Saturday, July 11, 2020, by John-Clark Levin

John-Clark and Alex Trebek
His appearance aired in October of 2012

Themeless Saturday puzzle by John-Clark Levin

Today is the first John-Clark Levin Saturday LA Times puzzle. This was John-Clark's gracious reply for info on him and his puzzle:

Hi Gary,

A few words of introduction to readers of the blog... I am a native of Ojai, California, and currently a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge in the UK. My research focuses on how governments can do a better job of anticipating the impacts of artificial intelligence. I also work as an author and journalist at the intersection of technology, politics, and security. Among more lighthearted pursuits, I’ve been known to perform stage magic, and will take even the flimsiest excuse to sing Tom Lehrer’s “The Elements.” (This is linked below the grid and highly recommended! - hg)

For seed entries, I was glad to debut ITS A MATCH, the Tinder notification transformed dating for my generation—and sparked unions whose precocious offspring are in some cases just a few years away from becoming crossword puzzle fans themselves. SUGAR RUSH has less social relevance, but is just the kind of evocative phrase that I love to see livening up a grid. But my favorite entry is NOT THE ONION. There's been so much absurd news over the past few years that people in my newsfeed have to constantly use that as a preface!

Rich Norris suggested some edits to the fill, and I'm much happier with the way the final version turned out, although I wish I could have avoided a few somewhat awkward entries like CRIER and TBILLS. I love the clues Rich added for ISLANDS, ITEM, ACH. So big thanks to him, Patti Varol, and the rest of the editorial team both for the acceptance and improvements. They're a pleasure to work with.

I love seeing so many lovely comments from solvers—getting to entertain and challenge so many amazing people on a Saturday morning is a genuine privilege. I hope you enjoyed today's puzzle!

All the best,

John-Clark

I managed to move right along in this puzzle and admired the word sights along the way. BTW, John-Clark assured me there is no intrigue to his hyphenated first name and that he enjoys its uniqueness. He added, "And let's just say nobody calls me "John" if they want an answer!"

Across:

1. Author Allende: ISABEL - A Chilean author of "magical realism"

7. Counter proposals?: ISLANDS - Hey, they're not just in kitchens! 

14. Still ahead: TO COME.

15. 2003 disaster movie about a mission to Earth's center: THE CORE.

16. Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe is one: SALOON - A chance to take a break, sit down in a/c, get a cool drink and see a show at The Magic Kingdom

17. Mr. Rogers catchword: NEIGHBOR 

18. Car loan figs.: APRS 

19. Leaf pore: STOMA - A highly magnified open STOMA on a rose leaf

21. Tolkien being: ELF.

22. Champagne with a diaeresis - MOËT - the diaeresis is the punctuation mark over the E that tells the vowels are pronounced separately not as one. ZOË rhymes with snowy not snow

23. Lion, say: CAT 

24. Govt. securities: T-BILLS - Here's a million dollar one

27. Handy program: APP.

28. Suggests to the palate: TASTES OF - Does bad wine TASTE OF vinegar?

30. Join forces: TEAM UP.

32. Help a vacationing friend, maybe: HOUSE SIT - We paid our granddaughter big bucks to HOUSE/KITTY SIT for us

36. Old news source: CRIER.

37. No WNBA players: MEN - Hence the W

38. Clam or lobster: SAUCE.

39. Crunchy cantina fare: HARD TACO - My shell preference 

41. Became one company: MERGED and 37. 2006 Verizon acquisition: MCI.

42. Rockford's home: ILLINOIS - JFK visiting Rockford, Illinois in 1960. Life magazine called Rockford  "as nearly typical of the U.S. as any city can be."

44. Include in the mix: ADD - We enjoy Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and are sometimes amazed at what ingredients chefs ADD to their creations 

45. Court rival of Roger: RAFAEL - Recent numbers 

48. Iraq War danger: Abbr.: IED - A horrible abbreviation we all have learned 

49. Hub near de Gaulle: ORLY - A 34-min. drive

50. Broadway's Burrows: ABE - His IMDB

51. Crystal-lined rock: GEODE - For $16.95 you can break open your own

53. Chesapeake delicacy: CRAB - Home of the Maryland/Chesapeake Blue Crab 

54. Pull out all the stops: GO TO TOWN.

57. Perspicacious: ASTUTE - A person can be called "sesquipedalian" if they choose words that are way bigger than necessary

59. Prince of Darkness: EVIL ONE.

60. Midday nap: SIESTA.

61. Trips taken mostly in the dark: RED EYES - We took a RED EYE flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles on New Year's Eve in 1986

