Saturday, June 13, Kyle Dolan

 Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan

I liked Dr. Dolan's puzzle and never felt I was not going to solve it. My issue became trying to decipher what Kyle meant by his "off-the-wall"cluing. As has become my custom with Kyle's puzzles, I did have a one-cell problem where you see the red cell in the grid. That high intensity exercise crossing an obscure "legal term" was never going to happen. I always wonder whether terms like that are already known to the constructor or a happy result of a desperate search of a piece of crossword software. Follow me as I embark on blogging my 24th Dolan Saturday themeless.

Across:

1. Sign of puppy love?: TUMMY RUB 😀 Ah, it is an activity by someone who actually loves a puppy.

Uh, are you sure you know what you're doing?

9. Folded dish: OMELET.

15. Evidence that may not be fully reliable: ANECDATA - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   In casual conversation, business, or media, "anecdata" refers to anecdotal evidence presented as objective fact. The Problem: It relies on a very small sample size (e.g., "My grandfather smoked three packs a day and lived to 100, so smoking isn't harmful"). It ignores biases, coincidence, and statistical anomalies. 

16. Mottled: CALICO.

17. Mud slingers?: BARISTAS - Even in this election year, Kyle is referring to the euphemism for coffee 

18. Shiver: TREMOR. 

19. Deuce follower: AD IN - I held onto TREY but eventually the cows came home. AD IN is simply overtime in tennis after the game ends tied which is called deuce.

20. Level: SHIM.

22. Teatime bite: SCONE.

23. Pacific nation whose national sport is rugby: TONGA - Rugby is also the national sport of SAMOA that are both Pacific nations ending in A, but...

25. Server reset?: LET - Kyle comes in with another tennis term. A LET is called when a serve hits the net but lands in bounds. The reset is that the server gets to serve again with no penalty. To reset the server in my house, I do the "unplug/plug back in" strategy.

27. Pants, informally: TROU.

28. "That's __ from me": A NO - He made a career out of this phrase

29. Couple: TWO and 35. A couple: GOING STEADY 😀 and 41. Couple: DUO.

32. Day on 10-Down: SOL - From the movie The Martian

34. Scamp: IMP.

38. Place that may have a "no phones" rule: DINNER TABLE.

39. Beer and skittles: LIFE OF RILEY - A 50's TV show starring William Bendix. Derivation of the phrase

40. Kick: JAG - Unrestrained activity (bureau/spree): An informal term for a period of excessive indulgence or uncontrolled emotion (e.g., a "crying jag" or "drinking jag"). Something from which you might get a "kick"

42. Org. preceded by the Cipher Bureau: NSA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There was a 1939 movie about it.

43. Vane dir.: SSE.

46. Country whose motto was "Workers of the world, unite!": USSR.

48. Best: TOP.

50. Walks down the aisle, casually: USHES - The walk is not casual, the word referring to ushering is.

52. Rafael with a Golden Slam: NADAL - These three men have won the four major tennis championships plus the Olympic gold medal.

54. Clucks: TSKS.

57. Light color: TINT.

58. "Point taken": I GET IT.

60. Nickname for the Southern city whose motto is "Resurgens": HOTLANTA - Resurens is Latin of "rising again".

   

62. Iroquois nation: ONEIDA.

63. "Farewell, mes amis!": A BIENTOT - French for "see you soon" or "bye for now" 

64. Amplify, in a way: REPOST - 😀 Sharing content someone else has posted 

65. "This ends now": WE'RE DONE.

Down:

1. High-intensity exercise method: TABATA - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ TABATA is a high-intensity interval training (HITT) protocol developed by Japanese scientist Dr. Izum Tabata 

2. Dish whose name means "eel bowl": UNADON.

3. Sheep from Spain: MERINO - I learned this doing crosswords and was able to retrieve this from the deep recesses of my brain

4. Running with a mic, maybe: MCING - 😀 The EMCEE runs the show

5. Some penalty units: Abbr.: YDS.

6. "Phooey!": RATS.

