Saturday, February 1, 2020, Brian E. Paquin

Saturday Themeless by Brian E. Paquin

Is it really already February and this is my seventh Brian Paquin themeless Saturday puzzle to blog? Yes, on both counts. I last blogged this Kingston, Ontario resident's puzzle on the 2019 Winter Solstice where I included this bio info Brian was kind enough  to share with me: 

So, I am a retired computer systems developer.  My first interest in crosswords was in figuring out how to write a program to fill grids. I didn't try solving one until I was 40, so this isn't a lifelong thing with me, as it is with many constructors.  I still get distracted by playing around with my software rather than writing new puzzles. That's about all that I have for now!

Brian's 12/13/12 side-by-side verticals in the middle are very cool and greatly helped in the solve!

Across:

1. "I Love a Rainy Night" singer Eddie: RABBITT - This goes along with our tradition of saying Rabbit, Rabbit on the first day of the month plus I love this song and rainy nights

8. Rattletrap: BEATER - Be careful if you 7. Test-drive: TAKE FOR A SPIN.

14. TV screen-bottom banner, perhaps: IN LINE AD - Info

16. Bond girl Andress: URSULA - I pictured her in Evan's puzzle last Saturday! Beats a deranged DR NO in rubber gloves!

17. Clapping game: PAT-A-CAKE.

18. Vitamin B3: NIACIN - WebMd's info

19. Reliable omen: SURE SIGN - Old Sam Clemens hit it on the head

21. "Krazy" comics feline: KAT 

22. Modify: ALTER.

25. Murky milieus: FENS - Yeah right, I was the only one who put FOGS!

26. Handle carelessly, with "with": MESS 

27. Jamaica's Ocho __: RIOS - This cruise lands at Ocho RIOS (eight rivers) like Columbus did in 1494. 

28. Rocky peaks: TORS - 54. Reg.: STD - REGular and STandarD cwd fill

29. Coordinate-based calc.: DIR - Non-math peeps, skip!! If you know the  change in horizontal and vertical map coordinates (Δx and Δy), you can calculate the distance, r, and  𝛉 degree DIRECTION required for the move on the plane

30. French wine term: CRU - Here ya go!

31. They can't be prevented: CERTITUDES - We went to the Moon, get over it!

34. What human flight was once thought to be: HARE BRAINED IDEA - "Hey Wilbur, this guy says it'll never get off the ground"

37. Secondary matters: SIDE ISSUES - Electricity generating wind mills have SIDE ISSUES

38. Possess: OWN.

39. "Yes, __!": SIR  and 56. Threatens with bared teeth: SNARLS AT.

40. Not wing it: PLAN.

41. "__ giorno!": BUON - Looks like a great way to start the day!

42. Ship's post that secures cables: BITT - I'm betting Spitz could tie these lines!

44. Largest Italian automaker: FIAT - Fix It Again Tony! 😏

45. Big name in health care: AETNA.

46. Big name in home security: ADT - Does a fake American Distance Telegraph sign in the yard deter crime?

47. Most curious: FUNNIEST.

49. Best Actress winner for "The Queen": MIRREN - Helen

51. Longtime Arctic transportation methods: DOG TEAMS 

55. Crossed the lake, say: BOATED - My Google search disliked this word so much it replied "Did you mean BLOATED?"

57. Drives: IMPELS - Boated?

58. Emulated Gene Kelly performing "Singin' in the Rain": SLOSHED - Among the most iconic movie images of all time

Down:

1. Copy, as a CD: RIP - An aggressive (and possibly illegal) synonym for copying digital info from one CD to another digital place

2. Santa __: ANA - $650,000 will get you this 1,238 sq. ft. unit in Santa ANA, CA

3. Diner order: BLT - Without home-grown "T's", it's just not the same

4. Statistical distortions: BIASES - Nonreponse BIAS in 2016 polling

5. Bring on: INCUR - Don't INCUR the wrath of a Gunnery Sergeant 

6. Natural eye cleaner: TEAR.

8. Keg stoppers: BUNGS.

9. St. Patrick's home: ERIN.

10. Quiet-mouse connector: AS A.

11. Exhausted: TUCKERED OUT.

12. __ Sports Bureau, statistics giant: ELIAS - The keeper of very ESOTERIC records like: August 2018 - Michael Fulmer - First Tigers pitcher to throw a four-hit shutout (or fewer) with no walks and nine strikeouts since Mickey Lolich against the Angels, Aug. 18, 1972.

13. Diatribes: RANTS.

15. Stereotypical shipwreck sites: DESERT ISLANDS.

20. They're usually not helpful hints: INSINUATIONS - LBJ's campaign made a very famous INSINUATION with this ad in 1964 (1:07)

22. Foot part: ARCH.

23. Turkish coins: LIRAS - Turkish merchants will also take Euros 

24. Magnet for rubbernecking: TOURIST TRAP - After hours of driving on the flat South Dakota Plains, this TOURIST TRAP looks might good!