62. Leash: TETHER.

Down:

1. Tinder notice: IT'S A MATCH - Gotta be better than, "Hey, what's your sign?"

2. Show labeled for its early sponsors: SOAP OPERA.

3. Fix for an injured knee: ACL REPAIR - Doctor to an athlete with an Injured Anterior Cruciate Ligament: 26. Lead-in to bad news: "I FEAR your career may be over"

4. Increase: BOOST.

5. Broody rock genre: EMO - Here's an example entitled Miserable At Best

6. Blank photo cause: LENS CAP - Oops!

7. Couple of People: ITEM.

8. Massage technique: SHIATSU - I can choose SHIATSU or Rolling massage 

9. Race stage: LEG.

10. Hamburger beef?: ACH - Love this clue. This Hamburger is a resident of the German city and the beef is a complaint. ACH du lieber! is what you might say if you 58. "Sprechen __ Deutsch?": SIE.

11. Prize founder: NOBEL.

12. Like some humor: DROLL - 20 of Steven Wright's best jokes

13. Russia's Alexander II emancipated them in 1861: SERFS.

17. Disclaimer for sounds-absurd-but-it's-real news content: NOT THE ONION - THE ONION is a famous satirical site. NOT THE ONION is said of a real story that seems like it could only be satire like you see here

20. Many Ph.D. candidates: TA'S - Teaching Assistants

25. Supervisors: BOSSES.

28. Symbol of slowness: TURTLE.

29. Ages and ages: EON.

31. Press and such: MEDIA.

33. Consequence of too much sweetness?: SUGAR RUSH - John-Clark's evocative entry

34. Refreshing coffeehouse order: ICED LATTE - $3.95 and 130 calories for a grande at Starbucks®

35. Focus of a former Florida museum that featured a Hug Club: TEDDY BEAR - Now closed after being bought by the Naples, FL. YMCA

40. Expended: ALL GONE.

41. Region of long-frustrated peace efforts: MIDEAST - It seems like EONS

43. Its Jan. 2018 additions include "hangry" and "mansplain": OED.

What could possibly go wrong?

45. Abandoned party: RAGER - U.S. - A student party where large amounts of alcohol are consumed and riotous behavior occurs. Throwing a RAGER in an abandoned house leaves no one to press charges - USA Today (John-Clark told me this was Rich's clue)

46. Where the stars are: ABOVE.

47. Rank: FETID - A line from a song in the play 1776 - You see, we piddle, twiddle, and resolve, Not one damn thing do we solve. Piddle, twiddle, and resolve, Nothing's ever solved in Foul, FETID, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadephia!

49. G7, before Russia's suspension: OCTET.

52. Farm girls: EWES.

55. La Liga cheer: OLE - The League of soccer teams in Spain

56. Yorkie's group designation: TOY - dog

For further insight into John-Clark, listen to his rendition of The Elements from the 2014 from the Harvard Kennedy School Talent Show. What a hoot!

Comments for John-Clark:

Saturday, July 4, 2020, Julian Lim

Themeless Saturday by Julian Lim

Another fine puzzle from our Singapore professor Julian Lim. As I look at his specialties at Duke University - University of Singapore I can find many traits of mine that could use remediation

Here is Professor Lim's tweet about a recent investigation of his: We did a non-inferiority analysis comparing group training via videoconferencing during the Covid-19 pandemic with similar content delivered in-person this year and last year. Abstract

After you digest that, here is an analysis of Julian's puzzle on the 244th birthday of our country.

Across:

1. Reward for giving, perhaps: TOTE BAG - How do I get this one?

8. Usually not eligible for tenure, as a professor: ADJUNCT - I was an ADJUNCT prof once and the dean came in to see why my adult students were laughing. He had never heard laughter from that room before

15. In sum: OVERALL.

16. Heedless of the consequences: BRASHLY.

17. Dug: WAS INTO

18. "The Meyerowitz Stories" co-star: SANDLER - I can easily recognize four of this group of five from the show. 

