Themeless Saturday by Rafael Musa and Michael Lieberman
I had Rafael's initial LA Times submission last month where he told us he got into constructing because he read that someone had solved a NYT puzzle in under 10 minutes. He set that as a goal and when he reached it, he started submitting.
Mike Lieberman is a litigation partner in Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focuses on Supreme Court and appellate litigation.
This is one of those puzzles where I seemed to be on the same wavelength as the two constructors. I did have an issue at REDDITAM_S and RECENCY BI_S but both lent themselves to minimal sussing (explained below)and I took a well-deserved "got 'er done" out of petty cash.
Across:
1. Ice __: BATH - Some trainers believe this really accelerates healing and soreness
5. Ebullience: PEP - Not JOY
8. Helps with checking out, maybe: BAGS - Paper BAGS are making a comeback
12. Calculus calculation: AREA - For us math peeps: calculus can be used to determine the AREA under a curve as the sum of the AREA of rectangles added together gets infinitely close to the actual AREA as the rectangles get infinitely narrower.
13. Internal revolution: PALACE COUP - "Beware the Ides Of March!"
16. Approach: NEAR.
17. Fitness revolutions: ARM CIRCLES which might be done wearing 18. Joggers: GYM PANTS
20. Low-quality: CRUDDY.
21. "Mamma Mia!" song with the lyric "The love you gave me, nothing else can save me": SOS - Any day is better with ABBA in it
22. Mystery writer Josephine: TEY - I had no, uh, clue about mystery writer Josephine
23. Beams: RAYS.
24. Filled in: UP TO SPEED.
27. Infinitive with a circumflex: ETRE - Comment peut-on déjà ÊTRE en mars? (How can it be March already?)
31. __ pear: ASIAN - The Kimmel Orchards in Nebraska City have many of these trees but you have to get there on the right day as they get picked quickly
32. Penguin hunters: ORCAS.
34. Utter nonsense: ROT.
35. Rush: SURGE.
36. Underground rock?: ORE that can turn into 10. Like some expensive bars: GOLD.
Gold ORE
37. Uses a collection box, say: MAILS - While the use of paper bags is going up, the use of these is going down
42. Be relevant: APPLY - "The fundamental things APPLY, As Time Goes By."
"You played it for her, You can play it for me."
43. Dependents that can't be claimed as tax deductions: PETS - We can't even deduct Lily's houses and perches, but that's okay with us.
45. Little League game ender, perhaps: MERCY RULE - This game was over in 3 1/2 innings
47. Locks: HAIR.
49. Still: YET.
50. Big time: ERA - My mom loved The Big Band ERA
52. Garment traditionally worn with a kebaya: SARONG - The kebayas are the tops worn with these SARONGS. Yeah, I knew that and didn't use all the perps! 😏
55. Court luminaries: NBA STARS.
57. Not set: UP IN THE AIR.
59. Plot line: AXIS.
60. Some online tell-all sessions: REDDIT AMAS - We've seen the website REDDIT that features AMAS (Ask Me AnythingS) in our puzzles
61. Actress Russo: RENE - I really liked some of her movies but she, Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones were a big draw to this "worst movie I ever spent money on" (4% on Rotten Tomatoes).
62. Red and Coral, but not pink: SEAS.
63. Low-__: RES 7. __-Man: PAC - On my Apple IIe
64. Reindeer kin: ELKS.
Down:
1. Loud reports: BANGS.
2. "Final answer?": ARE YOU SURE?
3. Pride of Lions, e.g.: TEAM SPIRIT.
4. Guinness logo: HARP.
5. One who makes everyone get down on the dance floor?: PARTY POOPER 😀
6. Many Central Park trees: ELMS.
8. Juicy fruit: BERRY.
9. Impeach: ACCUSE.
11. Sought redress: SUED.
13. Glazier supply: PANES - Here they're using suction to move a big PANE
14. Summer bug: CICADA - Their song is a sign of late summer around here
15. Humanities subj.: PSY.
19. Does penance (for): ATONES.
23. Tendency to rely on short-term memory: RECENCY BIAS - Some juries can be more swayed by the last closing argument they hear
25. Label: TAG and 55. Moniker: NAME.
26. Catcher's interference, for one: ERROR.
28. Skating feat first performed in competition by Vern Taylor: TRIPLE AXEL - From 44 years ago. It wasn't perfect but it was the first one.