26. Skirt length: MIDI.

28. She was Lois on "Lois & Clark": TERI - TERI Hatcher is, uh, super!

29. Clothing: DUDS.

31. Talking trucker: CBER - A phenomenon enhanced by OPEC Oil Embargo 

32. Many a "Buffy" character: TEEN - Many of Vampire Slayers only played TEENS

33. Attach, as a patch: SEW ON.

35. Tighten, in a way: EDIT - My chore here when I write this blog

36. "X-Men" actress Paquin: ANNA - Constructor Brian Paquin's comment on this fill: The Anna Paquin clue was definitely by design, and I'm glad to see that it survived.  She does look like a Paquin, but I don't think we are all that closely related.   She is part of the Winnipeg Paquins, who moved there from Quebec 300 years ago.

41. Addictive Asian nuts: BETELS - Closely associated with cancer of the mouth and jaw. Google pictures at your own risk

42. Tale of a whitetail: BAMBI.

43. Down in the dumps, say: IDIOM - Or "High as a kite"

44. Sponsors: FUNDS - I sponsored two daughters through college and am very glad I was able to

45. 2019 World Series runner-up: ASTRO - Will MLB take away their World Series title?

47. Intuit: FEEL 

48. Alike, in Avignon: EGAL - Trente-deux Fahrenhiet est ÉGAL à zéro Celsius (Thirty two Fahrenheit is equal to Zero Celsius)

50. Itinerary abbr.: RTE - My neighbors usually takes the longer RouTE to Minneapolis to see their daughter because the diagonal RouTE has lots of two-lane highways

52. Tough, elastic wood: ASH.

53. West of the movies: MAE.

Comment at will on our Canadian friend's puzzle:

Saturday, January 25, 2020, Evan Kalish

Saturday Themeless by Evan Kalish

Evan Kalish is our much-travelled collector of post office pictures. Evan chronicles his collection at his fun web site and is closing in on 10,000 post office sites he has documented. 2019 saw him visit 708 new, active facilities.

In this picture, he is shown at the post office in San Antonio, Puerto Rico eleven days after visiting all the post offices on the island. He circles every post office on his AAA map and then highlights them once he has visited them. In this picture his right index finger is pointing at the office in San Antonio, P.R.

Sometime during his quests he finds the time to, "put his stamp" on "first-class" puzzles like this and definitely doesn't just "mail 'em in"! Okay, okay I'm through.

When I contacted Evan, he was kind enough to send me a wonderful narrative about how this puzzle came to be. I have posted his response at the bottom of this write-up and I highly recommend that you take time to read it.

Now for our special delivery from Evan (Okay NOW I'm through):

Across:

1. Moisture-catching linings: SWEAT BANDS - My lawn mowing fashion statement 

11. Barbecue crust: CHAR - National Cancer Institute says agents in charred meat can cause changes in DNA that may increase the risk of cancer and advises those parts be cut off and discarded. Not good for me to hear!

15. Period that included the Civil War: LINCOLN ERA.

16. Place with rolling pins, perhaps: LANE - Cute clue for our bowlers, Evan!

17. Making a plea: ENTREATING.

18. Present opener?: OMNI - It's an election year so guess what will be OMNIPRESENT

19. Have the chutzpah: DARE 21. Word with interest and error: HUMAN- This 8-second clip is a HUMAN interest story about a HUMAN error for a "hard to sight-read" word

20. Farm structure: SILO - Can hold corn or ICBM's

22. Farm structure: STY - and either can be next to one of these

23. Date night convenience: ATM - Insert $4.25 and you can get your date a Sprinkles Cupcake at this ATM

24. Pauses: LET UPS - Not a good idea when your team is on a roll

      Hélène Dutrieu

25. "Femina Cup" (1910s contest) competitor: AVIATRIX - an award of 2000 francs established in 1910 by Pierre Lafitte the publisher of French women's magazine Femina to honor women pilots who, by December 31, had kept an airplane in the air longest without landing. Here is the first winner - Hélène Dutrieu who was in the air for 2 hrs and 35 min. on 12/31/1910 

28. Turn: ROT.


29. Informal "Right?": AIN'T IT TRUE - or more commonly around here: AIN'T IT THE TRUTH?

32. Ball, e.g.: GALA.

33. Links legend: SNEAD - Arnie fought to get in here but... 

34. It's above lead on tables: TIN - There's Lead (Pb - PlumBum) right below TIN (Sn - StaNnum) in the Carbon family 

35. Ring of Saturn?: ORBIT - Cute again! Saturn's ORBIT path 

36. Hash ingredient: SPUD.

37. Makes even more gross?: GETS A RAISE - Cute again! My gross teacher salary was $488.33/month in 1968. In 2012 it was $4,883/month - I GOT quite A RAISE!

