Saturday, August 3, 2019, Kyle Dolan

Saturday Themeless Puzzle by Kyle Dolan

The hot, damp environment of corn fields (and other crops) are a perfect breeding place for fungi, aphids and other assorted yield-decreasing problems. On August 3 we celebrate the men and women who apply chemicals from the air - Crop Dusters. 

They become necessary when the crop becomes so tall that tractor sprayers can't get down the rows.The aerial spraying operation can increase the grain yield by 20 - 30 bushels per acre

Our Saturday regular Kyle Dolan has supplied us with yet another of his fine themeless puzzles. My times to solve his puzzles seem to indicate Dr. Dolan and I are usually on the same wavelength. I wonder if a British Consulate-General in Chicago cares a whit about the Cubs, White Sox, Bull or Da Bears.

Across:

1. "The Howdy Doody Show" cry adopted by '60s California surfers: COWABUNGA - Yes, I am old enough to remember Chief Thunder Thud saying this on that early TV show.

10. Ask: PUT TO - You can gauge a reporters courage/bias by assessing questions he PUTS TO interviewees 

15. How horses may run during warmups: AT A CANTER.

16. Mozart work: OPERA.

17. Reason for an R rating, perhaps: LOVE SCENE - Strategically placed bed clothes can dictate the rating

18. Pigtails: PLAIT - The plural is PLAITS and so I wonder about pigtails/PLAIT

19. Antonio's "Evita" role: CHE - Antonio Bandereas played the narrator of the film - CHE Gueverra 

20. Coding logic word: ELSE 

If Day = Saturday 
Blogger = "Gary"
ELSE = "Someone ELSE"

21. Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester __": PSALMS - If you must

22. Marginally: A BIT.

23. Echolocation users: BATS - I hear lunch!

24. Ancient provincial governor: SATRAP - Persian big shot

27. Calculating bunch?: MATH TEAM.

31. Helvetica cousin: ARIAL - A screen shot of choices for us here at Blogger.com. The one we use is checked.

32. Gift recipient: DONEE 

33. Market letters: IGA - South Africa hopes to have 250 IGA "Markets" like this one in their country

34. British breakfast dish with an onomatopoeic name: BUBBLE AND SQUEAK.

37. Fade: EBB.

38. Hangs on a rack: DRIES.

39. Combine: UNITE.

40. Most rough, in a manner of speaking?: RASPIEST - Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker leap to my mind

42. Rejections: VETOES - FDR (635) and Grover Cleveland (414) combined for over a thousand

43. Like some bridal dresses: LACY.

44. Ramen flavoring: MISO.

45. Conceived, with "up": DREAMT.

48. Protective excavation: MOAT 

49. Coast Guard pickup: SOS.

52. __ Unido: United Kingdom, in Spain: REINO - España importa vehículos del Reino Unido (Spain imports vehicles from The United Kingdom)

53. "Darn!": HANG IT ALL -  The more familiar to me "DANG IT ALL" didn't make the cut

55. Thomas' veep: AARON - Jefferson and Burr got the same number of electoral votes in the 1800 election but the House Of Representatives picked Thomas Jefferson and Burr became veep by Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Constitution.

56. Pittsburgh Steelers' founder: ART ROONEY - Well known to NFL fans

57. Combine: BLEND - Some prefer non-BLENDED varieties  

58. Takes the inside track: HAS AN EDGE.


Down:

1. Subj. with integrals: CALC - My CALC I prof from Indiana gave me an A but, 2. Tweeter's "conversely": On The Other Hand, my CALC II prof from New Delhi gave me a C

3. It may break on sand: WAVE.

4. Big heart: ACE - It's the biggest regardless (irregardless?) of suit

5. It has paths for runners: BASEBALL DIAMOND - In 2016 baseball put in a new rule about sliding to protect infielders from getting hurt by players going out of the base path or making no attempt to hold the base

6. Detach, as some jewelry: UNCLIP.

7. Arms treaty subj.: N-TEST - Nuclear TEST

8. __ therapy: GENE - Fraught with promise and peril

9. Were present?: ARE.

10. Proposes: POPS THE QUESTION - A lyric (@ 1:00 and 3:40) in this wonderful song from my favorite musical. Hopefully a welcome addition to your day as well!

