Saturday, May 23, 2020, Sheryl Bartol

Saturday Themeless by Sheryl Bartol

Debbie Ellerin                  Sheryl Bartol

Today's constructor is Sheryl Bartol and in my search to contact her, I ran across the fact that she had co-authored a puzzle with Debbie Ellerin who is a frequent LA Times Saturday constructor. So I contacted Debbie and got the wonderful reply that SHERYL IS DEBBIE'S SISTER! Here is Sheryl's response to my note:

Hi Gary,

   Thanks for reaching out.  By way of background on me, I live in Evanston, IL and learned to construct puzzles from my sister (and sometimes co-constructor) Debbie Ellerin.  In retirement, in addition to constructing an occasional puzzle, I spend my time working with a homeless agency in my community “to end homelessness, one person at a time”. I also love traveling with my husband and three kids (and look forward to getting back to it post-pandemic), and competing in my family’s fantasy football league. 

I am excited about my debut LA Times puzzle and my first themeless puzzle.  I started the puzzle with the entry PROMPOSAL after being intrigued by the elaborate prom invitations devised by my children’s high school classmates. Other early longer entries were FORCEQUIT and MANOAMANO, which I thought were unique phrases. As I completed the fill, I was drawn to some words with personal connections. I am not sure if these clues survived the editing process, but I associate UPPER with the area of Michigan, that was home to my husband’s family. CREPE and EDAM were related to some of my travels, and I clued DESPERADO and HER with references to favorite Eagles and Beatles songs. The clue for APU came from my son Andrew who is a big Simpsons fan! All those hours of Simpsons watching finally paid off :)

Take care,

Sheryl

Now let's explore what the other of these two lovely sisters has to offer today with her LA Times and themeless debut:

Across:

1. Program shutdown of last resort: FORCE QUIT - If I push Command + Option + Esc, I get this window that allows me to FORCE any open program to QUIT if I choose it and hit Return

10. Like hair needing more rinsing: SUDSY - Not SOAPY it turns out

15. Shares secrets with: OPENS UP TO - Kids who do this to teachers can put the teacher in a difficult position 

16. Champs-Élysées lunch choice: CREPE - Shown below is the Crêpe salée chèvre miel et crêpes sucrées Nutella et spécialité banane (Savory Crêpe with goat cheese and honey and a sweet specialty Nutella and banana Crêpe) from the Creperie Framboise Champs-Elysees (White circle on map just off the Champs-Elsysse)

The CREPE dish mentioned above          The restaurant very near the Champs-Élysées

17. Spring roll wrapping: RICE PAPER - The steps showing the ingredients placed on RICE PAPER and rolled up with the finished product at the top

18. "The Tetons and the Snake River" photographer Adams: ANSEL - The master of b/w photography

19. Hardware item: T-NUT - 65 of them at Menards

20. "The Office" actress Ellie: KEMPER - Her IMDB

22. Zip in your step: PEP.

23. "__ Majesty": "Abbey Road" track: HER - A 23-second "throwaway" song that was "hidden" 14 seconds after the last track on Abbey Road. 

24. Hung in there: PERSEVERED.

26. Cool: RAD - The verb synonym  FAN didn't cut it

27. Rewards: DESERTS - Get what you deserve as "just DESERTS"

29. Pan flying: PETER - I was watching this at Grandma Opal's house the night my youngest sister was born

32. Aquatic diver: LOON.

34. Hawaiian staple: TARO.

35. Iowa college town: AMES - A 3-hr drive from my home to AMES for a Husker FB game (Huskers are 86 - 17 -2 against the Cyclones)

36. Hills complement: DALES - For me the Army Song will always start, "Over hill, Over DALE" but I'm not sure any more.

37. Cylindrical cheese: EDAM.

38. Word on a door: PUSH - Don't you all know the classic Far Side cartoon about this?

39. "A Holly Jolly Christmas" singer: IVES - Can you OD on a song? 

40. Wed on the sly: ELOPE.

41. Home of the Curve, the Pirates' Double-A team: ALTOONA 

43. Milk purch.: GAL.

44. "Bye!": SEE YA LATER - Yeah, we all know the next word in the Bill Haley and The Comets' song

47. Clean Water Act org.: EPA.

50. Support: AID.

51. Ill-__: like a poor clay model: SHAPEN.

52. Cultivated: GREW.

53. Ruler's domain?: ROOST - I know who rules the ROOST here!

55. In direct competition: MANO A MANO - Below #94 is going MANO A MANO with #79 which will 3. Come again: RECUR  all game long

57. Get used (to): INURE - How do you INURE yourself to this violence?

58. Senior's elaborate ask: PROMPOSAL - Last week it was 21. Down in Erik and Leslie's puzzle

 School dance invite portmanteau: PROMPOSAL - It appears Brooke said Yes

59. Notable Titanic casualty: ASTOR - John Jacob ASTOR was the richest passenger aboard the RMS Titanic and was thought to be among the richest people in the world at that time with a net worth of roughly $87 million when he died (equivalent to $2.3 billion in 2019).