39. Plural possessive: OUR.

40. Leo is one: FIRE SIGN - If you believe in such, uh, science

41. Jalopies: CRATES.

43. __ wolf: CRY - Aesop had a fable about the consequences of doing this once too often

44. Nasty current: RIP - Swim sideways to the current to escape

47. R&B family name: ISLEY - Otis Day and The Knights covered The ISLEY Brother's song Shout in Animal House

48. Caps on a protective vest: SWAT - Those CAPS are letters not headgear. Fun!

50. Fundació Joan __: Barcelona museum: MIRO - The Joan Miró Museum in Barcelona that contains most of his art

51. Family member: AUNT.

52. Blocks off: BARRICADES - The "construction" of the BARRICADE on stage in Le Miserables often draws applause on its own.

54. Level: TIER.

55. Gerald Ford and Glenn Ford, e.g.: FREE MASONS - Mason symbolism on the $1 bill

56. Blues first name: ETTA - Her ETTA Is Betta Than Evah album led off last Friday's puzzle

57. Intermediary's compensation: FINDER'S FEE.


Down:

1. They often have runners: SLEDS - Mine was a Flexible Flyer

2. Succeed in: WIN AT and 3. Contest form: ENTRY - To WIN AT Power Ball after you make an ENTRY has a chance of 1 in 292,000,000

4. Estate unit: ACRE - Highclere Castle (used in Downton Abbey) was originally set on 5,000 ACRES in Hampshire, England

5. __ the line: TOE.

6. "Dang!": BLAST IT.

7. Part of the Enterprise's power source: ANTIMATTER - It was also in Dan Brown's book

8. Diamond of song: NEIL.

9. Bond classic: DR NO - My first image that DR NO evokes for me is of Ursula, especially on this cold, winter's day

Ursula Andress in Dr No

10. Decline: SAG - None spotted in the picture above

11. Leverage: CLOUT.

12. Early code name?: HAMMURABI - One of his 282 rules from his code of ~1754 B.C.

13. Alphabetically second on a list of U.S. state capitals: ANNAPOLIS - Oh yeah, it's the capital of Maryland AND the home of The Naval Academy 

14. Put back: REINSTATE - It may be a while before AJ Hinch is REINSTATED into baseball because the Astros got 44. No longer forced to deal with: RID OF him. Hinch didn't 24. Whopper you can't eat: LIE - He admitted he knew of the cheating, didn't approve of it but did not stop it

21. Curse: HEX.

23. All in: AVID - I would say Evan is "All In" on his post office avocation. 

25. Ever so slightly: A TAD.

26. Not remotely fresh: TRITE.

27. Flees in a panic: RUNS SCARED - I would if he were 30. Chasing, with "of": IN PURSUIT  of me

29. Like eight Supreme Court justices: ASSOCIATE - Chief Justice Roberts has a big responsibility these days

31. Artificial intelligence framework: NEURAL NET - Explained from MIT

32. __ Torino: 1970s Ford: GRAN - The producers of GRAN Torino (a 53. Ford product: CAR) found the car they wanted on Ebay. Clint Eastwood bought the car after the movie was done for his collection 

35. Bacchanalia: ORGY - Curious?

37. Beneficiaries of a 1944 bill: GI'S - A well-deserved benefit for The Greatest Generation and military men and women that followed 

38. PAC's election season purchase: AIR TIME - INFLUENCE had too many letters

40. "30 Rock" creator: FEY - Can you find the "creator" in the More Info area below?

42. One-third of dodeca-: TETRA - One-third of twelve is four

45. Sherlock's foe Adler: IRENE - Based on a real person?

46. Term in Old West and hip-hop culture: POSSE.

48. Indian garb: SARI.

49. Chirpy bird: WREN - They are a drab addition to our winter landscape but their songs can lift my spirits

50. Keyword in Newton's second law: MASS - Bigger masses are harder to speed up

52. Texting partner, like, srsly!: BFF - Part of the modern lexicon by now

Here is what Evan wrote to me about the genesis of this puzzle:

The origin of this puzzle dates back six years, to when I was effectively filling grids manually and with a distinctive lack of success. Here is an early draft of the grid. I love reading about scientific developments and try to keep my word list updated accordingly. This grid was originally developed around the HIGGS BOSON, front and center (well, top and left). You can see the origins of the current puzzle in the SE corner, with fill that included FISA Courts—which were in the news at the time—and some other short entries that I find unsatisfying today...

Back then I left several half-filled versions in a folder (including a version with the NE and SE corners of the grid as they stand today). I remember being excited to include HAMMURABI, ANNAPOLIS, and FINDER’S FEE because they hadn’t appeared in a modern NYT crossword before… (and indeed they still haven’t!) Fast forward to July 2018 and this puzzle came to life. I had to scrap HIGGS BOSON, but was able to get my sci-tech fill with ANTIMATTER and a NEURAL NET from AI research. Other than that, I tried to make all the longer answers radiating from the center interesting while keeping everything smooth.

Favorite submitted clues: “Spot with rolling pins?” = LANE, “Present opener?” = OMNI, “Like fans you can’t turn off?” = AVID, and “Early code name?” = Hammurabi. Glad to see my clue for ORBIT made the cut!