11. Headlining a music festival, say: UP LAST - Ya gotta stay to see the main act

12. Color similar to turquoise: TEAL

13. Cut back: TRIM.

14. Food rich in manganese: OATS - This Strawberry OAT bar says it is High in manganese near the bottom

21. Spread things: PATES - A woman from Slovakia said she adds Allspice to her PATE and she says it kills the taste of beef liver which she hates (me too!)

22. __ League: ARAB - A good geographer can name all these countries

23. Maroon 5 and Ben Folds Five: BANDS.

24. Fencing option: SABER - Touché

25. Home of Queen Beatrix International Airport: ARUBA - How long is the flight from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to the Queen Beatrix International in Oranjestad, Aruba, which is still in the Kingdom of The Netherlands?

26. "In the Heat of the Night" detective: TIBBS 

27. "Houses of Parliament" series painter: MONET - Here's the history and a lovely example

28. Kids' song refrain: E-I-E-I-O 

29. Colorful quartz: AGATE - Lake Superior AGATE before and after polishing

30. Creates: MAKES

32. Jay Gatsby's love: DAISY - Jay and DAISY Buchanan in various film iterations 

35. Not slouching: ERECT.

36. Biblical preposition: UNTO 

41. Anticipate: PLAN ON.

42. Drug in the film "Love & Other Drugs": VIAGRA - Hmmm... three clues after 35 Down? Kyle...

44. Alpes features: MONTS - Climbing MONT Blanc (White Mountain), the tallest peak in the Swiss Alps, with a guide, will run you anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 and take five days

45. Uninspiring: DRAB - Mrs. Cardinal compared to Mr. Cardinal at our feeders

46. Not in one's head: REAL.

47. Cork's home: EIRE - The Gaelic word for Ireland

48. Kate of "House of Cards": MARA - The scene where Kate, as Zoe Barnes, was killed shocked me. I debated on posting the video but declined. Google at your own peril

49. Time measure: SAND - A former favorite of my wife's 

50. Jackie's designer: OLEG - Cassini 

51. Leonard __: Roy Rogers: SLYE - Can you pick out the pre-Roy Rogers Leonard SLYE below when he was an original member of the Sons Of The Pioneers? 

53. "Yeah, right!": HAH.

54. Nail holder: TOE.

Here's hoping that Kyle's puzzle wasn't over your head on this crop duster day. Feel free to drop in with comments.

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to dear Melissa, founder of the Adopt an Inmate project, whose compassion and tenacity are awe-inspiring. Best sister ever!

Saturday, April, 20, 2019, Kyle Dolan

Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan

Today is Chinese Language Day where we celebrate the most spoken language in the world. Of course C.C. is fluent but I know some of our other contributors here are as well.

Learning English is mandatory in Chinese schools and, depending on where they live, most start learning English at 3rd or 4th grade. C.C. told me she started learning English at 13 yrs old. I daresay her mastery of English is amazing!

Our Saturday regular Kyle Dolan has supplied us with yet another of his fine Saturday puzzles.

I stared at the blank cell you see below at 4 Down for a long time but to no avail. 

I knew Japanese Airlines JAL and thought about Nippon National Airlines NNA but had no clue on 4. Japanese carrier: ANA - All Nippon Airways. As for  1. Minuet-like dances: SARABANDS - Not a chance! If you must see it...

让 (Let) 我们 (us) 开始 (begin) 吧 (common Chinese ending) (translation from C.C.)