60. Crumbly toppings: STREUSELS - Cinnamon coffee cake with STREUSEL topping!

Down: 

1. Tenth word of the Gettysburg Address: FORTH - Yeah, I had to figure out if Fourscore is one word or two

2. Speak up: OPINE.

4. Tech review site: CNET - CNET's best products for 2020

5. Medium claim: ESP - A medium with true ESP would be, uh, rare

6. Shook: QUAKED - The building on flexible pads doesn't SHAKE/QUAKE as much

7. Michigan's __ Peninsula: UPPER - You take the 5-mile long Mackinac Bridge, as seen here from the International Space Station, to get there from the lower Michigan peninsula 

8. They may follow bullets: ITEMS - This is an actual Power Point slide with bullet ITEMS that appeared sequentially (with sound of course) as I talked on planets with 7th graders. 

9. Undermines: TORPEDOES - A principal that didn't like me TORPEDOED a proposal I was making to the school board at the last minute. It passed anyway.

10. Close ones: SCARES - Wow!

11. Item near a sugar bowl, perhaps: URN.

12. Eagles title antihero: DESPERADO - Elaine's boyfriend was a huge fan of this song

13. Cop's surprise: SPEED TRAP - Hey, you were warned!

14. Site with many pans: YELP.

21. Ties up: EVENS - Carlton Fisk would not have gotten to hit his historic, game-winning home run in the 12th inning of Game 6 in the 1975 World Series if pinch-hitter Bernie Carbo had not hit a 3-run home run to EVEN the score in the 8th 

24. Putt-putt standard: PAR - PAR is 2 on every Putt-Putt® golf hole

25. Share around the campfire, say: RETELL.

26. Work on hooves: RESHOE - My farrier friend also works on giraffe hooves

28. "Have __": SOME.

29. Tevye, to Tzeitel: PAPA - She and her sisters don't want PAPA or Yente to make a match for them

30. Mayonnaise and salad dressing: EMULSIONS - A definition and a picture of EMULSIONS

31. Tried: TESTED OUT.

32. Illumination with a blob: LAVA LAMPS - They do a great job of showing how the heat inside the Earth melts rock to a liquid or LAVA which makes the LAVA rise to the surface and erupt. Plus the kids think they are cool!

33. Bullfight holler: OLE.

36. "Empty Nest" actress Manoff: DINAH  Her IMDB

40. Cup handle: EAR.

42. World metaphor, in Shakespeare: OYSTER - I doff my hat if you know the play and the speaker of this line: "Why then the world's mine oyster, Which I with sword will open" (*answer below the grid)

43. Mapping subject: GENOME - Here 'ya go!

45. Disassembled: APART.

46. Domingo, e.g.: TENOR - A wonderful three minutes of the Three TENORS singing Nessum Dorma (A wonderful 50. Bizet's "Habanera," for one: ARIA from Puccini's Turandot). Left to right - Placido, Jose and Luciano.

47. Remove entirely: ERASE.

48. Correctional: PENAL.

49. Some mil. absentees: AWOLS.

52. Scientifically engineered crops, for short: GMOS - A good cartoon explanation 

54. "Sold out" sign: SRO - The Husker VB sellout streak is at 268 at the 8,000+ seat Devaney Coliseum and the Standing Room Only tix ain't cheap!

56. Toon shopkeeper who once worked a 96-hour shift: APU - Apu Nahasapeemapetilon - The Kwik-E-Mart proprietor in The Simpsons.

*Pistol speaks the line to Falstaff in The Merry Wives Of Windsor

Saturday, May, 16, 2020, Erik Agard & Leslie Rogers

Themeless Saturday by Erik Agard and Leslie Rogers

Here's what Erik and Leslie told me about this great puzzle:

LESLIE: Erik sent me the grid skeleton and asked for some 8-11 letter seed ideas.  I sent him a list including PROMPOSAL and I DONT FOLLOW, which he used to seed the SW.  I then wrote the NE, he wrote the NW, and then I finished with the SE.  This was my first time collaborating on a themeless and I learned a lot from Erik, both in terms of technical tips for filling tricky areas and general philosophies about what makes good fill.