19. Xenomorphs, e.g.: ETS - Sigourney Weaver's antagonists in the Alien movies. Here under happier conditions.

20. Switch positions often: JOB HOP - Me? Not so much as I taught for 42 years and have subbed for 8.

22. Razor handle: ATRA - ATRA is the name, or handle, for this Gillette product  which has also has, uh, a handle and we see here often

23. Uses for snoozes: LIES ON - Lily LIES ON about anything in our house

25. Not lots: A FEW.

27. German article: EIN - This speech still gives me chills (irrespective of how some translate it)

28. Out of __: SORTS.

29. Range makeup: Abbr.: MTS - A range of MounTainS 

30. Make official: ENACT.

32. Tandoori bread: NAN - NAN bread being cooked in clay cylindrical oven called a tandoor 

33. "Looks to be the case": SO IT SEEMS

35. Safari, say: IPHONE APP - Safari is also the browser I use on my MacBook

37. Au naturel: UNCLOTHED - Reminiscent of yesterday's discussion about nudists and face masks

39. Racing Unsers: ALS - You'd have to blow up this image to see AL senior in the second generation and AL junior in the third generation 

42. Lectured: SPOKE.

43. Mate: PAL.

44. Flabbergast: FLOOR.

46. Sch. with a Phoenix campus: ASU - 13 minute drive between these the Phoenix and Tempe campuses 

47. "Ashes" (2018) singer: DION - The voice of an angel How old am I? The first DION singer for me is DION and the Belmonts

49. Shaky start?: SEISMO - The latest earthquakes in the USA as determined by SEISMOeters

50. Things to pick: NITS - We can have quite a crop here on certain days

52. Like some dramatic refueling: MIDAIR - Could you clean the windshield too?

54. Some tech sch. grads: EE'S - Electrical Engineers. Don't we have some Double E majors here?

55. Hip: CLUED IN.

57. 2010s TV series that explores hacktivism: MR. ROBOT.

59. More than vex: TORMENT.

60. Opposite of a scenic route: BEE LINE - From Orlando International, we took the BEE LINE west toward Disney or east toward KSC (corrected - hg)

61. Frames on a diamond: INNINGS.

62. Whole number: INTEGER.

Down:

1. Drying agents: TOWELS.

2. Standing acclaim, at times: OVATION - One that's hard to earn

3. Mosaic piece: TESSERA - An 800-yr-old Byzantine example of TESSERAS beautifully arranged despite wear

4. "__ tu": Verdi aria: ERI. "ERI tu che macchiavi quell'anima" (It was you who sullied that soul)

5. Pete Seeger wrote a book on how to play five-string ones: BANJOS.

6. Brown in the kitchen: ALTON - Not sauté it appears

7. Jell-O serving, say: GLOB - How many GLOBS in a cup?

8. Strong core components: ABS OF STEEL.

9. Fall loosely: DRAPE - An example on our deck

10. 1, at times: Abbr.: JANuary

11. Food and Nutrition Service org.: USDA - USDA inspectors who wear this badge have coveted jobs in this meatpacking town

12. Minnesota Wild, for one: NHL TEAM.

13. Mullahs or ministers: CLERICS.

14. Very tough boss: TYRANT - Who was worse than Ebenezer Scrooge?

21. Deferentially: HAT IN HAND - "Make your words sweet as you may have to eat them someday"

24. Dancer's boss, informally: ST NICK - Rudolph's too

26. Cry: WEEP 

29. Irrelevancies: MOOT POINTS - Your plane has already left, so why you missed the plane is a MOOT POINT.

31. Katmandu native: NEPALI.

33. "The Chi" airer, briefly: SHO - (the shy) chronicles life on the south side of Chicago

34. Blue: SAD.

36. Beseeched: PLED - A fun song from Godspell (hg)

37. 20th Greek letter: UPSILON - Can you name the two other 7-letter Greek letters?

38. Sign with a crossed-out horseshoe-shaped arrow: NO U TURN 

40. Take a licking: LOSE BIG.

41. "__ Like You": Adele hit: SOMEONE - Video in black and white

42. __ Spíritus: Cuban city meaning "Holy Spirit": SANCTI - This city of 465,00 is at least a four-hour drive from Havana

44. Polecat relative commonly kept as a pet: FERRET - I only had to let one kid bring his to class before I realize they have an unpleasant odor too.

45. Team listing: ROSTER - 1961 Yankee ROSTER. 

48. Using WhatsApp, say: IMING - My Apple IMING (Instant Messaging) works fine

49. Fire engine feature: SIREN - My hometown used a SIREN to summon volunteer firemen and also tell us when it was 7, 12 and 6 o'clock

51. Highway behemoth: SEMI.

53. Both ways at the start?: AMBI - Zach Galifianakas as an AMBIdextrous flute player on SNL

56. Man cave, for some: DEN.

58. World Cup "Way to go!": OLE.

Comments for Julian?