AWARE.

15. Bypass: OMIT.

16. Field of operations?: ARITHMETIC - No new iteration of New Math makes sense to this math teacher. Pearson Publishing makes big bucks if you choose New Math as shown here.

17. Infiltrator: MOLE.

18. Car wash supply: RAGS - What? No SOAP?

19. Follower of TV?: SET.

20. Grapefruit stuff: PULP 

21. Penultimate of 24 letters: PSI - Next to last in Greek alphabet

22. Soup base: PEA 

25. 2002 Soderbergh film based on a 1961 sci-fi novel: SOLARIS - Rotten Tomatoes thought more of George Clooney's space effort that came eleven years later

27. "Stone walls do not a prison make" poet: LOVELACE - "Nor iron bars a cage" from Richard's 1642 poem To Althea, From Prison

30. Go bad: ROT.

31. Boxy conveyances: ELEVATORS - Art Deco entrances to said boxy conveyances in the lobby of the Empire State Building

33. Tolkien terror: ORC - Hello old cwd friend 

35. Accommodate: SUIT.

36. Pull apart: RIP - Just RIP that bandaid off!

37. Part of a bust: KILO - Illicit drugs (correction) often come in these 2.2. lb lots

39. Mideast group with observer status at the U.N.: PLO.

40. "After the Gold Rush" musician: NEIL YOUNG - Here ya go!

43. Bushes seem to flourish in it: Abbr.: GOP - Of these GOP Bushes, W's library is at 50. Dallas sch.: SMU.

45. Playful Pacific Northwest marine denizen: SEA OTTER.

46. Like pens designed for detailed work: FINE NIB - We crossworders are familiar with a pen's NIB

51. Auditor, often: Abbr.: CPA.

52. Bank product: LOAN.

53. Position, briefly: POV - It all depends on your Point Of View 

55. Where the tibialis anterior originates: SHIN.

56. Opposed to: ANTI.

57. Dismissed lightly: POOH POOHED - A 1939 NYT editorial POOH POOHED the idea that  TV would ever replace the radio. Origin of the phrase

61. In __: unmoved: SITU - An IN SITU mosaic in a Pompeii bathhouse 

62. Conscience: INNER VOICE 

63. Robert of "Airplane!": HAYS - The funniest movie I have ever seen (Robert HAYS on trumpet)! Craziness in the air traffic controller tower was a big part of this movie

64. Insignificant: PENNY ANTE - Also a low rent poker game


Down:

1. "The Mikado" props: PARASOLS.

Emma Kerr as Peep-Bo

2. "Just tell me already!": OK I GIVE UP, "What do you call a boomerang that won't come back?" (*Answer at the bottom of the blog)

3. With 23-Down, chow line: LETS 23. See 3-Down: EAT 

4. Cousin of -like: ISH.

5. Cell feature: CAM - I wonder if this lens would really enhance my cell CAM

6. One of Bo Peep's charges: EWE - She can't find 'em!

7. Best Musical Tony winner after "Nine": CATS.

8. First of 12: ARIES - Where the sun is during the spring equinox.  Why it really isn't in ARIES any more

9. Clerical leader: RECTOR.

10. Niels Bohr, to Victor Borge: COMPATRIOT - Fellow Danes in two very different disciplines 

11. Affaire de coeur: AMOUR - Love is an Affair of the heart

12. "__ ever!": "Yes!": WILL I 

13. Prominent Lincoln Memorial features: STEPS  - There are 58 STEPS from the plaza level up to the chamber.

14. Sleuth who knits: MARPLE - Margaret Rutherford was Agatha Christie's Miss Jane MARPLE in film from 1961 - 1964

22. Military group: PLATOON.

24. Seed with a prominent cap: ACORN 

26. "And another thing, buddy ... ": LOOK YOU.

28. Typical Bond foe: EVIL GENIUS - Here's some (I can only name Dr. No and Goldfinger)

29. Iroquois enemies: ERIES.

32. Infiltrators: SPIES.

34. Walk-off home run, e.g.: CLUTCH HIT - Baseball's most famous (1:00)

38. Swimwear option: ONE PIECE - In 1922 this D.C. cop's job was to make sure these ONE PIECERS were no more than 6" above the knee

41. On the __: LAM.

42. Starbucks size: GRANDE.

44. Repetitive British farewell: PIP PIP - Cheerio old bean!

46. Word with mob or card: FLASH - Gotta love this as it builds for six minutes

47. Ancient Greek region: IONIA - Map

48. Dapper: NATTY.

49. Northernmost Kentucky county: BOONE - Our 4,800 mile trip to Rome began at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport which is in BOONE County KY just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati 

54. Lindsey on skis: VONN.

55. "For violent fires __ burn out themselves": Shak.: SOON - "His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last. / For violent fires SOON burn out themselves" John of Gaunt said of Richard II

58. Farm female: HEN.

59. Explore where you shouldn't: PRY.

60. Fertility clinic supply: OVA - It's also the name of this In Vitro Fertilization clinic in Zurich 

*A boomerang that won't come back is called "A Stick"

Now put your seat backs and tray tables in their upright and locked position and feel free to comment.