I’ve been relying on the PELOTON app for no-equipment workouts a lot while sheltering in place.  Sorry to all the seniors who are missing out on the PROMPOSAL experience this year - that entry is more bittersweet now than when we originally wrote this grid.  This is being published on my mom's birthday, so happy birthday, Mom! Thanks to the LA Times for publishing this and I hope everyone found something to enjoy in the puzzle!

ERIK: I also found this collaboration very edifying in terms of fill standards and cluing approaches - Leslie has a brilliant crossword mind and I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with her. Hope you liked the puzzle!

Let's review this fine collaboration on Leslie's mother's birthday:

Across:

1. Silver, in heraldry: ARGENT - This is definitely out of my area of expertise but ARGENT is shown as silver or white

7. Works with small bricks: LEGO ART - I'd love to do this LEGO ART

14. Legal opposite of negligence: DUE CARE - This is what we are all supposed to be exercising these days

16. Leaving exposed nails: OPEN TOE - Clever 

                                                 
17. Material: ON TOPIC.

18. Houston, for one: OIL TOWN - I went from SEA PORT to OIL PORT to OIL TOWN

19. Microscopic messenger: RNA.

20. Enjoys a lakeside diversion: SKIPS STONES.

22. Makes a plea: BEGS.

24. One with a Florida nest egg: EGRET - Not a retiree it turns out 

25. Reduce: PARE.

26. Word before steak or after chicken: STRIP.

28. Single: ONE.

29. '60s hallucinogen: LSD.

30. Soprano's note: HIGH B - 

32. Gran's daughter, humorously: MUMSY - I never called Grandma Gran nor Mom MUMSY!

35. 1521 Magellan landing site: PHILIPPINES - One of Magellan's five ships with eighteen survivors made the first circumnavigation of the Earth but Magellan died from a poison arrow in the PHILIPPINES. 

38. Like some sports highlights: SLO-MO - A SLO-MO simulation. Ya gotta love it!

39. Checked out ahead of time: CASED.

41. "All the Stars" one-named singer with Kendrick Lamar: SZA - Pronounced "sizz UH". Her story

44. Is in the past?: WAS.

45. Crisp fruit, maybe: PEARS - This lovely PEAR Crisp with ice cream looks delicious 

47. Like crossword clues about crossword clues, say: META - 

MET·A

/ˈmedə/

noun

noun: meta; plural noun: metas

adjective

US

adjective: meta

1. (of a creative work) referring to itself or to the conventions of its genre; self-referential.

49. Audibly stunned: AGASP.

52. Proof word: STET.

53. "You lost me": I DON'T FOLLOW 

56. Astronaut Jemison: MAE - Here's MAE being weightless on the International Space Station

57. Sign of Broadway success: LONG RUN  - The five Broadway plays with the LONGest RUNs

58. Crane producer?: ORIGAMI - How is that done?

60. Wrap: ENCLOSE.

61. Equipment company named for a cycling group: PELOTON - The people in their ads seem to be in great shape already!

62. __ syndrome: allergic reaction to insect bites: SKEETER - A less technical phrase for "papular urticaria". Google if you must...

63. Craps naturals: SEVENS - A SEVEN (or eleven) on your first roll of the dice is called a natural and makes you a winner!


Down:

1. Totes presh: ADORBS - Something that is "Totes (Totally) Presh (Precious)" can also be called ADORBS (Adorable) in the Valley Girl lexicon.

2. Biblical flows?: RUNNETH - My cup RUNNETH over is most familiarly from the 23rd Psalm. Ed Ames sang this lovely song adapted from that line in the Broadway play The Fantasticks

3. Keep it together, so to speak: GET A GRIP.

4. Lead-in to "lodge" or "logy": ECO.

5. Short rests: NAPS.

6. Minor cycle: TRIKE - Here's a senior TRIKE 

7. Stretch, say: LOOSEN UP.

8. Relating to knowledge: EPISTEMIC - Of or relating to knowledge or knowing. I'd be more likely to use it than MUMSY 

9. Hannukah reward: GELT - Hebrew for money. Cash has been replaced in some celebrations with chocolate "coins"

10. Leading: ON TOP and 12. Subjects of "The Boys in the Boat": ROWERS. This picture shows that ROWERS from Washington University came out ON TOP by pulling an incredible upset in this 8-oar race from the 1936 Olympics.

