Saturday, September 28, 2019, Ed Sessa

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Ed Sessa

Today Dr. Ed Sessa makes a house call to our little literary popsicle stand and prescribes a very challenging exercise. This one took me a little longer than most Saturdays with OLA_/A_ILA being my last fill (wouldn't you know that our old Scandinavian friend OLAV/OLAF would be in the mix). I did choose correctly because I knew of Cleveland Indian second baseman Bobby Avila much more than I did where Isabella I was born.

Let's see what else the good doctor has for us today:

Across:

1. Little more than a drop: THIMBLEFUL. 

11. Gossip: DISH - Some in the teacher's lounge can really DISH the DIRT

15. Simile for "luve" in a classic poem: RED RED ROSE - Robert Burns

16. "__ the valley of Death ... ": Tennyson: INTO - Now Lord Tennyson's poetry makes an appearance but on a far rougher note

17. C.S. Lewis, for one: ALLEGORIST - Continuing in the literary vein, some say his The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is a Christian ALLEGORY

18. High seas adverb: THAR - THAR, she blows! Where? THAR!

19. Declared one's innocence, say: PLED 23. "I'm innocent": NOT ME - It means either I didn't do it or you can't prove I did.

20. Over and done with: PAST - American generals started fighting the Civil War using Napoleonic tactics of the PAST despite new weaponry  

21. Trio in H2O: ATOMS - Two hydrogens and one oxygen

22. Varnish option: MATTE.

24. __ Brava: Spanish tourist site: COSTA - What does it cost to rent this vacation home along Spain's COSTA Brava (wild coast)?

28. Emailers, e.g.: USERS.

30. Bentley of "American Beauty": WES - Thora Birch and Mena Suvari were also in this movie and have appeared in our crosswords 

31. Nadya Suleman, in 2009 headlines: OCTO MOM - Public opinion turned against her when it was discovered that she already had six children and was on public assistance

33. No-frills flight feature: LOW FARE - Probably has a very limited wine list

35. Martial artist/musician Steven: SEAGAL - Here ya go! So tough, he doesn't even use a pick on this fun tune

36. Straighten up: NEATEN.

37. Instruments also called rumba shakers: MARACAS - Just in case you don't know

39. Genetic identifiers: MARKERS - Your saliva, uh, speaks

40. Connections: INS - When boss's son gets a job for which someone else is much more qualified

41. Isabella I's birth city: AVILA - She was born in the Castilian town of  Madrigal de las Altas Torres, ÁVILA and married Ferdinand of Aragon. Of course they are most famous for financing a certain sailor from Genoa, Italy 

43. To the point: TERSE - I'll take TERSE over TMI anytime!

44. Snake targets: CLOGS.

46. Factor of diez: CINCO - Si, CINCO veces dos es igual a diez (Yes, five times two equals ten)
48. More than just eats: DINES.

49. Texter's "May I say": IMHO.

50. "__ Before Chanel": 2009 film: COCO - Meh...

54. Military group: UNIT.

55. "Sgt. Pepper" collectible: ALBUM COVER - Here's the cover and who's on it

57. Shakers, but not movers: SECT - Shakers are a millenarian nontrinitarian restorationist Christian SECT founded circa 1747. Huh?

58. Workers behind bars: LION TAMERS - They prefer being called LION TRAINERS as LIONS can not really be tamed

59. Deuce topper: TREY.

60. Connect with by nailing, say: FASTEN ONTO.


Down:

1. Yap: TRAP -Two crude mouth references 

2. Inferno: HELL.

3. Not occupied: IDLE.

4. '60s role for Bamboo Harvester: MR ED - His real name of course, of course. He seemed to have more 14. Stable judgment?: HORSE SENSE than the other characters in this sit com