Across:

10. Deaden, as a musical string: DAMP - A one-minute lesson

14. Bon Jovi genre: ARENA ROCK - Trans Siberia Orchestra takes it to the max

15. Bathymetry tool: SONAR -Swath Bathymetry is the study of underwater depth of lake or ocean floors

16. Bamboozled: LED ASTRAY hard to do if you're 20. Not ignorant of: WISE TO what's going on

17. Memorable Ford: HENRY 

18. Toon that debuted in "Devil May Hare," briefly: TAZ.

19. The Cyclones of the Big 12: Abbr.: ISU - Their former BB coach just got big dollars to coach the Huskers 

21. Make smooth, perhaps: ERODE - This ERODING of Hwy 30 shown here is the reason my 8 minute commute is now 28 minutes

23. Sentry's no-no: SLEEP - Lincoln's bodyguard/sentry John Parker was not ASLEEP; he was down in a saloon drinking that fateful night in April of 1865

26. Sass: LIP 

27. Coastal feature: DUNE - The ones on the Oregon coast are spectacular

28. Eighth of 24: THETA - Yup, there it is

29. Cosecant's reciprocal: SINE - If the SINE = .5 (1/2), the cosecant is 2 (2/1)

30. One of its ads involves Marco Polo playing Marco Polo: GEICO - One of many clever clever GEICO ads that can soon become annoying

32. Prepared to leave the casino: CASHED IN - especially if you go 34. Binge: GO ON A TEAR and hit it big

36. Brand endorsed at prorodeo.com: WRANGLER.

39. City that gives its name to a dog breed: LHASA - LHASA is a 7-day drive or a 2 1/2 hr flight around Mt Everest to Katmandu. 

42. Dutch portraitist Frans: HALS - Here 'ya go

43. Bangalore wraps: SARIS.

45. Don Everly's brother: PHIL - I need very little impetus to play their wonderful music. Phil's on the left 

47. Athena's attendant: OWL - Her link to the OWL is lost in history

48. "I don't give a darn what they do!": LET 'EM.

49. Facebook action: SHARE 

50. Defensive denial: I DO NOT.

52. One way to stand: PAT - Stick with TR!

54. Intelligence org. formed under Truman: NSA.

55. Backs up: SAVES.

56. Converted, in a way: BORN AGAIN.

59. Express line sign word: ITEMS - The debate rages about less or fewer. I'm in the latter camp

60. Lake Superior mining region: IRON RANGE - The Edmund Fitzgerald was full of IRON ORE (taconite) when it sank in Lake Superior in 1975

61. Root for a luau: TARO.

62. Reunion entertainment group, maybe: COVER BAND - The British Pavilion at EPCOT always has a wonderful Beatles COVER BAND

Down:

1. Cured, in a way: SALTED - This will do the job

2. Decorator's accent, perhaps: AREA RUG

3. Area 20 yards or less from the opponent's goal line, in football: RED ZONE - This shows New England has scored 23 TD's and 19 FG's when it was in the RED ZONE

5. Count on a piano: BASIE.

6. Language __: ARTS.

7. "It's not critical": NO RUSH 

8. Reagan Airport, on tickets: DCA - From this D.C. airport, it is a $12 Uber ride to Ford's Theater 

9. Unlimited limit?: SKY

10. Forest females: DOES 

11. Ringed worm: ANNELID - Earthworms are in the segmented ANNELID family and they help aerate soil and catch fish

12. "The elixir of quietude": E.B. White: MARTINI - The author of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little loved his elixir

13. Use a crowbar on: PRY OPEN 

15. Send in a carton: SHIP.

20. Cunning types: WEASELS - Euphemisms for Hollywood agents and others

22. Condescends: DEIGNS - Our cat would never DEIGN to come when called

24. Spy novel pen name: LECARRE.

25. Nouveau-Mexique, par exemple: ETAT - "New Mexico, for example: STATE" (French)

28. Craftsman offering: TOOL SET - Craftsman is a proper noun here

29. Six-winged being, in Isaiah: SERAPH - The hymn Salve Regina sings of Cherubim and SERAPHIM (plural)

31. __ railway: COG - Ascending Pike's Peak

33. "Yeah, right!": HAH.