11. Not exactly hummable: ATONAL.

13. Got edgy: TENSED.

15. Vaper's need, informally: E-CIG 

21. School dance invite portmanteau: PROMPOSAL - It appears Brooke said YES!

23. Venetian bridge composition?: SIGHS -This bridge was used to lead prisoners from the examining rooms to their cells in the Prigioni. Legend has it that prisoners who crossed the bridge on the way from the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace to their prison cells or the execution chamber would SIGH as they caught their last glimpses of Venice through the tiny windows.

27. TV Dr.: PHIL.

31. Fly off the handle: BLOW A FUSE 33. Fly off the handle: SNAP - After crossing the Bridge Of Sighs?

34. Committed replies: YESES.

36. Toast words?: I'M A GONER - "You're toast, Man!"

37. Flying companion, say: SEAT MATE.

40. Two-word phrase that's synonymous with its second word backwards: DREAM ON - I told Erik and Leslie that this was my favorite clue

41. Close parentheses, at times: SMILES - The close (as opposed to open) parentheses are are at the end of emoticon SMILES :-). 

42. Striped equine hybrid: ZEDONK - ZEDONK and mother. I have it on good information that the father was an ass.

43. Instantly: AT ONCE.

46. Draft holders: STEINS - I wish I had bought this when I was at KSC

48. Theta, in geometry: ANGLE - Sin 𝛳= Opposite/Hypotenuse 

50. Unappealing food: SLOP.

51. Skin features: PORES.

54. More than walk: TROT.

55. "Looney Tunes" first name: WILE - WILE Coyote really  wanted that roadrunner! Meep, meep!

59. URL ending: GOV.

Comment at will or Erik and Leslie 

Saturday, May 2, 2020, Trent H. Evans

Themeless Saturday by Trent H. Evans

Today we have an LA Times first-time constructor Dr. Trent H. Evans, PhD, who is a psychologist after graduating from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and has been practicing for 19 years. Today he is in Catonsville, Maryland. 

Here we see him pictured with his good friend Donut and below is part of his generous response to my email:

As far as the puzzle goes, I constructed this one in May of 2019 when I had not yet done very much themeless constructing [Husker note: My note to him was the first he knew that the puzzle was going to run today]. I don’t recall very much about the process. I know I slapped down PEDAL TO THE MEDAL to start with and after roughing out a grid, the next thing I put down was FRED SANFORD. Sanford and Son was one of my favorites as a kid, and my high school band director seemed to have an anecdote from a specific episode of Sanford and Son to cover almost any life lesson he wished to impart. By the way, if you haven’t seen the YouTube clip of Fred wearing a mask and trying to socially distance from a sick Lamont, it’s worth your time [Husker note: Picture is in the write-up]. See, I told you there’s a Sanford and Son episode for all situations!

Since I made this puzzle, I started a crossword blog at gridtherapy.com and among the puzzles on the site are 15 themelesses as of now. I call them ‘Free Association’ puzzles in keeping with the ‘therapy’ motif (I am a psychologist as you said). Looking back on this LA Times puzzle, I’m still fairly pleased with it, but I hope I’ve improved with more practice. As of this writing, the most recent puzzle on Grid Therapy is titled “Addled” which coincidentally enough makes an appearance at 9-down in this LA Times puzzle. 

I hope you and yours are as well as can be expected during these difficult days. Me, my wife Beth, and our four (!) teenagers have refrained from any acts of violence against each other over the course of our six or so weeks in lockdown, which I am going to call a win!  

Take care Gary. 

Trent 

Now let's do some "Free Association" with the good doctor on this first Saturday in May

Across:

1. Groom like a groom, maybe: MANSCAPE - Everything below my neck remains, uh, ungroomed. TMI?

9. Is in store: AWAITS.

15. Green getaway: ECO HOTEL - This one is in South Africa

16. "Crud!": DARN IT.

17. Beneficiaries of preferential admission: LEGACIES - Youngest daughter followed oldest one into this Pi Beta Phi house on 16th Street at UNL

18. Delightful: DREAMY.

19. Texas congressman who ran for president as a Libertarian in 1988: RON PAUL - He got  about 1/2 of the green section here:

21. Nice refusal?: NON - A Nice, en France, je dirais NON à manger des escargots (In Nice, France, I would say NO to eating snails)
22. When things just don't click: OFF DAY 

25. Aide-__: mnemonic device: MEMOIRE - An easy to understand French loanword. I taught ROY G BIV for decades as a mnemonic device.

28. White wine cocktails: KIRS - made with Creme de Cassis and named after Félix Kir (1876–1968), mayor of Dijon in Burgundy. If champagne is the chosen wine, the cocktail is called Kir Royale

29. Gets stuck: BOGS DOWN.

32. Let go: AXE and 33. Let go: FIRE - Somebody's losing their job here.

34. Air freshener deliveries: MISTS.

37. High-speed metaphor: PEDAL TO THE METAL - Trent's seed entry. I remember it as CB lingo.

41. Give out: ISSUE.

42. Colorado tributary: GILA.

43. "So you admit it!": AHA.