7. Jazz venue: UTAH - This NBA team nickname originated in New Orleans where the name fit like a glove and for some reason they kept it when the team moved to Salt Lake City. The same goes for when the Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles.

8. Pho herb: BASIL - I know Pho is Vietnamese soup and a five-letter word herb starting with a B leaves few candidates

9. Feast of St. Francis of Assisi mo.: OCT - Omelet at 9 Across starts with an O, so...

10. Destination of NASA's Escapade mission: MARS.

11. Pick: ELECT.

12. Long road trip?: LIMO RIDE - The trip is not long, the vehicle is

13. Coach: ECONOMY - This is where all my airplane seats have been

14. Made unreadable, say: TORE UP.

21. Portable cooker: MESS TIN - I felt pretty good with MESS KIT...

24. Took one's medicine, in a way: ATONED.

26. Arrivals for the summer?: TOTALS - 😀 People who do addition arrive at a total that is also called a sum and so I guess these people could be called a summer.

30. Triumph through adversity: WIN OUT - The Knicks two nights ago

31. Common length of a wooden ruler: ONE FOOT.

33. Defensive coordinator who helped the Steelers win the Super Bowl in 2006 and 2009: LEBEAU.

35. Pic file: GIF - I'm a big fan 

36. Warning sound: GRR.

37. Pop duo __ & AJ: ALY ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

38. Finds an extra gear: DIGS DEEP - What the Knicks did Thursday night 

39. Dish often served "al forno": LASAGNE Al forno (Italian for "from the oven") refers to food that is baked or roasted in an oven.  

40. Subordinate: JUNIOR.

43. Worship of entities known as kami: SHINTO.

44. Forwarded: SENT ON.

45. Coffee grounds?: ESTATE -  Coffee can be grown on one ESTATE or plantation rather than on various small operations which are consolidated

47. Pi, for one: RATIO - The RATIO of a circle's circumference to its diameter.

49. "I don't believe that!": PSHAW.

51. Selling point?: STAND 😀

53. Lens covers?: LIDS.

55. Capital city of Hyogo Prefecture: KOBE.

56. Hubbub: STIR.

59. Parlor piece, informally: TAT 😀

61. Greta of "The Morning Show": LEE - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I'm guessing you can pick out Ms. LEE

Saturday, June 6, 2026, August Miller

Saturday June 6, 2066 by August Miller

August is a constructor we have seen very often here in the last 12 months. I blogged his first LA Times themeless just year and now this is the 6th one. He is a former physics Ph.D. candidate turned farmer who lives in Berkshire County, MA.

Here is part of a very nice interview with August:

Once upon a time I was going to be a physics PhD. I studied physics in undergrad and tried graduate school (twice), but ultimately that environment just didn’t work for me. And now I come home at night smelling of cows and hay, and it feels so much better.

I flew through the top half of August's puzzle but ran into too many options in the mideast, however, I eventually managed a hard-earned "got 'er done"! As you can see below, this puzzle had 9 unique long fills some of which took some effort. 

Across: 

1. App on the half shell: CLAMS CASINO - According to legend, the recipe for clams casino was originally developed in 1917 in the Little Casino in Narragansett, Rhode Island, by a maître d'hôtel for a woman of means wanting something special for her guests. 

12. Promos: ADS.

15. Online scale with a green splat icon: TOMATOMETER - The only movie I walked out on got  a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 5% and a green splatted tomato.

16. __ culpa: MEA - In current lexicon - "My Bad". All the big names in the movie above owed the public a MEA CULPA.

17. Number that should never be shared: ONE TIME CODE - A CODE that is usually sent to my iPhone to make sure it is a valid log on.

18. Chic bag monogram: YSL - $1,700 will get you this chic bag with the YSL monogram.

19. __ ed: SEX.

20. Bean in frijoles de la olla: PINTO - Beans from the pot. We see "ollas" for Spanish pots here in crosswords.

21. Calculator brand: CASIO - I remember being amazed by my first calculator. Now I have one on my watch, phone and laptop along with many other apps that dwarf the capabilities of our moon lander computers of the 1960's.

