Saturday, October 7, 2023, Jenna LaFleur

 Themeless Saturday by Jenna LaFleur

Jenna's NW corner had plenty of road blocks for me for some reason but eventually they were put in my rearview mirror. She wrote:

-I’m 24 years old right now, but I’ll be turning 25 shortly before the puzzle comes out.

-I live in D.C. - Besides crosswords, my hobbies include playing the drums and listening to podcasts. - I mostly do online gig work - audio transcription, data entry, and the like.

Jenna said that her kitty's name is Fig. So this is either a picture of Fig with Jenna in the foreground or of Jenna with Fig in the background.

Across:

1. Common: CRASS - Crude was close but...

6. "Got other plans, sorry": CANT.

10. Low pair: TWO'S.

14. Knew the answer: HAD IT.

15. Drink mentioned in the Walker Hayes song "Fancy Like": OREO SHAKE.

Yeah, we fancy like Applebee's on a date night

Got that Bourbon Street steak with the OREO SHAKE

17. Detroit __: stratified automotive paint polished and cut for jewelry: AGATE -Paint that the spray leaves on the frame or track piles up. It can be cut, baked and cut into pieces.

18. Reptile at Kélonia aquarium in Saint-Leu, Réunion: SEA TURTLE - The arrow points to this small island.

19. Spotify playlist that calls itself "the most influential playlist in hip-hop": RAP CAVIAR.

21. Trial versions: BETAS.

22. Jazz dance: STOMP.

23. Key st.?: FLA 😀

24. "Jeopardy!" champion with the show's second-longest win streak: AMY SCHNEIDER - The answer that stumped Schneider was about countries of the world: Answer: "The only nation whose name in English ends in an “h” and which is also one of the 10 most populous" (the correct question is at the bottom*) 39. Many a Wiki article: BIO - Amy Schneider's Wikipedia BIO 26. So: HENCE - Amy missed on a Final Jeopardy, HENCE, she lost.

30. Speeds: JETS - both as verbs

32. Sphere: REALM.

33. Gesture that means "no" in some cultures: NOD - as in Bulgaria

35. Lennox of R&B: ARI.

36. Element in the tale of Sleeping Beauty: SPINDLE - She was put into an "ageless" sleep by pricking her finger and could only be awakened by the kiss of her true love. In the Brother's Grimm version she pricked her finger on the SPINDLE of an enchanted spinning wheel.

38. Glop: GOO.

40. Home of the Kaaba: MECCA - Kaaba is the Arabic word for cube. It is the holiest of Muslim shrines and what Muslims pray toward.

41. Knack: GIFT - What our constructors have for word play

42. Interior support structure: ENDOSKELETON.

Morrill Hall on the UNL
campus has many examples

46. __-weekly: ALT - Take your pick for ALTernate points of view

  
47. Reclusive sort: LONER.

49. Like the smell of burning plastic: ACRID 

52. Instrument for Seiichi Tanaka or Eitetsu Hayashi: TAIKO DRUM - Always a highlight of my many trips to EPCOT.

56. Laxity: LOOSENESS.

58. Yankees manager Aaron: BOONE - Aaron's place in MLB history is cemented by this walk-off home run that sent the Yankees to the World Series in 2003.

59. Like someone on the stand: UNDER OATH.

60. Vocally: ALOUD.

61. Private dinner?: MESS 😀 - In M*A*S*H it was a MESS tent where all ranks ate, including privates

62. __ gin: SLOE.

63. Checks: DAMPS - In physics we graphed oscillations that DAMPED out or checked themselves 

Down:

1. Red-bellied trout: CHAR - I used this picture for the 9/23/23 puzzle

2. Some improvisation in Hindi cinema: RAGAS - (in Indian music) a pattern of notes having characteristic intervals, rhythms and embellishments used as a basis for improvisation. Yeah, I knew that! 😚

3. 2002 meta dramedy starring Nicolas Cage as the film's screenwriter: ADAPTATION - Cage plays himself and his twin brother

4. Light shows?: SITCOMS 😀 - Yeah, they're usually not too intellectually hefty

5. Hot and heavy: STEAMY - Jack and Rose getting STEAMY in the car in the hold of the Titanic

6. Mozart's "__ fan tutte": COSI - Can you dig out Mozart's name?

7. Vicinity: AREA.

8. In the vicinity: NEAR.

9. Little one: TOT.

10. Fine line: THREAD 😀

11. One joule per second: WATT - By definition 

12. Great Plains st.: OKLA - Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

13. Catches: SEES - Can you SEE the ringed planet inside below by gently crossing your eyes?

16. Stunning: SUBLIME.

20. Biden and Harris, initially: VPS  - At different times

23. Toppled: FELL.

25. Pain in the neck: CRICK - Kramer's cure starting at 1:00

27. First man to complete tennis's Surface Slam: NADAL - Rafael won the U.S. Open on hard surface, the French Open on clay and Wimbledon on grass.

28. Shipping center?: ENGINE ROOM 😀

29. Top: ROOF - What VB fans yell when their team makes a block at the net

 

30. Poke: JAB.

31. Historical allies of the Huron: ERIE - Four letter tribe near the Great Lakes, hmmm...

34. Point: DOT.

36. Burn slowly: SMOLDER - Don't walk away too soon

37. Nuisance: PEST.

41. Slopes conveyance: GONDOLA.

43. Spots for roasters and toasters: DAISES.

44. Large deer: ELK.

45. "Them's the breaks": TOO BAD.

48. Preparatory period: RUN UP - The RUN UP to the next election will be full of truths, half-truths and outright lies

49. Grad: ALUM.

50. Retinal cell: CONE 51. Retinal cells: RODS - It's very cool to see them together in a puzzle

52. Marsh duck: TEAL.

53. Apropos of: AS TO - Feel free to comment AS TO your feelings about Jenna's puzzle

54. "Who __ kidding?": IS HE.

55. Scrip orders: MEDS - Short for preSCRIPtionS.

57. Anti bloc: NOS.

*Amy missed "What is Bangladesh?" on Jeopardy 

Addendum: Here is constructor Jenna finishing third in an ACPT event. The video is 10 minutes long but it shows

1) How the competition chooses a champion

2) How very skilled solvers attack a puzzle

3) What some of the fill was on this puzzle constructed by Kameron Austin Collins