5. Entreat: BEG.

6. Parkinson's drug: L DOPA - An intriguing, touching movie about L DOPA

7. Post-printing problem: ERRATUM - Computers make correcting an ERRATUM (uptown word for an error) much more doable

8. Palms off (on): FOISTS 

9. Company co-founded by J.P. Morgan: US STEEL - A captain of industry/robber baron

10. Reason for a court replay: LET - To see if the tennis serve touched the net (called a LET). If it did the point is replayed. Volleyball has changed the rule so that a serve that hits the net is in play 

11. Likewise: DITTO - He couldn't bring himself to say the word

12. Like a stereotypical cannibal captive: IN HOT WATER 

13. Claudius and Porky Pig: STAMMERERS - King George (corrected) VI also

21. Be called: ANSWER TO.

22. "Dream a Little Dream of Me" singer: MAMA CASS - "She had to overcome John Phillips' concern that her voice was too low for his (Mamas and Papas) arrangements, that her physical appearance would be an obstacle to the band's success and that her temperament was incompatible with his." Yeah, she was the odd one!

24. Matter of space: COSMIC DUST - If you're interested 

25. Port-to-port connector: OCEAN LINER.

26. Scott Hamilton venue: STARS ON ICE.

27. Cover-up in Nero's time: TOGA.

29. Novelist Jaffe: RONA - Here 'ya go

32. Scandinavian patron: OLAV.

34. Art buyer's concern: FAKE - Which one is real? (answer at bottom of blog)

38. Strait of Messina isola: SICILIA - An image from space of where the two-mile bridge connecting isola of SICILIA (island of Sicily) with the Italian region of Calabria might be built over the Strait of Messina

39. It often follows a breakout: MAN HUNT - The movie and TV show The Fugitive traced the MAN HUNT for Dr. Richard Kimble

42. Transitional situations: LIMBOS - I'm sure Dr. Ed would consider "Pole dances" as a very marginal clue 😏

45. Big name in oil: GETTY.

47. Title in a Dumas title: COMTE - Yeah right, I was the only one who put in COUNT first instead of this French word for Count. My wife's maiden name was Christo (nee Christo) and she had a cousin named Monte.

50. Lake of Lombardy: COMO - Lake COMO is in the northern Italian administration district of Lombardy which abuts Switzerland

51. Spot for pots: OVEN.

52. Marriage doc.: CERT - Not LISC it turns out

53. Roughly: OR SO.

55. Loser to Franklin in '36: ALF - Uh, what does a landslide look like...

56. Spam holder: CAN - My city of Fremont, NE makes a lot of Spam and in 2011 its citizens built the world's largest open-faced sandwich (Guinness) using that product

Add a comment and then take two aspirin and call Dr. Ed in the morning!

The real American Gothic is on the right.

Saturday, September 21, 2019, Evan Kalish

Themeless Saturday by Evan Kalish

Today's constructor is our old friend Evan Kalish who has gone "postal" by amassing over 30,000 pictures of post offices at his fun website. You may remember that in this picture Evan is holding a picture of the post office in Yellow Jacket, Colorado.

Evan's comments on today's puzzle: It’s easy to overlook 14-letter entries when constructing themeless crosswords. I thought it would be interesting to create a grid with comparatively few (66) words showcasing a couple of lively 14s in the middle, with “caption contest" being the seed. The grid layout is segmented though still fairly open, which enabled quite a few long, lively answers in the corners (my personal favorite being “I’ll be here!”)

His sixty-six word entry took longer than most for this solver as some fill that looked perfectly fine to me did not get Evan's "stamp" of approval. Hey, you had to see that coming.