35. Pinlike?: NEAT - If your stuff is 38. Scattered: ALL OVER, you're not as NEAT as a pin

36. Response to a knock: WHO IS IT 

37. Lab notebook entries: RAW DATA - A graph making sense of RAW DATA

40. Doo-woppers with an eponymous '70s-'80s TV variety show: SHANANA Doo Wop heaven!

41. Aquarius, for one: AIR SIGN - If you must know

44. Unpredictable comedy style: IMPROV.

46. Listed at sea: LEANED.

48. Red number: LOSS - Our country has been in the red for decades

49. Whitewater VIP: STARR - Ken, the Robert Mueller of the Clinton Administration 

51. Verne captain: NEMO - Jules' captain of the Nautilus 

53. Keller companion Sullivan: ANNE - The Miracle Worker for Helen Keller

56. Lighter name: BIC.

57. Yield from una mina: ORO - Yeah, you might get gold (ORO) from that mine (una mina)

58. Chew the fat: GAB - A disinclined tweet from Bill

Your comments are now welcome (欢迎您的意见)

Saturday, March 23, 2019, Kyle Dolan

Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan

Today we celebrate National Chip and Dip Day. Perhaps we should have celebrated this occasion on Super Bowl Sunday but anything this delicious can stand on its own merit,

Many of the dips I saw online had guacamole and I just haven't developed that taste for that. My plebeian tastes prefer the common combination at the end of this write-up.

Toady's constructor  is Dr. Kyle Dolan and it has been my pleasure to blog three previous puzzles he authored here at our word stand! 

As his title would indicate, Kyle's puzzles are full of innovation and fiendish cluing coupled wonderful stacked 9's in the NW and SE!

Across:

1. Source of moving fare: FOOD TRUCK - When we were in Portland, Oregon we were stunned by the many, many FOOD TRUCKS downtown for lunch

10. Each of its chapters is called a "sura": QURAN - This alternate spelling of KORAN eventually entered my consciousness and opened up QUEEN in  10. Artist with the 2016 album "Lemonade," to fans: QUEEN BEY. I filled the cells but had to Google to obtain this reference to BEYONCE

15. Georgian Bay is part of it: LAKE HURON.

16. Fifth sense?: UMAMI - The 5th sense of taste that has been in our puzzles several times lately

17. "Regardless ... ": AT ANY RATE.

18. Park with an "Innoventions" museum: EPCOT  - A EPCOT portmanteau familiar to me

19. Humanities subj.: PSY.

20. Small white toy: MALTESE - Aha, Kyle, you didn't fool me!

22. Time of expectation: EVE.

23. Old Route 66 city: TULSA - Kind of a big deal there

24. Solution: ANSWER.

26. Flag of Chicago quartet: STARS - Who knew?

THE CHICAGO CITY FLAG

29. Mainland Africa's smallest nation: GAMBIA - The bizarre history of Gambia's formation and shape

31. Decorated one: HERO 

32. Pot seen in a bar: BEER BELLY - Sometimes indelicately called a "pot gut"

35. Charges up: EXCITES - THAT'S their, uh, charge

37. Whitewater sight, perhaps: KAYAKER.

39. Sit out: TAKE A PASS.

41. Lock fixers: GELS - Locks of hair

42. Maker of Oikos Greek yogurt: DANNON - Granola on top makes it more palatable to me

43. Big Ten team since 2014, familiarly: TERPS -  The TERPS and the Huskers joined in the same year

44. Actually being: INESSE - Latin for Contain, Embody, Include 

46. Match.com results: DATES - My daughter met a lot of frogs there before her ideal man came along

49. Brief storage unit: MEG - See the accompanying table

50. "The Murder Room" author: P.D. JAMES - New author for me

52. Red choice: CAB - In the seventeenth century in southwestern France, an accidental breeding occurred between a red CABernet Franc grape plant and a white Sauvignon Blanc grape plant produced the most popular grape among American red wine drinkers: CABernet Sauvignon.