29. Derby place: ROLLER RINK - A different skating activity
30. Site of creation?: ETSY - A popular website for puzzle fill
31. "Need this rn": ASAP.
33. Brains: SMARTS - Poor Fredo
38. "The Problem With __": "The Simpsons" documentary: APU - about Indian stereotypes
41. "We'll see": I MIGHT.
44. Writer/producer Rhimes: SHONDA - Some of her work
46. What dates may end with: YEARS - When I was in the hospital recently, I was asked my date of birth very often and had to rattle it off (9/11/46) over and over
48. Naysayers: ANTIS.
51. Donkeys: ASSES.
52. Big follower in California?: SUR - The Pacific Coast Highway runs through here
Today veteran constructor Michael Lieberman (NYT
&
LAT) presents us with a simple theme, consisting of the names of 4 major
businesses, each truncated by one letter and enclosed in circles in the long
fills. And for those who didn't see it coming he then reveals his game
with this pair of recursive clues:
57A. With 62-Across,
matters left to settle, and what can be found in each set of circled
letters?: UNFINISHED & 62. See 57-Across: BUSINESS.
(do I hear some yawns from AnonymousDNLC?).
Now let's see if we can complete the rest of this business: Across:
1. "American Idol" network: ABC
4. Mayberry boy: OPIE. A small town boy who made good.
Here's Ron Howard telling Colbert that after all these years he still has
problems with authority figures:
8. Add to a website, as a video: EMBED. E.g. the video of
Ron Howard in the previous clue. I've found that the easiest (and
most reliable) way to do this in Blogger is with the YouTube
Share/Embed method. Contact me if you're interested in the
details.
13. Florida, to the Keys: MAINLAND. Our community has a number of
friends in Florida (constructors, bloggers, and solvers) who were severely
impacted by hurricane Ian. Please keep them in your prayers.
18. "Top Chef" judge Simmons: GAIL.
Gail Simmons
is a trained culinary expert, food writer, and dynamic television personality.
Since the show's inception in 2006, she has lent her extensive expertise as a
permanent judge on BRAVO's Emmy-winning series
Top Chef.
Gail Simmons
21. "The Baby-Sitters Club" author __ M. Martin: ANN.
The Baby-Sitters Club
(also known as BSC) is a series of novels written by Ann M. Martin and
published by Scholastic between 1986 and 2000, that sold 176 million
copies. Martin wrote the first 35 novels in the series, but
the subsequent novels were written by ghostwriters. The novels are about
a group of friends who live in the fictional, suburban town of Stoneybrook,
Connecticut, who run a local babysitting service called "The Baby-Sitters
Club". The novels also spawned off a TV series and a film.
Ann M. Martin
22. "In __": Nirvana's last studio album: UTERO.
In Utero
is the third and final studio album by American rock band Nirvana, released on
September 21, 1993. Curt Cobain committed suicide a year later.
Here's Pennyroyal Tea from the album, planned as a single prior to
Cobain's death, released in 2014, and reached number one on the
Billboard Hot Singles Sales Chart (click ...more for lyrics).
23. Be in arrears: OWE.
24. Long tales: SAGAS.
26. Hi-fi spinners: LPS. Long Playing Records. They're back! CD's are old hat.
28. Fitness revolution?: LAP. Or a place for a CAT to NAP?
36. Ranch unit: ACRE. OUNCE was too long.
39. Campaign manager?: AD REP. Well somebody has to keep track of all that cash being pumped into CAMPAIGNS and make sure that it gets thoroughly washed.
40. "Never Feed a __ Spaghetti": rhyming board book:
YETI. Looks like a great Christmas gift for your two year olds.
44. Unruly crowd: MOB. We've been HEARING quite a lot about one
of these over the last year.
45. L.A. school: USC.
46. Concert souvenirs, for short: MERCH.
50. Actress Thurman: UMA. She has her ownSTAR
on the CROSSWORD WALK OF FAME, but Hollywood still hasn't called her yet.
