Saturday, September 26, 2026, Adrian Johnson

 Saturday Themeless by Adrian Johnson

  

Our Wyoming native who went to college in Minnesota is now doing greatwork for a startup group called BetterFi, a nonprofit working to end predatory lending in Tennessee.

I made great progress and soon had the NW to SE swath done and then had to go in to finish off the other corners which was a fun challenge with a lot of international cuisine and filmakers. 

Across:

1. Releases: EMITS.

6. Ardent supporter: MEGAFAN - This Raider fan qualifies

13. Island country that changed the shape of the International Date Line by skipping December 30, 2011: SAMOA.

14. "Anything you say": SURE SURE.

15. Guttural sound: CROAK.

16. Outermost meningeal membrane: DURA MATER.

17. Hot: IN DEMAND.

19. "Bad idea": DON'T.

20. High return: LOB.

21. 41-Across teacher: SENSEI and 41. Dojo discipline: KARATE.

23. Army __: ANTS.

24. Double-reed woodwind related to the shawm: OBOE - Adrian muddied the waters by adding a shawm in the clue 

26. Seldom seen: SCARCE.

28. Racing headgear: CRASH HELMET - 76-year-old comedian Andy Huggins says at his age he worries about falling and so he wears a HELMET. To keep from looking foolish, he also carries a skateboard.

30. Tailgating area: LOT.

33. Angiogram image, perhaps: AORTA - It kinda stands out, doesn't it

34. "__ bien": MUY.

35. Durable fabric: CHINO.

37. Drug featured in the Dock Ellis biopic "No No: A Dockumentary": LSD.

38. "How's it hangin'?": WHAT'S SHAKIN'

42. Bernie Sanders' mittens, for one: MEME.

What's shakin' Bernie?

43. Singer known as the "Goddess of Pop": CHER - Depends on who you ask. 

  

47. Harsh critics: HATERS.

49. PC IDs: IPS.

50. Martinican poet Césaire who helped found the Négritude movement: AIME ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

51. Dessert often made with espresso: TIRAMISU.

53. "Chocolate in every bite" cookie maker: CHIPS AHOY.

56. Sonicare rival: ORAL B.

58. Herb in fines herbes and herbes de Provence: TARRAGON - Fines Herbes (fēnz erbs - literally fine herbs): Made with a specific combination of four fresh herbs in equal parts: parsley, chives, tarragon, and chervil.

59. Bring up: RAISE.

60. Welcome words?: IT'S OPEN.

61. Wrapped: ENDED.


Down:

1. Key hit in panic: ESC.

2. Platform game that debuted in 1983: MARIO BROS - I loved playing their lo-res game on my Apple IIe

3. "You sold me": I'M ON BOARD.

4. Bufotoxin source: TOAD - Bufotoxin is a milky, poisonous defense chemical secreted by the skin and parotoid glands of true toads in the genus Bufo.

5. Array at an izakaya: SAKES Izakaya (居酒屋) are casual drinking establishments, similar to tapas bars, where customers order a variety of small dishes of food that can be shared at the table. 

6. Genre in which readers are clued in to the plot?: MURDER MYSTERY.

7. Time to study: ERA. 

8. Beaut: GEM.

9. Taqueria option: ASADA - When you're done at the izakaya, you can drive on over to a taqueria for some carne ASADA (grilled meat) food.

 

10. Guest room fixture: FUTON.

11. "__ you sweet!": AREN'T.

12. "Aw, phooey": NERTS.

14. Vinyasa sequence also called Surya Namaskar: SUN SALUTATION ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  - Vinyasa is the movement between poses. This slowly revealed itself.

16. Event one must prepare for exhaustively?: DANCE MARATHON - A DANCE MARATHON was the subject of this movie 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. The trailer

18. Vibe well: MESH.

20. Word in many union names: LOCAL - Hormel's LOCAL 22 Union has sponsored champion softball teams here in town for years.