Erin definitely did not simply "mail it in" today (enough already!):

Across:

1. Prepared for a shot: TOOK AIM - William Tell had nothing like this!

8. It dropped "Western" from its name in 1997: SAMOA - Not to be confused with American Samoa

13. By design: ON PURPOSE - My pedantic toes curl up when I hear "ON ACCIDENT"

16. Basic: PLAIN.

17. Come to one's senses: SEE REASON.

18. Not level: ATILT - There's this tower in western Italy...

19. Department store section: CARDS 

20. Pacific resort, popularly: CABO - Driving there from my house would involve using the Topolobampo Ferry to cross the Gulf of California

22. Some years ago: ONCE  

23. Like: ALA.

24. Westernmost African capital: DAKAR - The Obamas stand in the infamous "Door Of No Return" where many West African slaves boarded ships from Goree Island just two miles east of DAKAR, Senegal

25. Hardly Mr. Cool: NERD.

26. Commonly crumbled fare: SALTINES.

29. Word on Italian street signs: VIA - The VIAS (streets) on the west and east side of the Pantheon

30. Competition involving pictures: CAPTION CONTEST - The three finalists in The New Yorker Magazine CAPTION CONTEST #675 (and Evan's seed entry)

33. Hometown folks: LOCALS - What About Bob?

34. Portmanteau coin: TOONIE - Because Canada's $1 coin was called a Loonie because it had a Loon on the back, when Canada minted a $2 coin they conjoined Loonie and Two and got a TOONIE.

35. Longtime Warner Bros. output: ANIMATED SHORTS - They produced Looney (not LOONIE) Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons that entertained me for hours in my misspent yute and still play well today

39. __ player: DVD - I think we have two somewhere

40. Calm: SERENITY.

41. Legendary Asian: YETI - Legend indeed

43. "War on Peace" author __ Farrow: RONAN - Is his real father Frank Sinatra and not Woody Allen?

44. Network for cinema lovers: TMC - Today's schedule there

47. Homecoming figure: GRAD.

48. Headline: STAR - Who would be the STAR if this facetious poster was for a real event?

49. Pinky __: SWEAR - The Seinfeld made a Pinky SWEAR for "The Contest"

51. Completely lost: AT SEA.

53. Waiting line: I'LL BE HERE - Evan's fav corner entry

55. Imply: GET AT

56. Some of Nixon's Plumbers, formerly: CIA AGENTS - They pulled the "Third Rate Burglary" that brought down a president

57. Simpson of fashion: ADELE -Here ya go!

58. "Aha!": THAT'S IT.


Down:

1. Puccini 3-Down: TOSCA and 3. See 1-Down: OPERA. An interesting way to pair these two

2. Magic star of the '90s: ONEAL - Shaq with a former girlfriend

4. Member of an Iraqi minority: KURD 

5. "Wonder Woman" (2017) villain: ARES - Here ya go!

6. Microbrew option: IPA - A crossword standard 

7. Asti wine grape: MOSCATO - Italian for the French Muscat grape

8. Pampering place: SPA.

9. Brown on the Food Network: ALTON - Sticks and stone may break my bones but names can really slow down my solving


10. Ring centerpiece: MAIN EVENT - This poster was way before Ali was the MAIN EVENT.  It even did 12. Come before: ANTEDATE when he became Ali.

11. Cause of many '70s lines: OIL CRISIS - I remember a former student telling me, "Sorry, Mr. Schlapfer, we're out of gas."

14. Really absorb: SOAK IN 

15. With all judges present, as at a Circuit Court: EN BANC - French for "in bench". 

21. Lower-calorie cookie since 2015: OREO THIN - 13 fewer calories than a regular OREO and 30 fewer than a double-stuff OREO

24. Hardly Hollywood's most wanted: D-LISTERS - Some Hollywood D-LISTERS

26. Filter target: SPAM - The father of a boy I has in class was in charge of the successful popularizing of edible Hormel SPAM in Beijing, China

27. World record?: ATLAS.

28. High-and-mighty sort: SNOOT - He's called a SNOOT because his is up in the air

30. Exchanged for an equivalent: CONVERTED - I still have a €5 note from 13 years ago I have yet to have CONVERTED to dollars