52. Mixer at a bar: TONIC.
56. Fury: IRE.
60. Norse god with raven messengers: ODIN. Hugin and Munin are two ravens in Norse mythology who are helping spirits of the god ODIN, a self-centered "Wanderer" who prowled about his ancient kingdom as a relentless seeker after and giver of wisdom, but with
little regard for communal values such as justice, fairness, or respect
for law and convention.
In modern times another fictional ODIN
lived in the Antipodes of Southern Australia and was his Northern
counterpart's exact opposite: a kind, gentle, generous soul who at a
young age lost his mother in a car accident, and promised her as she lay
dying that he would do everything he could to keep her children
together. His story is told via the genre of magical realism in the TV
series The Gods of Wheat Street and stars Maori actors in all of the major roles. Streaming on ACORN:
61. Shortcoming: DEFECT.
64. Scramble alternative: OMELET. As least Michael's BUSINESSES weren't
scrambled.
65. Handel work: ORATORIO. While Handel's best known oratorio is Messiah, he wrote many others, including the great work Solomon, based on the biblical stories of the wise Jewish king who built the first Temple in Jerusalem circa 1000 B.C. Probably the most recognizable section of this piece is the interlude The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. If you just happened to catch the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, it was played as James Bond (Daniel Craig) went to meet Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. If you didn't, here it is performed by The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville Mariner (3:17 min):
66. Junction points: NODES.
67. Cellist Ma: YOYO. Much more than just the world's greatest living cellist, Yo-Yo Ma
is also a world class impresario dedicated to bringing great musicians
together to play great music. That's easy to say, but selecting from
his extensive catalogue of collaborations is not so easy. In this one,
appropriate for the holiday season that will soon be upon us, he plays
pizzicato cello to vocalist Alison Krauss' performance of The Wexford Carol:
68. Oft-redacted ID: SSN. There's a whole lotta redactin' going on these days. Seems like everybody's got something to hide ... :
2. Split fruit: BANANA. In 1904, the first banana split recipe was made in Latrobe,
Pennsylvania by David Strickler, an apprentice pharmacist at a local
drug store. Here it is.
All American Banana Split
3. Using as an example: CITING. I got writer's block on this one. I just couldn't come up with an example to CITE.
4. Cheer for un gol: OLE.
5. Blue Ribbon beer: PABST. Pabst Blue Ribbon, commonly abbreviated PBR,
is an American lager beer sold by Pabst Brewing Company, established in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1844 and currently based in San Antonio.
Originally called Best Select, and then Pabst Select, the current name comes from the blue ribbons tied around the bottle neck between 1882 and 1916.
7. Mystery award: EDGAR. The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe
(1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the best in
mystery fiction, non-fiction, television, film, and theater published or
produced in the previous year.
10. "Enter the Dragon" star: BRUCE LEE. I've decided to blog him only every third time I come up against him in a puzzle.
11. Otherwise: ELSE.
12. Goes green?: DYES.
14. Org. with many left-wingers and right-wingers: NHL. Everything you need to know about ice hockey politics.
15. Empty space: GAP. As in [ ]
20. Hay fever cause: POLLEN.
22. Forever stamp letters: USA. A hedge against inflation?
25. Protected, at sea: ALEE.
27. Cacio e __: simple pasta dish: PEPE. Today's Italian lesson: "Cheese and Pepper". I'll bet even I could make it.
29. Field for Alice Neel and Kara Walker: ART. Alice Neel (January 28, 1900 – October 13, 1984)
was an American visual artist, who was known for her portraits
depicting friends, family, lovers, poets, artists, and strangers. Her
paintings have an expressionistic use of line and color, psychological
acumen, and emotional intensity. Her work depicts women through a female
gaze, illustrating them as being consciously aware of their
objectification by men and the demoralizing effects of the male gaze.
She has 75 works currently being exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Kara Elizabeth Walker
(born November 26, 1969) is an American
contemporary painter, silhouettist, print-maker, installation artist,
filmmaker, and professor who explores race, gender, sexuality, violence,
and identity in her work. She is best known for her room-size tableaux
of black cut-paper silhouettes. Walker was awarded a MacArthur
fellowship in 1997, at the age of 28, becoming one of the youngest ever
recipients of the award.