22. Halo-halo base: ICE - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ More exotic food! This is a Filipino shaved ICE treat.

25. Part of i.e.: EST.

27. Make a lasting impression?: ETCH.

29. Skateboarding star Tony: HAWK - Tony now "hawks" Qunol products

30. "This bears repeating ... ": LIKE I SAID.

31. Instinctively: ON IMPULSE - I bought a Mazda Miata on impulse many years ago and regretted it. It always needed repairs and wouldn't handle snow.

32. Hues: TONES.

36. Muffuletta ingredient: HAM ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ More unknown (to me) food. The classic New Orleans sandwich combines a homemade olive salad with layers of thin-sliced Italian cold cuts. Man it looks so good!

39. Derisive laugh: HAH.

40. "Buona __": SERA.

43. Tacos de nopales need: CACTI - Our buffet continues: 

To make cactus tacos, scrape thorns off nopales (duh), boil them for 15 mins with onions, bay leaves, and cilantro, then sauté with chilis and jalapeños.

44. Percussion set: HI HAT.

45. Dubai rulers: EMIRS.

46. High-quality proof, for short: REPRO - Repro stands for reprographics (or reproduction), but in publishing, printing, and design, a REPRO specifically refers to a high-quality proof of text and images. It is used as the final checkpoint to verify that everything looks perfect before the final print run.

48. Camping treat: SMORE.

52. Home country of filmmaker Asghar Farhadi: IRAN. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

54. Chump: SAP.

55. Sit in a cellar, perhaps: AGE.

57. Sack: BED.

Saturday, September 19, 2026, Kyle Dolan

 Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan

My 26th puzzle by Kyle was a shock to my eyes when I saw the clusters of the blocks on the edges. For those of you who know me, you can understand why CAPE CANAVERAL was a sitting duck for this NASA guy. The other long fills were very "gettable" and helpful but in his usual "not so fast" manner, he planted some twisted clues out in the middle!

I'll point out some of my issues below. 

Kyle was kind enough to write this:

Hi Gary,

Thanks for your note. Glad you enjoyed the puzzle and found that CAPE CANAVERAL resonated with you. I was motivated to see what I could do with a themeless grid of this type of pattern (which I think of as "S-shaped"). Curious to see what solvers think of it!

Best,

Kyle

Across

1. Amateurs who are known to make waves: HAM OPERATORS - In the opening scenes of Contact, young Ellie Arroway (played by Jena Malone) was a HAM OPERATOR. Jody Foster played Ellie as an adult.

13. Place where flights are astronomical: CAPE CANAVERAL - KSC and CAPE CANAVERAL sit adjacent to each other.

14. Meet-cute genre: ROMANTIC COMEDY - ROM COM leapt to my mind and then I saw I had to spell it out.

15. Piglike herbivores: TAPIRS - Mom and calf at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. Baby has jungle camouflage.

16. Female kangaroo: DOE.

17. Need for constructing some temporary buildings: PAIL. 😀

18. Great Lakes fish: SMELT.

19. Cause of a mass movement?: FORCE 😀 I taught this a few hundred times!

21. Handmade letters: DIY.

22. Sense of gloom: PALL  - Name that poem! (*Answer at the bottom)

 

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A PALL-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

23. Losses: DEFEATS.

25. Business with a relaxed dress code?: SPA 😀

26. Award-winning Netflix series about conflict: BEEF ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

27. Seehorn of "Pluribus": RHEA - In Better Call Saul, Rhea's character Kim stayed with Saul no matter what idiocy he pulled.

29. Pending: ON HOLD - The biggest VB crowd in Illinois history showed up to see #1 Huskers play in Wrigley Field. After 15 minutes of play, the coaches agreed the court was too slick to be safe and so the game was put ON HOLD for 45 minutes and eventually postponed. It may be the death knell for outdoor VB.