31. Pucker inducer: ACID TASTE

32. Revolutionary-era loyalist: TORY.

33. Super Bowl LI performer: LADY GAGA - Talk about an entrance!

36. Hot: EROTIC - See above

37. View from Anchorage: DENALI - You can see its 46. Peak: CREST in the background, NW across the Knik Arm of The Cook Inlet

38. Warn, watchdog-style: SNARL AT

42. Utopian: IDEAL.

44. Many Beliebers: TEENS 

45. Cuban hero José: MARTI - Here ya go!

49. Dreamcast maker: SEGA - If you're interested

50. Sharpen: WHET - A WHETstone 

52. Had: ATE.

54. "What a terrible idea!": BAH - Ebenezer's opinion of Christmas. "What, you want the day off?"

If you want to, you may mail in your comments from America's smallest post office in Ochopee, Florida (seen below) which of course is in Evan's collection. Or you may simply comment electronically here!

Saturday, September 14, 2019, Greg Johnson

Saturday Themeless Puzzle by Greg Johnson 

Today we celebrate an item that goes by many different names depending on where you live. Around here we call this a sub sandwich but I know it is also called a hoagie, grinder, poor boy, hero or what have you. I really like them but when I get one for my lovely bride and I to split, I can only have black olives put on my end.

Today's constructor is our old Saturday friend Greg Johnson. I include his grid at the top of the write-up because two triple-stack grid spanners looks pretty cool to me! Those ninety cells filled in pretty quickly and gave me a fast finish time when coupled with what seemed to be a lot of familiar fill for this solver.

O.K. let's see what Greg, like Jimmy Johns, has delivered for us today:

Across:

1. Suggestion for stress relief: TAKE SOME TIME OFF - Coupled with the next clue



16. Enjoying a solo walk in the woods: AT ONE WITH NATURE - I never felt this more than in the Oregon Redwoods, some of which have been growing for thousands of years

17. It makes a good point: PENCIL SHARPENER - One Redwood can make 50,000,000 pencils to be sharpened

18. Big boat: ARK - The bible said Noah used gopherwood not redwood

19. Needs to remit: OWES - Thus endeth the redwood references 

20. Trick: CON.

21. Yellowy insides: YOLKS.

24. Farm structures: PENS - My wife lived on a farm where the pigs' quarters were call a PEN, never a sty

25. Enters unnoticed: SLIPS IN.

28. Paratha roti ingredient: GHEE (highly clarified butter) - What is the difference between a roti, naan, paratha and chapati?

31. Showed joy, ironically: WEPT - An emotional response either way

32. Tricky hoops move that's often an assist: NO LOOK PASS - More commonly seen in basketball (hoops) but Patrick Mahommes uses this in football. 58. Super Bowl IV MVP Dawson: LEN - Was not as exciting as Patrick but started for the 1969 Super Bowl Champs in K.C. and was the MVP of that game.

37. In the past: AGO.

38. Supporters: RETINUE - He always had a lovely one

39. Summary usually including a photo: BIO.

40. Treatment for dry skin: BODY BUTTER - There doesn't seem to be any in my medicine cabinet

42. It's just above street level: CURB - I just loved this clue

43. Road game: I SPY - with my little eye...

44. Ancient French region: ALSATIA (old name for Alsace) - For more than 300 years, from the Thirty Years' War to World War II, the political status of Alsace was heavily contested between France and various German states in wars and diplomatic conferences.

46. Summer hire: TEMP - I hired over 300 "TEMPS" in the summer to work in the cornfields for 23 years

49. Check for fit: TRY ON.

50. Chemical suffix: IDE.

51. Vegas hotel with an operatic name: ARIA - I had A _ _ _  and AIDA neither worked for fill nor existed as a hotel

54. Hosp. tubes: IVS.

56. Pasta for vegetarians: MEATLESS LASAGNA 

62. "Pass": I'M NOT INTERESTED - At one time I had several "friends" try to get me into Amway

63. Scopes Trial site: DAYTON TENNESSEE - Like me, John Scopes was a substitute teacher and he wasn't sure he even taught evolution but agreed to be a test case for the ACLU. He was prosecuted by Nebraska's most famous politician William Jennings Bryan, was found guilty and fined $100 (which was later reversed on a technicality).