In 1999 the Detroit Institute of Art
removed her "The Means to an End: A Shadow Drama in Five Acts" (1995)
from an exhibition entitled "Where the Girls Are: Prints by Women from the
DIA's Collection" when African-American artists and collectors protested
its presence:
The Means to an End: A Shadow Drama in Five Acts Kara Walker 1995
30. Trident-shaped letter: PSI. PSI is used in Quantum Physics to represent the wave function
describing the wave characteristics of a particle. A CSO to any of the
Corner's engineers or scientists who could explain this better in
layman's terms (if that's even possible!).
PSI is also used as a general symbol for parapsychology,
the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception,
telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called
telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, which are usually dismissed by mainstream scientists as pseudoscience.
However,
if you're open to the possibility that there might be something to some
of this stuff, I'd recommend that you explore the writings of Dr. Ian Stevenson (1918 to February 8, 2007) who was a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia and did worldwide case studies of evidence for re-incarnation. For your convenience I've extracted a YouTube video from the above link of a 30 minute lecture given in 2002 by Dr. Stevenson to the UVA medical community, subtitled "Children Who Remember Past Lives" (also the title of this book).
32. Small amounts: TADS.
33. Decrees: EDICTS.
34. Soon-to-be alums: SRS.
35. Ritual flammable pile: PYRE. This brings us back full circle to 60A re the Norse God ODIN, who in Richard Wagner's The Twilight of the Gods has, through his own selfishness failed to prevent the destruction of his kingdom. In the climactic scene, the heroine Brunhilde, bereft at the murder of her husband and hero Siegfried, mounts her horse and plunges onto his funeral PYRE, the conflagration finally destroying all of Valhalla (7 min with subtitles).
37. John who plays Sulu in recent "Star Trek" films: CHO. John Cho (born Cho Yo-Han; June 16, 1972) is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the Harold & Kumar films, and Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek rebooted film series.
John Cho
38. Brushed aside: REBUFFED.
42. Subtle distinctions: NUANCES. A crossword constructor's stock-in-trade.
43. World's largest theater chain: AMC. Founded in 1920, AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. is an American movie theater
chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri and now headquartered in Leawood,
Kansas. Here's what's playing at ...
47. Uber patrons: RIDERS.
48. Turning point: CRISIS. I think we're at one.
49. "Hidden Figures" star Taraji P. __: HENSON. Hidden Figures
is a 2016 American biographical drama film, loosely based on the 2016
non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly, about African
American female mathematicians who worked at NASA during the Space
Race. The film stars Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan, Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson. Here's the trailer:
51. High-end German vacuum brand: MIELE. My original riff on this was "In a MIELE, no one can hear you scream", but Teri assured me that it had nothing to do with the movie Alien. She provided me with this MIELEguide to vacuum cleaners. I hope you can find one that doesn't suck your budget dry.
53. "Here we go": OH BOY. Purely perps. A bit sexist?
60. Artist Yoko: ONO. Here's her "Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Her" from Lennon and Ono's Double Fantasy album (lyrics):
63. "Who am __ judge?": I TO. A famous quote by Jorge Mario Bergoglio
in response to a question posed by reporters on a flight from Rio de
Janeiro to Rome in 2013. It delighted some on one side of the aisle and
shocked those on the other.
Pope Francis Bishop of Rome
Cheers,
Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Michael Lieberman, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle,
its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below. We'd love to hear from you.
Notes from C.C.:
Happy 75th birthday to Boomer! Thank
you so much for the cards and notes you've sent to him. I'm saving them
and will read to him when things get tougher.
This picture was taken in 2003. The guy on the left is Tim, Boomer's old Graybar colleague.
I had Rafael's initial LA Times submission last month where he told us he got into constructing because he read that someone had solved a NYT puzzle in under 10 minutes. He set that as a goal and when he reached it, he started submitting. 
Mike Lieberman is a litigation partner in Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focuses on Supreme Court and appellate litigation. 