44. "Star Wars" film subtitle: A NEW HOPE - I really liked the first Star Wars movie, went to sleep in the second one and have not returned.

47. Classist type: SNOB.

48. Breath-freshening brew: MINT TEA.

50. Board game conduits: CHUTES - A guy is offering this complete original game for $50 on eBay

52. Storied shelf occupant: ELF.

53. Lawmaker: ENACTOR - Not lately

56. Barked: WOOFED.

59. Pregame party site: TAILGATE - Husker pre-game activities have graduated from the TAILGATE of pickups to elaborate affairs that are noted for inviting fans of opposing teams to join in

63. Tee off: ENRAGE.

64. Pavarotti classic: O SOLE MIO - Sherrill Nielsen with O SOLE MIO and then The King follows with It's Now Or Never

65. Father figure?: DAD BOD - Uh, DAD, you're not 18 any more, how 'bout at least wearing a t-shirt?

66. Broad Eastern cuisine category: PAN-ASIAN - A extensive PANASIAN menu 


Down:


1. Harris of "thirtysomething": MEL - Then (1987) and now for "MEL" - Mary Ellen Harris 

2. Flying phenom: ACE.

3. Eggy drink: NOG.

4. Fragments: SHARDS.

5. __ butter: COCOA.

6. Not very much: A TINY BIT.

7. Single animal-shaped candy?: PEEP - More than A TINY BIT of sugar!

8. "Let It Go" singer in "Frozen": ELSA.

9. Mystified: ADDLED.

10. Serious declaration: WAR.

12. Before you know it: IN AN INSTANT - How the WAR declarations above seemed to occur in 1914

11. Is for many: ARE - Groucho is funny, the Marx Brothers ARE hilarious 

13. Divided island north of Australia: TIMOR - The west end of the island is Indonesia that is also known as West TIMOR

14. "Don't Rain on My Parade" composer: STYNE - I'll bet most of you know 1) What musical had this song and 2) Who belted out this Jule STYNE anthem 

20. Speaker's pauses: UMS.

22. Beast known as the zebra giraffe: OKAPI - The only members of this family

23. Rigs: FIXES - Some think pro rasslin' matches are FIXED. 🤯

24. Junk dealer in a '70s sitcom: FRED SANFORD - Here's a picture from the Sanford and Son episode Trent mentioned

26. Family nickname: MOMMA.

27. Tot's scrape: OWIE.

30. Peru panning target: ORO - The tragic story of mining gold in Peru (11:00)

31. Outset: GET GO - I liked Trent's puzzle from the GET GO

33. Speedy: FLEET.

35. Nevada tourist mecca: TAHOE - Michael and Fredo had a conversation in Michael's home on Lake TAHOE before Fredo went on a fatal fishing trip

36. Foundation pieces: SLABS - A cool, dry basement is very desirable in Arizona but most houses are build on concrete slabs because the rock hard caliche (kuh LEE chee) soil, made up of calcium carbonate and granite, means digging a basement can add thousands to the cost of a house

38. Bee or Em: AUNT - Opie Taylor's and Dorothy Gale's

39. With it: HIP.

40. Choice event: ELECTION 

45. Prepared a bed, maybe: WEEDED - SEEDED got, uh, WEEDED out

46. Solo pilot?: HAN - HAN Solo and Princess Leia are frequent visitors in our crossword universe 

47. Swells: SURGES.

48. Spoke Burmese?: MEWED - Our Lily prefers Siamese

49. Actress Massey: ILONA - Here she plays the Baroness Frankenstein in 1943's Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman

51. Casual greeting: HOLLA - "Hey dude, give me a HOLLA when you get home"

54. Perched on: ATOP.

55. 61-Down's dwelling: CASA and 61. Familia member: TIA - Nos encanta que TÍA Rosa visite nuestra casa (We love to have Aunt Rosa visit our home)
57. __ Four: FAB - The name of this tribute band

58. One may be bruised: EGO.

60. Challenging retort: AM I? - "Gary, you're going to eat that liver!"

62. Word that's sometimes an exaggeration: EON - I haven't seen my California cousins for EONS!


I also found this picture of Trent who  plays trumpet in an Alumni Jazz Band that just recently toured Europe. I'll leave it to you to find Trent with his trumpet in hand. He's a real renaissance man!

Any comments for Trent?