Restored Court Room In DAYTON, TENNESSEE
Now A Tourist Attraction

Down:

1. Dancing suitable for radio: TAP - Cool clue! I can at least hear the rhythm which I lack.

2. Put away: ATE.

3. Hawaiian coffee district: KONA - This part of the Big Island has many coffee growing areas that offer tours and tastings not far from our cwd friend Mauna Loa.

4. Protect from theft, in a way: ENCRYPT - If somebody wants to break your code badly enough...

5. High-end watches: SEIKOS.

6. Barn __: OWL - A woman put on a show from a raptor recovery program and told my kids, "A raptor can never be your friend!"

7. Appropriate prefix for an embezzler?: MIS - MISappropriation is a fancy euphemism for what Bernie Madoff did.

8. Guiding beliefs: ETHOS.

9. Spring harbinger: THAW 

10. Memo opener: IN RE - The "IN" is omitted but the sentiment is real below

11. Guides with scales: MAPS - If you look carefully below, you can see the scale for how far it is from Xi'an where C.C. was born to Guangzhou where she worked before coming to America

12. Tanning time on the Riviera: ETE - Knowing the French word for summer is de rigueur  in Crosswordland

13. Smidgen: OUNCE - A smidgen of prevention is worth a lot of cure

14. Trademarked refrigerant: FREON - The EPA has mandated that the manufacture of FREON must be halted by 2020

15. Decorative greenery: FERNS.

22. Pregame managerial decision: LINEUP - This 1961 LINEUP was powerful. Can you name the Yankees pictured here with the number of HR's they hit that year? (*Answer at bottom of write-up)

23. Complicated: KNOTTY - Along with being Dr. Seuss, Theodore Geisel was also a political cartoonist as seen in this 1942 example

24. Cheerleader's asset: PEP.

25. Makeup-applying aid: SWAB.

26. Toy brand with a Taj Mahal set: LEGO - $370 at Amazon

27. 2001 Apple debut: I POD - I still have mine but don't 28. Approach: GO NEAR it anymore 

29. Like most labor rates: HOURLY.

30. Squeak (out): EKE.

33. Short stories?: LIT.

34. Border on: ABUT.

35. "Hey" assistant: SIRI - I could say this into my iPhone, "Hey, SIRI, what's the name for a four-letter Japanese noodle?" She would probably suggest UDON or SOBA

36. Polite-to-slurp Japanese noodle: SOBA - All you need to know

38. NFL ball carriers: RBS - Besides Running Backs, the NFL has QBs, FBs, HBs, DBs and CBs (Pluralizing acronyms)

41. Pup squeak: YIP.

42. Solicit support from, as voters: CANVASS - Part of my granddaughter's job

45. "Indeed": SO I SEE.

46. Hardly outgoing: TIMID.

47. Swelling: EDEMA - Is using ice to reduce EDEMA the wrong thing to do?

48. Not-so-nice sort: MEANY.

49. Sample: TASTE - Don Fanucci had a different way of saying he wanted a TASTE of illegal activity 

51. Vocal range: ALTO.

52. Bit strap: REIN 

53. "And __ it ironic": Alanis Morissette lyric: ISN'T - A fun listen!

55. Mil. ranks: SGTS - From the world of fiction: Friday, Bilko, Schultz, Snorkel, Stryker...

57. Day care attendee: TOT - Day care is a cash cow for many churches in our town

59. Valiant's boy: ARN.

60. Formerly named: NEE.

61. Drink suffix with Power: ADE.

Order a sub to be delivered and then comment on Greg's puzzle. 

*Yankee LINEUP (l to r) was Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Elston Howard, Moose Skowren, and Johnny Blanchard.