 

31. Antique counter: ABACUS 😀

33. Emigre from Kerala, say: DESI - In India and South Asia, desi (pronounced deh-see) means "local", "native" or "indigenous"

34. Bearing: MIEN.

35. Trunk stabilizer: RIB.

37. __ Medal: National Geographic Society honor: HUBBARD - Sir Edmund Hillary received one in 1954 from Dwight Eisenhower.

39. Word with tester or blocker: BETA - One for software testing and one for heart protection 

  
 

40. Jamaican style: SKA - This cwd solver has seen this word it many times but has never heard it played.

43. Classic Times Square lights: NEONS - A big tune for the Drifters, remember?

They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway

They say there's always magic in the air

But when you're walking down that street

And you ain't had enough to eat

The glitter rubs right off and you're nowhere

44. Two-time NBA Finals MVP Durant: KEVIN.

45. Student setting out for the bar?: ONE L.

47. Reward for a sacrifice, at times: RBI - Can be accomplished with a long fly ball or a short bunt

48. "Farewell": SO LONG.

49. Solar-powered lighting?: AURORA BOREALIS - When I was in Central Saskatchewan the northern lights were high in the sky and brilliant every night!

52. One whose digits are shielded: PRIVATE CALLER - If I see "Unknown Caller", ain't answerin'!

53. Guest spots?: SLEEPER SOFAS - My daughter had one in Lincoln I used during a Classe and don't remember a minute of rest.

Down:

1. Mark visible on many planets: HAMIL 😀 - Kyle!

2. To pieces: APART.

3. __ rea: MENS.

4. Fall Classic mo.: OCT - The World Series in OCT meant: 1) Day baseball games with long shadows, 2) Black and white TV. 3) Sneaking a transistor radio into class.

5. Was worth it: PAID OFF.

6. Program extension: ENCORE.

7. Furniture for a kid who's growing up fast?: RACE CAR BED 😀

8. Versatile fruit, for short: AVO - AVOcado 

9. Coverage resource: TEMP - We substitute teachers are really admired because we take coverage responsibility away from regular teachers. 

10. Water : naiad :: mountain : __: OREAD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Nymphs of the water and nymphs of the mountains

11. Spoke multiple times?: RADII 😀

12. In a foxy way: SLYLY.

13. Ballet dancer Misty: COPELAND - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I wonder if she's ever had a cheeseburger 

14. New York/New Jersey's __ Mountains: RAMAPO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  - 42 miles from "Where the neon lights are bright" 

15. Recipe amts.: TSPS.

19. Doomscroller's milieu: FEED - Once you get on a negative FEED, the sites will just keep coming for you.

20. "__ Frome": ETHAN - a 1911 novella by American author Edith Wharton. It details the story of a man who falls in love with his wife's cousin and the tragedies that result from the ensuing love triangle.

23. Do some peer review, legally?: DELIBERATE - Wow, Kyle! A jury of your peers must DELIBERATE in your legal matter 😀

24. Triple __: SEC - Triple sec is a clear, sweet, orange-flavored liqueur made by distilling neutral alcohol with dried sweet and bitter orange peels.

26. Mr. Smee in "Peter Pan," e.g.: BOSUN.

28. "Farewell": AU REVOIR.

30. Chuckle sound: HEH.

31. Publicizes: AIRS.

32. Counter protests?: SIT INS - It's hard to believe these needed to happen in my lifetime.

34. Plants whose roots are used to make tapioca: MANIOCS - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Into each puzzle a little learning must occur

36. Complete rapidly, with "out": BANG.

38. Fishing gadget: BOBBER.

39. __ lettres: literary genre: BELLES - Fine letters or beautiful writing. More

40. Daytime fare: SOAPS.

41. Metalworking ridge: KNURL

42. American Eagle Outfitters subsidiary: AERIE.

44. Animal that sleeps 18 to 22 hours a day: KOALA.

46. Robert Indiana sculpture: LOVE.

48. Ego: SELF.

50. Grammy category: RAP.

51. Big name in pasta sauce: RAO - I noticed it on the grocery shelf next to Prego after I saw it in a cwd.

*