55. Up: AWAKE.

57. In agreement with the party: ON MESSAGE - Senators and Representatives, abandon your own opinions before you take your seat

59. Jackie's predecessor: MAMIE - Here they are with their spouses and the Prime Minister of Japan and his spouse in 1961

60. Posted: STATIONED - My dad was STATIONED in The Panama Canal Zone during WWII

61. Place: STEAD - During the Civil War, rich men could pay to have others go in their STEAD as a substitute 

62. Egg sources: HEN HOUSES 


Down:

1. Controversy: FLAP - Any activity these days seems to generate a political FLAP

2. Stable diet: OATS - Lunch for Trigger and Silver

3. "Agreed": OKAY.

4. Show watcher's room: DEN - Wow!

5. Gland essential to T cell maturation: THYMUS  - All you need to know

6. Pastoral: RURAL and 7. Range with one end in Kazakhstan: URALS - How do you people who say RULE instead of ROOR AL pronounce this mountain range that divides Europe from Asia? 😏

8. Weekend getaway: COTTAGE - Ah, the destination not the trip

9. Hopping joint?: KNEE - My grandchildren hopped up on my KNEE many times

11. One verifying a tag: UMP - Verified!

12. 20km Summer Olympian: RACE WALKER - One foot must always be in contact with the ground

13. "Don't make __!": A MOVE.

14. Fertilizer ingredient: NITER - NITER is KNO3 below

21. Ballroom dances: SAMBAS - MAMBO, TANGO, SAMBA

23. Three-horse carriages: TROIKAS - A TROIKA ride at Pavlovsk Palace Park in St. Petersburg, Russia

25. Preserved fodders: SILAGES - Testing  a SILAGE pit is a common practice in Nebraska

26. "__ Came in Through the Bathroom Window": Beatles: SHE - Paul wrote this song about a fan who broke into his house.  Wanna hear?

27. One might include an emoji: TEXT - I 💘 to TEXT 😊

28. Dance Dance Revolution, e.g.: ARCADE GAME - 14 seconds of it on Big Bang

30. Sacred chests: ARKS - Indiana Jones and Sallah find the ARK of the Covenant (the MacGuffin) in this fun movie

32. More than brushed back: BEANED - Hit a home run, stand at the plate and watch it leave the ball park? This could happen to you the next time you're up!

33. First NHL player with a 100-point season, familiarly: ESPO - Phil ESPOsito has been a starter on the cwd hockey team for years!

34. Site with many pans: YELP - A pan is a bad review. A YELP review of our favorite Omaha restaurant

36. State-of-the-art 1970s bike: TEN SPEED - A coveted possession at that time

38. __ feed: online news aggregator: RSS - Rich Site Summary - RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually.

40. Slowish tempo marking: ANDANTE - Griegg's famous passage from Peer Gynt played ANDANTE

43. One of Corleone's capos: TESSIO - Here Abe Vigoda playing Salvatore TESSIO asks for mercy after betraying the family in The Godfather

44. 10-Across preachers: IMAMS.

45. Unaccustomed to: NEW AT

47. Jordan's capital: AMMAN - 31/4 hr drive from Tel Aviv

48. Effectiveness: TEETH - Texting while driving violations will only be effective when TEETH are put into its enforcement 

51. Rib: JOSH.

52. Recycled items: CANS.

53. "Permit Me Voyage" poet: AGEE - A 1939 compilation of poetry by James Agee. I am much more familiar with Tommy AGEE of the '69 Amazin' Mets!

54. Flower holders: BEDS - Ours will hold forth soon, duly protected from the rabbits

56. Hyundai competitor: KIA - The 2019 Hyundai and KIA below. I don't know which is which. 😁

58. Paltry quantity: SOU - Je n'ai pas un SOU sur moi (I haven't got a penny on me)

Time for my low brow chip and dip while you comment:

Just a "Z" short of a Pangram