23. Shapes into a wreath, say: BENDS.

24. Luray feature: CAVERN - Luray, VA in the Shenandoah Valley is famous for its caverns. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

25. Trampoline sound: BOING.

27. Pride event: PARADE.

28. Maker of Sinatra Select whiskey: JACK DANIELS.

31. Galoot: APE.

33. After-lunch sandwich: OREO.

34. __ compression: information technology method: LOSSY - If you must know more

35. Door opening?: TRAP - Moviedom's best TRAP door scene (2:45)

36. Schedule abbr.: TBA.

37. Comedic interludes on some 47-Across albums: HIP-HOP SKITS - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They exist

39. Moonstruck: IN LOVE.

41. Wee bit: SKOSH.

42. Dress rack label: PETITE.

43. Cinq moins deux: TROIS - In Spanish,  5 - 2 = 3 

45. Amino __: ACIDS.

46. Models whose names typically started with 9: SAABS.

47. GloRilla genre: RAP -  Her lyrics are NSFW

50. Pea body?: POD.

51. Birth years for some of Gen Z: EARLY AUGHTS.

54. Equal: ARE.

55. Agreed-upon next steps: ACTION ITEMS.

56. Berlioz's "__ Troyens": LES - "The Trojans" is a five act opera based on The Aeneid 😳

57. Simple way to start the day: TEA AND TOAST.

Down:

1. R&D execs: CTOS - Chief Technology Officer

2. Unique: LONE.

3. Black Card co.: AMEX.

4. Welcome site?: MAT and 30. Somewhat: ISH.

5. Fixed allowance: STIPEND.

6. Really starting to shine: COMING ALIVE.

7. Revise: AMEND.

8. Splinter groups: SECTS.

9. "__, am America": Hughes: I TOO.

10. Kelly who narrates Peter Carey's "True History of the Kelly Gang": NED. I lost my own father at 12 yr. of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silences my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will contain no single lie may I burn in Hell if I speak false.

11. Entities that carry rock and roll: ORE CARS - Fun cluing

12. Comedian who voices Princess Carolyn in "BoJack Horseman": AMY SEDARIS. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

13. Unplanned shortcut: DESIRE PATH.

14. Business where employees often get snippy?: SALON. 😀

22. Hannah's "Hacks" role: AVA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

23. Sweet rice cake from the Philippines: BIKO.¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

24. Group of Caribbean islands?: CALYPSO BAND -  😀 Oh, the group is not the islands not the islands but a group of performers on the islands! Doh!

25. Hot pink aesthetic: BARBIE CORE - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Won't this become (or has become) "So last year?"

26. Changing sea levels?: OCEAN TIDES - This is the TIDE chart for Cocoa Beach, FL. for today. If I had teenagers there today around 6:30 pm, would they be finding lots of shells?

27. Mexican bar tender: PESO - Tender is another word for money

28. Wee bit: JOT.

29. "Nice try": NOPE - I'll bet you can do the imitation.

30. [See at 30 Down]

32. Some indie releases: EPS - Extended plays

35. MMA calls: TKOS - Images are pretty violent  

37. Place for grilling or roasting: HOT SEAT - Senator Kennedy brings the heat!

38. Resort wear: SKI SUIT.

40. Top: LID.

42. __ bull: PAPAL - A papal bull is a highly formal public decree or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It takes its name from the Latin word bulla, referring to the leaden seal traditionally attached to authenticate the document.

43. "Nonnas" actress Shire: TALIA - I'll bet you can pick out Rocky's Adrian from this cast picture from Nonnas

Okay, she's second from the left.

44. Lustrous synthetic: RAYON.

46. Chica's title: Abbr.: SRTA - Chica is most commonly used for the Spanish word for girl

47. Cassowary kin: RHEA.

48. Spots for checks and balances?: ATMS 😀

49. Whisper before "Pass it on!": PSST.

52. Serena slam?: ACE.

53. Classic Pontiac: GTO.

Lest we forget the June 6 of 82 years ago: